Tasmania mania

My fourth visit to my favourite part of Australia did not disappoint. As always, Tasmania delivers an escape from the claustrophobia of Sydney, and a chance to experience a little bit of wilderness. Over eight days we had five long bush walks and more dramatic scenery to the point where it is almost indecent to talk about. But, that hasn’t stopped me before.

I had to photoshop this image to take the Kookaburra off of my head and make my biceps look bigger.

This will mostly be a photo essay. Lucky you.

Part 1: Hobart

Having only landed in Hobart and quickly departed on my one previous visit to Tassie, we spent one day in the city and several nights sampling the food. While Tassie mostly caters to the sea-foodie / carnivore, I did find some tasty vego meals in the city. Despite everything on the entire island being booked out, Leigh somehow managed to get us into a couple of fantastic boutique hotels.

Having never spent any time in Hobart on my previous three trips, we stayed in The Corinda Collection, an historic hotel with a great hedge. This maze only took me three hours to solve.

The grounds and the architecture of MONA greatly impressed, though honestly the super-majority of the art didn’t thrill me. That, of course, is the great thing about art — that some will delight in the massive patterns on the multi-story high walls, others will feel their heart skip a beat from the boldness of a sculpture, and yet others will simply wonder what it feels like to have your private parts used as a model for a plaster mold.

My favourite exhibit at MONA. Engineering FTW! (The words are formed from water hoses above, spelling out words that currently have high frequency in Google Australia news feeds.)

Within 30 minutes of Hobart you can start the climb to Mt. Wellington. While you can drive to the top, the trail up is worth the terror of the slippery hike back down.

Who would think you’re right outside the capital city? Seriously, who? I want names.

Apparently we were not the first humans to summit Mt. Wellington, unless the local wallabies have developed advanced telecommunication technology.

Part 2: Bruny Island

A short drive and a short ferry ride away from Hobart is Bruny Island. We covered most of the Southern part of the island, racking up a couple of great hikes and a handful of short ones as well. The serenity and remoteness of Bruny is euphoric in the internal quiet it brings to you. Add on the feeling of a warm jumper and a cup of peppermint tea, and you’re ready to start your short and tragic career as a J. Crew model.

Two days on the island were full of scenes like this one, from our hike on the Fluted Peak Track. There is word that the locals us for this: “wilderness”. I love the quaint language they speak.

Bruny, like Tasmania is surrounded by water. Which means dolphins, fish, albatross, and countless other species. On the islands, wallabies soaked through from frequent rains look wistfully into your eyes, wondering if you’re one of the tourists ignorant enough to feed them.

We took a boat cruise around the Southeastern side of Bruny. Some people believe that the Transformers created these rock foundations.

We had hiked along the upper edge of this cliff the previous day. Or maybe it was another one of the cliffs.

Bruny has both beautiful sand beaches as well as rocky shoals. We saw a surfer head out alone into the waves. Clearly he was just there for all the attention.

Almost every moment in Bruny has some magic.

Despite the rain, the Cape Queen Elizabeth Track was excellent. Although her cape was no where to be found.

Could you at least knock?

Leigh makes sure the wallaby is holding still so he will appear in the photo. Look closely.

Part 3: Bay of Fires

The Bay of Fires is named for the sociopathic arsonists who live in this part of Tasmania and who are constantly burning each other’s houses down.

Okay, not true, but the real story is much less interesting.

The red marks are definitely not lichen, they are the remains of the arson feuds between the locals.

While it’s very easy to be desensitised to the incredible beaches in Australia, it’s the fact that there’s not a single human being on many of the Tasmanian beaches that makes them even more appealing.

Ocean, white sand, tranquility. If only you could bottle this up and force someone to drink it.

It’s even better without Brooke Shields.

Dearest Tassie,

We’ll be back.