Happy 1st Birthday Jamie!!! from cold, windy & snowy (on the highlands) Tasmania. Yes, our weather luck stays with us; we were due to commence the Overland Track this morning - 6 days hiking across the central plateau, staying in huts and camping. However, we awoke to a Bushwalkers weather alert and decided that yet another multi day hike in vile conditions wasn't worth it; so we opted out, have hired a car and will tour around the island for the two weeks we are here - hopefully getting some walks in. Sitting in our 8th floor hotel room tonight, listening to the howling wind and rain against the window we think we made the right choice. We left Sydney on Friday, dropping into see Botany Bay on the way to the airport. If you close your eyes so you can't see the container terminal and the oil refinery you could imagine it as it was in 1770 - no you couldn't; you could still hear the planes flying in and out of Sydney International. All I can say is Cpt. Cook must have felt extremely silly when, after months on a ship, he landed here only to realise that there was an airport across the bay. Hobart, in Tasmania, is a pleasant enough city, low-key and very English in a sort of northern style. The centre makes you feel as though you were in Warrington but the quayside, still with a working fishing fleet (the fish & chips are fab), and Salamanca Place (photo) have been redeveloped, with plenty of good street cafes, bars and shops. This is the first Aussie town or city outside Sydney where we have found this cafe society. Incidentally, Tassie wines are very good; some excellent Sauv.Blancs and light & fruity Pinot Noirs. Remember the dog kennel of Glenorchy? Can I introduce you to the outhouse of Hobart. We have found that hostels are significantly pricier in comparsion with motels in Oz than in NZ and vary considerably in quality. One night in the hostel here was enough; we slept in an en-suite brick shed, with a tiled floor that still had the hairs of a generation of hostellers on it and the reception staffed by a witch, who couldn't be as old as her face surely? (The hags are astride, this night for a ride?). The next day we fled to the Leisure Inn, where for $25 more we got a huge bed, WIFI, TV, sofa, big fluffy towels. a lift to the 8th floor ricketty enough to set your bladder off and enough mirrors on the wall to satisfy the most narcississtic of porn stars. Tomorrow we follow the convict trail to Port Arthur. At least there should be plenty of arrows to show us the way.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Sunday 5th April 2009
Happy 1st Birthday Jamie!!! from cold, windy & snowy (on the highlands) Tasmania. Yes, our weather luck stays with us; we were due to commence the Overland Track this morning - 6 days hiking across the central plateau, staying in huts and camping. However, we awoke to a Bushwalkers weather alert and decided that yet another multi day hike in vile conditions wasn't worth it; so we opted out, have hired a car and will tour around the island for the two weeks we are here - hopefully getting some walks in. Sitting in our 8th floor hotel room tonight, listening to the howling wind and rain against the window we think we made the right choice. We left Sydney on Friday, dropping into see Botany Bay on the way to the airport. If you close your eyes so you can't see the container terminal and the oil refinery you could imagine it as it was in 1770 - no you couldn't; you could still hear the planes flying in and out of Sydney International. All I can say is Cpt. Cook must have felt extremely silly when, after months on a ship, he landed here only to realise that there was an airport across the bay. Hobart, in Tasmania, is a pleasant enough city, low-key and very English in a sort of northern style. The centre makes you feel as though you were in Warrington but the quayside, still with a working fishing fleet (the fish & chips are fab), and Salamanca Place (photo) have been redeveloped, with plenty of good street cafes, bars and shops. This is the first Aussie town or city outside Sydney where we have found this cafe society. Incidentally, Tassie wines are very good; some excellent Sauv.Blancs and light & fruity Pinot Noirs. Remember the dog kennel of Glenorchy? Can I introduce you to the outhouse of Hobart. We have found that hostels are significantly pricier in comparsion with motels in Oz than in NZ and vary considerably in quality. One night in the hostel here was enough; we slept in an en-suite brick shed, with a tiled floor that still had the hairs of a generation of hostellers on it and the reception staffed by a witch, who couldn't be as old as her face surely? (The hags are astride, this night for a ride?). The next day we fled to the Leisure Inn, where for $25 more we got a huge bed, WIFI, TV, sofa, big fluffy towels. a lift to the 8th floor ricketty enough to set your bladder off and enough mirrors on the wall to satisfy the most narcississtic of porn stars. Tomorrow we follow the convict trail to Port Arthur. At least there should be plenty of arrows to show us the way.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hi guys, welcome to God's Own Country!
At Ceduna (Eyre Peninsula) and about to cross the Nullabore - suspect it's not as daunting as the guides would have us believe! Will let you know!
enjoy Tassie, don't forget to go to Queenstown (most weird place we've ever visited!)
Meg and Doug
Post a Comment