Saying good-bye to Melbourne and my friends wasn’t easy. Four and a half weeks had gone by quickly. I was however very much looking forward to New Zealand as I had never been there before but had only heard good things about Aotearoa, “the land of the long white cloud”. Accordingly my expectations and excitement were very high. Continue reading
Following my visit to Tassie I went back to Melbourne where I would spend a few weeks hanging out with old mates, drinking coffee, and enjoying the sun. Continue reading
From Cradle Mountain I drove back to Launceston, where I stayed one more night at the City Backpackers. From there I went on back to the east coast. The weather had improved quite a bit and I wanted to give the beaches of Freycinet Peninsular another try. Continue reading
Cradle Mountain. Start of the famous Overland Track, a five to seven day hike. The weather statistics for this region are even less promising than for the rest of Tasmania: “Cold, wet weather is the rule in the Cradle Valley area where out of ten days it rains an average seven days, is cloudy eight days, and the sun shines all day on only one day. It snows 54 days each year, and even in summer, blizzards are not uncommon.” Hoping for the best I set off early in the morning. Continue reading
Bicheno is a sleepy little town a few kilometers north of Freycinet Peninsular. It was rather by chance that I ended up staying there; driving north from Port Arthur, it had become dark and that made it difficult to find a place to pitch the tent. Eventually Birgit and I decided to call on of the backpackers that were listed in Lonely Planet and got lucky at Bicheno Backpackers. Continue reading
Tasmania – a little island south of Melbourne, formerly known as Van Diemen’s Land. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman had been the first to set foot on the island, which was later renamed to Tasmania in his honor. During my time in Melbourne I had always wanted to pay Van Diemen’s Land a visit but had to wait another couple of years until October 2012, when after a short stop-over in Melbourne I arrived in Hobart, the capital of Australia’s smallest state. Continue reading
