A Piece of Home

Finally, the time had come and Laura and Christine were arriving tonight. I had stayed in a hostel for one night back in Melbourne. While waiting to check into our Airbnb apartment, I spent some time at the library. I was feeling restless all day. When it finally came time to go to the airport, I was really nervous. But their flight was delayed and it took forever for them to arrive. My Lauri :) Of course, we cried and for the welcome, I brought them TimTams. Now it was time to go to the apartment and just enjoy the amazing view.

We did a lot on our first day in Melbourne. First, we went to Queen Victoria Market, then we walked around the city and went to the botanical garden. In the evening, we met up with one of Laura's friends who works here as an au pair. We had a nice dinner at a bar by the river.

The next day, we had to pack our bags again because we were going to Tasmania. Tasmania is an island south of Melbourne and it's still part of Australia. The flight took just one hour. We waited longer at the airport for the staff to find the stairs to let us off the plane. Since we had to book the airport shuttle in advance, we didn't know how to get to the city cheaply. A taxi would be very expensive because there's always an extra charge to or from the airport. But according to Google Maps, there was a bus stop down the road. So we went on foot. The way was quite long and hilly, but a kind Australian woman stopped and took us to the nearest bus station. From there, we only needed to take one bus for $3.30 and we were there. Once we arrived at the hostel, we went shopping quickly and spent the evening planning our stay.

In Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, we walked along the harbor and booked a kayaking tour in Coles Bay.

I had booked a car with a rooftop tent in advance, which we planned to use to explore Tasmania. But first, we had to pick up the car. Of course, the rental office was not in the city, but far outside. So we took the bus there. Since it was Monday and apparently all the tourists leave on a Monday, it was very crowded and it took forever for us to finally get the car. I'm used to driving on the other side of the road by now, but I haven't driven a manual car in months. And Tasmania is very hilly. So I had some difficulties driving the car, which annoyed me a lot.

Our first stop for the day was Mt. Wellington. From the top, we had a great view over Hobart. Back in the city, we went shopping and I needed to buy a sleeping bag. Then we started our route.

Hobart is located in the southeast of Tasmania and we want to drive up the east coast and make a round trip. For our first day, we planned to visit Richmond. There's a beautiful bridge there and around the corner is a cute little church, which we also visited. Since the next free campsite was a bit far, we stayed at a paid campground in Richmond. There were proper toilets, a cooking area, and even a "Games Room". This was our first night in the tent. The tent is supposed to be for 3 people, but it's a bit tight.

The next morning, we headed to Coles Bay. From there, there are several hiking trails, including one to Wineglass Bay. Since we had booked a kayaking tour for 5:30, and it was already 13:30, we didn't have enough time to go down there and postponed it to the next day. Right behind the Visitor Centre, there was a beach where we spent our time. Unfortunately, I received a message that the kayaking tour was canceled due to wind conditions. So we waited there for nothing. We went to the next campground and prepared our dinner there.

A disadvantage of free campsites is the toilets. Pit toilets. For me, it's already normal and not a big deal. But the other two weren't thrilled and couldn't get used to it. On this campground, the toilet smelled worse than anywhere else.

We were able to book the canceled kayaking tour for the next day and got up early to do the hike to Wineglass Bay first. Christine enjoys hiking and has been to Austria several times, so she chose a different path up to Mt. Amos. Laura and I went down to Wineglass Bay. But first, we had to go uphill to get a nice view of Wineglass Bay from a lookout point. We were already out of breath and relieved when we finally went downhill. Personally, I didn't find the beach so spectacular, I liked the view from above better. The name comes from the fact that whales used to be killed there and the water was red. Since the bay is round, it looked like a wine glass.

Just 30 minutes after we went down, Christine arrived as well. The hiking trails always have an estimated time for the hike. Christine clearly surpassed it. Now we had to go all the way back up and my god, I was exhausted afterwards. Unfortunately, the tour was canceled again and we drove to another campground. This one was right on the beach. Beautiful beach and you could hear the waves all the time. But that's also why I couldn't sleep well at night.

We wanted to watch the sunrise the next morning, so the alarm went off at 6:15.

No words needed here.

After breakfast, we went to St. Columba Falls. Everything here looks like the Black Forest, a total contrast to what I've seen so far. I feel somewhat at home here. But the other two are here to see something else.

We went to Launceston to take a shower. There are free showers there. From there, a hiking trail starts. Christine wanted to do this one. But Laura and I weren't so keen on it. Luckily, there was also a lake and a small swimming pool, both free. So we went swimming while Christine went hiking. Later, we all took showers and went to the campground.

But unfortunately, it started raining and you could already see the thunderstorm approaching. Apart from the fact that I really don't like thunderstorms, I think it's not entirely safe to sleep in a rooftop tent in a thunderstorm. So we drove in the other direction and found another paid campground. Since it was already close to sunset, we just made our dinner.

We had a night without thunderstorms, but a train passed by the campground. Loud, with the horn, in the middle of the night. So I couldn't sleep well. Anyway, after breakfast, we went to Liffey Falls. The road there was a nightmare. We drove downhill on an unpaved road for a few kilometers. The road was so narrow that it was hardly possible to let two cars pass by each other. Just the thought of driving back up this road later stressed me out. Due to lack of sleep, I was also very emotional, and I was relieved when we finally made it back up safely. On the way to the next campground, there was a small lake called "Pine Lake" right by the main road, and the trail wasn't too challenging either. The campground was behind a pub and we were able to use the toilets there.
We discussed our route in peace. We were faster than I thought. In the end, we had a plan that everyone agreed to, and so the next day we went to Devonport.

Once we reached a big city, it always meant shopping and showering first. We didn't do much more there and continued to the next campground. This one was in the forest and it really looked like the Black Forest. After dinner, we took a walk there.

Of course, there's not much sun in the forest and it was really cold at night. So for breakfast, we went to a park in the next town. Our next stop was Stanley. There was a trail up to "The Nut". The trail went very, very steeply uphill and was really exhausting for me. But once we reached the top, the view was absolutely fantastic. The pictures look like they're painted. When we came back down, we walked along the beach for a while. We spent the night at the campground behind the pub again.

From there, we could take a great day trip to Cradle Mt. National Park. Christine took a more challenging trail again, while Laura and I walked around the lake. We even had to sign the hiking register, stating which trail we took, when we started, etc. My list of things I've done for the first time is getting longer and longer. Back at our campground, we took showers and enjoyed the sun for a bit. We don't know what it is, but we always have a great mood at this campground and were sad to leave in the morning.

This time, we had a long car ride ahead of us. After 3 hours, we arrived in Strahan and visited the Hogarth Falls. Then we went to the Nelson Falls, which we think is the most beautiful waterfall. Unfortunately, the next campground was full, so we had to go even further to find a paid one. But the next day, we went to Lake St. Clair, another hike. But we weren't so impressed by the national park.

On the way back to Hobart, we stopped at Mt. Field National Park. We visited the Russell Falls and the Tall Trees. We saw some wallabies, which are small kangaroos. But unfortunately, we didn't see the Tasmanian devil.

Back in Hobart, we did our laundry at the hostel, washed the dishes, went shopping, and took showers. In the evening, we tried some local beers at the bar. Of course, they can't compare to German beer.

The next day, we had to return the car. But before that, we had to vacuum the car and drive it through the car wash. We wanted to clean the car with the pressure washer, but the hose had a few cuts, so we ended up getting wet. Luckily, it was warm outside. The car wasn't spotless, but we did what we could. I was worried that the car rental company would find something to complain about and charge us for it. But everything was fine and it didn't even take 5 minutes until we were on our way again. Now we had to take the bus back to the city. Unfortunately, we just missed the bus and had to wait 45 minutes in the blazing sun. We have some problems here in March. :D

In the hostel, I entered all the expenses into my nice Excel sheet. After dinner and a game of foosball, it was time to pack our bags again because we were going back to Melbourne tomorrow. Suddenly, we all had more space in our backpacks and no one knows why.

Since our flight was at 17:00, we stored our luggage in the luggage room and went to the Salamanca Market. Beautiful market with nice things. We bought some souvenirs and tried the Australian dessert Pavlova. We planned to take the bus as far as possible to the airport and then take a taxi because it's cheaper. But we didn't consider that it was Saturday and the buses had a different schedule. So we were standing at the bus stop where we had to change buses and no bus came. But even with a taxi from there to the airport, it was still cheaper than taking the shuttle bus. Back in Melbourne, we stayed in the same Airbnb apartment as before and just quickly went grocery shopping.

The next day, we went to the Queen Victoria Market again to buy souvenirs and vegetables for our stir-fry. In the evening, we skyped with home. This time, Laura was on the other side.

Their time in Australia is coming to an end, and we used the time to go shopping. So we spent a whole day buying some clothes, but also many souvenirs and gifts. I didn't plan to buy so much, but once you start...

For tomorrow, we booked stand-up paddling in St. Kilda, the suburb of Melbourne where I was for Christmas and New Year's. Stand-up paddling means standing on a surfboard and paddling to move forward. So we had to get up early and go to St. Kilda. We had actually booked a group lesson, but no one else had booked for this morning, so it was like a private lesson. After a short introduction, we were able to paddle on our own. It wasn't that difficult and it was a lot of fun. After a while, my soles hurt though. Afterwards, we enjoyed some time at the beach, and in the evening, we went to a bar for a farewell beer. But it was already late by the time we found a good bar, so we didn't stay long.

Today, the two of them had to go back to Germany. After we left the apartment, we sat in the park with our luggage, and the two of them bought another batch of TimTams. I told you, those things are addictive.

The two of them went to the airport again, and I went to my new hostel to check in. Unfortunately, it took forever to finally get to the airport. Just as I arrived, they had to leave. But I didn't want to let them go...It was really strange not to fly with them. I walked around the shops and then went back to the hostel.

And just like that, they're gone again. I've been looking forward to this for so long, and now the three weeks are already over... We were really lucky with the weather, not a single day of rain in Tasmania, which is very unusual. We did a lot of hiking, more than ever before. We had bad mood days, but also a lot of fun. Apparently, I missed a few good songs from Germany and couldn't sing along loudly in the car. But I also realized how much has become normal for me. Driving on the left side of the road, the sound of pedestrian traffic lights, hostel life, hearing only English from all sides, and hearing "G'Day. How are you?" from every direction.

Now it's time for me to enjoy the last few days in Melbourne and make plans for what's next.