Hikes, Beaches, and Penguins

Friday July 31st

We drove up to the Freycinet Peninsula, a National Park area with good hikes and Wineglass Bay, rated one of the World's Top 10 Beaches by some fancy travel magazine. We stopped in Coles Bay, the town just before the park, for a pit stop and to pick up our Park Pass. The guy at the "information center", really the tiny town shop, was very helpful and recommended hiking Mt Amos instead of just walking down to the water like we were thinking. He said if we were staying in the area we should really do both, one this afternoon and another the next morning. He seemed so psyched on the walks we figured we should take his advice, as locals always know best.

The hike up Mt Amos was no joke. It is a granite mountain and there isn't actually a trail- you follow little yellow (probably the worst color choice possible) arrows up the side of a steep mountain, scrambling over boulders, through crevices, and trying our best to avoid any water, where the rock turns into a slip and slide (we had been warned of this by the guy in the shop). It was the most challenging hike I've done (glaciers included!) and there was a group ahead of us where we thought a few of them might not make it. 

We did finally reach the top (after about 2 hours of literally climbing with hands and feet, knees, bums...) and the views were magnificent. Wineglass Bay is as beautiful as the photos, and from this vantage we could also see Oyster Bay in front of us and Coles Bay behind. The weather was perfect, the views unbeatable, and we took a well deserved rest at the top with a few Aussie students who had taken a weekend trip to Tasmania.

Heading back down was possibly harder than coming up. All of us actually slid down sections on our butts because that seemed a safer alternative to trying to walk. I had a major wipe out where there was a trickle of water and my feet flew out from under me. I got a bruise the size of a salad plate on my hip. I don't think Tiffany understood why I was being such a baby about falling until she saw the evidence. 

We made it to the town of Bicheno (bee-shen-oh), north of the park, where we stayed for the night. We had read about a surf shop that organizes penguin tours and had to check that out. A group of 6 of us were driven out to the coast at dusk where we met our penguin guide. He told us we were going to see Little Blue Penguins, formerly called Fairy Penguins until it became un-PC. The little guys spend most of their time at sea where they feed and can sleep. During breeding season they all come to shore at night, but since this was "off" season for them, only a few would be coming in. They have to be careful of predators in the sea- mostly seals, and also on land- typically birds of prey. As a group they make a beeline for shore, then hang out by the rocks until they think it's safe and waddle inland to their burrows. The penguins have no innate fear of humans, and will happily walk between your legs if they think you are in the way.

We watched them come in from a couple of different spots. It was a pretty full moon, so there was a lot of natural light (which they don't like) and the guide had a flashlight with a dullish bulb so as not to blind them. The birds are super cute, and let us get quite close. They are a protected species, and their biggest threats are domestic or feral dogs and cats, which can wipe out large portions of the colonies. Since they aren't historical predators, the penguins don't know to be afraid of them.

In the morning we hiked down to Wineglass Bay, another fairly challenging walk, but no where near as difficult as the day before! It was spectacular on the beach. The sand was white and stretched out in an arc in front of us. The water was aquamarine and crystal clear. And the best part was we were the only people on the beach for at least an hour. We went paddling in the water, which, as usual, was much colder than it looked. We had a picnic on the beach, then had to make the hike back up before our park pass expired.

We made the drive to Launceston, Tassie's second largest city. We found a cozy place to spend the night, did a bit of exploring, and got some good sleep after 2 days of solid hiking.

Van Diemen's Land

Thursday, July 30th

We picked up our rental car this morning, a sporty red Hyundai hatchback. We managed to find our way out of Hobart and stopped for the morning in Richmond to see Australia's oldest bridge, church, and cemetery. It was a quaint little spot, and after an hour or so of wandering headed on to the Tasman Peninsula.

It is a beautiful drive through wineries and along the coast. Going onto the peninsula you pass through an area called Eaglehawk Neck, a very narrow stretch of land. There are some interesting natural sights here, including the Tessellated Pavement- an area of sedimentary rock on the coast that, due to some unlikely geological events, now looks like it was cut to be tiles or used as a quarry. It naturally formed perfectly square edges. I didn't really understand what people were talking about until we got there, and it looks fairly unremarkable until you realize it is all natural, and then it becomes slightly amazing.

On the peninsula we also stopped at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Center for feeding time. These animals are the size of a small raccoon, and while they hardly resemble the whirlwind "Taz" from the cartoons, the awful noises and slightly crazy temperament are pretty spot on. The two housed together made an awful racket of snarls and growls at each other over the hunks of meat thrown into their pen. They tried to steal the meat and run away, got into tug-of-wars and generally beat each other up for the few minutes it took them to consume it, bones, fur, and all. Tassie Devils have a bite pressure similar to a saltwater croc, and it takes the same amount of pressure to open their jaws too. So you really want to avoid making them angry! In general they will stay away from humans, but will fight if backed into a corner. 

The devils used to live on the Aus mainland as well, but now exist only on Tasmania. There is an epidemic sweeping through the population called facial tumor disease, and it is killing the little critters much faster than any scientists can figure out what to do about it. The population is dropping severely, and combined with habitat loss and high rates of roadkill instances, the devils are declining quickly. Even if they aren't exactly cuddly, it is sad to think of the state of their future.

Only another 20km further on, we get to the main attraction of the day. Australia has a colorful convict history, but perhaps no place more so than Tasmania, where the troublemakers of Australia went. The penal colony or Port Arthur saw over 12,000 men between 1830-1877. These were inmates directly from England who couldn't be trusted in Australia, or where semi-free Australian convicts were sent when they got in trouble. There was a separate camp for boys, and the youngest inmate was 9.5 years old. It was an isolated area, so in addition to the actual prison and work areas there was an entire community of workers and administrators and their families. The whole area is a designated historic site and is open to the public now. Some of the houses are restored, but the main buildings are left in a state of semi-ruin. It is almost a beautiful area, until you think about the dark history there. 

The Port Arthur "experiment", as it is referred to in the visitors information, serves as the foundation for much of the modern reform system. It was one of the first places to use solitary confinement, constant surveillance, and hard labor to reform convicts. In many places in England at the time, the prisoners were thrown into crowded jails to sit and wait out their sentence. While Port Arthur could not really be called successful (though I don't know what penal colony really could) it led the way for much of what we have in place even today.

We took a short guided boat tour of the harbor, passing the Isle of the Dead where convicts and civilians were buried, learned about a number of escape attempts, and were told that if you head straight out of the harbour, the next land mass you will hit is Antarctica. After the boat we spent time wandering through the buildings and around the grounds. We decided to stick around and go on a ghost tour in the evening.

The ghost tour was sufficiently spooky with out being hoakey. The grounds are creepy enough at night, and we went out with a guide and a group of about 15. We learned stories about different historical events from the place as well as tales of people seeing or interacting with the ghosts that remain. We got to go into the church with no roof, and it was pretty spectacular being inside a building but looking up at all the stars. We also went UNDER the doctors house to his "dissection room" where he could examine bodies of the recently deceased. It was against the law at the time to study bodies, but apparently convicts were exempt, so the doctor at Port Arthur was a lucky man indeed. The room under his house had no windows, no lights, and no ventilation. Other inmates had to hold candles or lanterns while he worked, which is a pretty gruesome thought. Apparently many people think they smell formaldehyde in the room, even though it has been centuries since any has been used there. 

We didn't see any ghosts on our tour, but did see a bunch of wallabies hopping around. We got certificates that say "I survived the Port Arthur Ghost Tour", so maybe some people aren't so lucky. We drove back to Hobart, being careful not to hit the plethora of animals out on the road at night. It was a successful trip, and we didn't kill anything.

Tasmanian Tigers and Tasty Treats

Tasmania! Or Tassie (Tazzy) as it is more affectionately known. We had another ridiculously early morning (for the record, 7am flights suck) and navigated Melbourne's crazy streets once again. This is another city that loves toll roads, which are all fine and good except here they don't have toll booths- you have to call or go online to pay for your pass, otherwise you get a fine, and the rental car company gives you an even heftier fine because they are the ones charged for you. Luckily you have 3 days to pay, but unluckily you are supposed to know your exact point of entry and exit on the toll road (even though there are no clearly marked entrances to even really let you know you are on a toll road at all!!) otherwise you have to pay for the whole entire thing... like we clearly ended up doing. Humph.

But anyways, on to Tasmania. We arrived in Hobart and took the airport shuttle into the city. We checked into our hostel which was right downtown in the heart of the action, and Mike the manager was very friendly and talked us through any number of different routes we could take in our week in Tassie while pointing to a giant map on the wall that was taller than me. Those that laugh at what a small island it is though should know- it might look small compared to the rest of Australia, but those driving distances are much longer than they look!

We had breakfast at a place called the Underground, presumably named so because it is underground. Tassie people are some of the friendliest I've ever met. Our first foray into the city we pulled out our little pocket map and the first guy to walk by asked if we needed any help, and after pointing out the appropriate direction, wished us a good stay. In the little cafe the girl working overheard our conversation about where to go and recommended heading north Freycinet Bay because it is so beautiful, but not to stay at the lodge there because it is way overpriced. I think in most cities locals would have looked at us and snorted, sometimes under their breath, "stupid tourists". I like friendly people.

After a wander around town, we hopped on a local bus that took us to the

 Cascade Brewery right at the base of Mount Wellington. This is the oldest brewery in Australia, and we went on a VERY informative tour of the brewery, making sure to don our yellow vest and safety goggles beforehand. We saw all the different barley and roasts, smelled the hops, visited the vats and the bottling operation, and of course the best part- tasted the beers. The actual brewery is in the original stone structure built in 1824 and the tasting room is in a very modern stone and glass building with great views and beautiful gardens. 

The logo for Cascade features the Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger. This animal is classified as extinct, but there have been hundreds of reported sightings since its demise. It is also an exciting creature because there has been much talk of trying to resurrect the species through cloning, if they have sufficient genes. This talk has been going on for a while, but is probably the most serious in the discussion of bringing extinct animals back to life (probably more practical than the wooly mammoths or even Neanderthals that have also been discussed). A woman on the tour with us grew up in Tasmania, and her mother remembered seeing the last Tasmanian tiger in the zoo when she was a child. It died in 1936.

On a less sobering note, Cascade has a (faux) Tassie Tiger on display named Trixie and they let us go behind the bar and take pictures with her. 

After our tour and ample tastings we wandered back into town. I was pleasantly surprised by the weather, which I would describe as mild. We checked out Salamanca Place which apparently is very popular for its Saturday market and is full of little galleries and restaurants, and got a drink at a low key place- most people in Hobart do it up pretty classy in the evenings, even on Thursday. We inevitably met a friend, giant Jimmy (Jimmehhh) from Scotland, who reminded me very much of a walrus. A slightly inebriated walrus. He was very excited we were from the US, as he doesn't have a particularly high opinion of the States (and this was a view shared by a number of adult Australian's we met that day). They thought, on the whole, American's didn't pay enough attention to what was going on in the rest of the world and were too caught up thinking they were at the center of the universe. And this is coming from TASMANIA, a place even Aussie's joke about being inbred and backwards... some food for thought.

Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road

We got to Melbourne and were TIRED. I hate to sound old, but too much partying and a lack of sleep can do that. Plus (probably for aforementioned reasons) I seemed to come down with yet another cold. We found a cozy hostel and slept. For a few days, really. We ventured out, saw some parks, sampled the cafe culture, watched a movie, hung out at the library, but didn't really care for the frenetic bustle of a big city.

Our one big adventure was tackling the Great Ocean Road, a strip of pavement they put down practically where the ocean meets the land, for some 200+km. Bob, the friendly proprietor of the hostel, called around to the rental car companies and got us a good deal from Europcar. When we went in to pick up our hire car, unluckily someone had returned a Toyota Camry the night before, otherwise we would have driven off in an Audi A-6 (I had no idea anyone rented out Audi's, but Europcar Melbourne has a whole fleet of them). That would have been the best budget car rental ever!

We made it down to the coast and stopped at almost all the points of interest on the map. We saw Bell's Beach where the movie Point Break with Keanu Reeves was filmed. We stalked wild kangaroos on a golf course. There was a light house with a little walk and more views, a hike through a eucalypt forest where we saw adorable, bright blue birds (superb fairy wrens), a wandering where we saw wild koalas sleeping in their trees- one even had her baby that we could see coming out of the pouch!

Part of the road took us through a forest and by plenty of livestock that we honked at. Just before sunset we made it to the famous 12 Apostles, a series of free-standing cliffs that are stranded in the ocean. There were 12 at some point, but a few of them have collapsed. We walked down to the beach and saw 2 up close, then went down the road to a viewing platform. It was lovely, but I've never experienced wind like that before- it almost blew us away!

The last stops we made were at the Natural Arch and London Bridge- which has, ironically, fallen down. People used to be able to walk across the natural span of the "bridge" but one afternoon it suddenly collapsed, leaving a couple stranded on the other side. Turned out to be a man and his secretary whom he was having a secret affair with. The secret was apparently out when it took them hours to rescue them and all the camera crews got it into the news. Oops.

The Far South

Tuesday July 21
We woke up to pouring rain. It slightly threw off our plans to spend the afternoon on the beach, but was worse for everyone trying to get to Milford Sound for the next week or so- the rain caused a bunch of rock and tree avalanches and closed the road. We were really lucky we saw it when we did!

Apples, our guide for this trip, expressed us down to Invercargill which is a good sized city that is the furthest south. We went to the museum and got to see tuataras, creatures that are left over from dinosaur times. They have an invisible 3rd eye in the middle of their heads and will hibernate in winter and breathe once an hour. The museum has a breeding pair, Mildred and Henry who are 94 years old and just had a clutch of 11 babies. Invercargill was also home to Burt Munro, the man who built the World's Fastest Indian (a motorcycle he took to the States and set all sorts of records with). The bike itself is on display in the department store in town.

7 of us made the trip down to Stuart Island, the third island of New Zealand and the last port of call before Antarctica. The ferry took about an hour and was pretty rough- I slept the whole way and woke up feeling fine- much improved over my last ocean going experience!

Our hostel was very cute. It centered around a kitchen/dining area and living room with a big fireplace. They also offered free Internet which was amazing and we all took advantage of it. There was one German couple and 2 guys from West Oz and we all hung out and chatted the whole night. We wanted to go looking for kiwis at night, but there was thunder and lightening and we figured the kiwis were probably staying inside too.

The morning was a bit exciting- the guys heard the ferry wasn't running and we all wondered what was going to happen if we were stranded on the island and the bus left us. Luckily the weather continued to improve and we were told the ferry would depart on schedule.
It rained off and on but we got to explore a fair bit of the area. There were a couple of nice lookouts and a lot of forest to walk through. Nicki, Laura, Tif and I found a few amazing beaches- the water was so clear we couldn't resist going for a paddle. It was actually freezing. Typical. We got a delicious pub lunch- blue cod is a specialty of the area and it was awesome.

We successfully got the ferry back and made it up to Queenstown for a couple more big nights and a long journey back to Christchurch where the last few of us had to say goodbye. Tiffany and I got 1.5 hrs of sleep before catching a shuttle to the airport at 3:30am for our flight to Melbourne. Saying goodbye to Stray and New Zealand was really sad- neither of us wanted to leave at all.

Queenstown and Milford Sound

Monday July 20th

We arrived in Queenstown and the night was a blur of Fergburger- delicious burgers (vegi of course!) that are massive and amazing. Tiffany and I split them, which was a good idea because we ended up eating them every night we were in town! Queenstown is supposedly the adventure capitol of the world- and party capitol of New Zealand. We made the most of it, which may not have been the best idea before getting on a bus at 6:20 the next morning, but some of us fared better than others.

Monday was the start of a 3 day Stray trip into the "deep south". Tif and I decided to do it last minute and got a really good deal on the package. We got to stay with Nicki and Laura changed the dates of her trip so she could come with us. Benni and Coco from the bus were also on the same trip so it was a lot of fun. Our guide for this portion was called Apples and we had a mini version of the Stray bus. Luckily it handled hills (and 2nd gear) much better, since it was mountainous and snowing and raining!

Milford Sound is actually not a sound at all (which is a valley carved out by a river) but is a fiord- a valley

 of water carved by a glacier. The whole area is called Fiordland and is spectacular. We made a lot of photo stops and saw more mirror lakes, lots of snow, mountains, more keas, and a tunnel carved out by hand in the 1930s.When we got to Milford we did a boat tour of the fiord. It was amazing to see just how big the whole thing is- it made me feel very small. Tons of waterfalls, some seals and plenty of rainbows. It was a clear day, but quite cold.

When we finished our cruise we went back up the road to Gunn's Camp, a 

little camp consisting of huts that

 were built to house the men who carved out the tunnel in the 30s. And they really haven't changed anything since then. 6 of us shared a little cabin that had 2 small rooms with bunk beds off a central room with a table and coal burning stove that provided the heat and was where we cooked our food. Talk about getting off the beaten path! 

The camp had a funky little museum with old tools and newspaper clippings, a tiny store that sold dehydrated peas and a few books, and a gas pump that was still actually pumped by hand. There were no refrigerators and the whole place was powered by a generator that was switched off at 10pm. After that we sat around in candlelight. Everyone was pretty skeptical in the beginning, but it turned out to be really nice. Benni was nominated to keep the fire going and he did a really good job. Our cabin was nice and cozy and we just enjoyed hanging out.

3,2,1... BUNGY!!!

Sunday July 19

Our last day on Mambo's bus and we had to make it count. The final stop before Queenstown was at the site of the first ever commercial bungy jump- the Kawarau Bridge. The whole group watched a video on the history of bungy and the guy who started it all- AJ Hackett. After he and all his friends jumped off bridges all over New Zealand and he perfected the technique, he gained world wide recognition when he bungyed off the Eiffel Tower. He came back to NZ and set up a legit site at the bridge. All the footage looked like a lot of fun, and Mambo had given us a long talk about how bungy can change your life by having a near death experience in a safe, controlled environment. I still didn't think I would do it, but we watched a few people from our group jump and I thought "I could totally do that" which was a slightly surprising reaction to watching people throw themselves off a 43m (112 ft) bridge! I knew Tiffany had been debating it, so I grabbed her and Cleodha who was also on the fence and we ran up to the counter and threw our money atthe guy before any of us could change our minds.

Once we were on the bridge we got harnessed up. We had to waddle to the end of the platform with our feet strapped together. It was kind of freaky, looking down at the river below and thinking- "ok, I'm actually going to dive off this platform and go all the way down there". But it wasn't terrifying like I had imagined- I took a couple deep breaths and was actually pretty relaxed about it, and when he said 3,2,1-BUNGY! I just... Jumped.

It was all over really quickly. The bungy part was really smooth, and I remember bouncing higher than I expected. You end up dangling upside down just over the water, and two guys in an inflatible boat come paddling over and hold a stick out to you. You have to grab the stick then they lower you into the boat and unstrap you and pull you into shore. There are a bunch of steps back up to the viewing platform. Tif was going right after me so I hustled up to see. By the time I got to the top my heart was pounding out of my chest after running up a steep hill and erm, jumping off a bridge. I got a bunch of hugs and hi fives at the top and got to watch Tiffany jump.

I wouldn't say that bungy changed my life (but thanks for the talk anyway Mambo) but it was certainly nothing I EVER thought I would do. And hey, how many times will I be young and healthy and in New Zealand? Carpe diem!

(Tif has the pink hood here)