12/01/12
Alanah's Comments



Hello everyone, I thought that I would write a few words  and tell you about my 12 day exerience travelling and camping around Tasmania with opa!! 


My flight to adelaide was good I slept most of the way, it was quite a comfy flight as i had the window seat and a spare seat to the right of me! so i was able to lean against the window and kick my feet up :) you can feel sorry for the poor bloke on the other side of  the chair if you have ever smelt my feet!


Opa picked me up from the airport and took me back to the room he had stayed the night in, but i was too excited to get started on our adventure that i couldnt sleep! so we decided to head off. turns out i was tired and dosed off a few time on the ride to the roaches  (Bretts parents) which i was able to do because the road was so straight (my kinda of road!!)


Finally we made it to Bretts parents ( kate & Gorden) it was a really hot day so we were happy to arrive, but even happier we found they had the AC running and gave us both a big glass of cold water. They are both lovely people very welcomimg!!! they also had a lot of animals, which opa kept suggesting to eat!! later that evening, once it had cooled down kate and i went to see all the animals while opa and gorden had a manly conversation about...who knows what??


The next day riding to Melbourne, it was really hot! so i was always happy when we pulled into a servo to get a cool drink. in the heat, it took what seemed about forever to reach the GOR , amazingly, as soon as we arrived the temperature dropped a few degrees making it a lovely ride with great veiws and some knee trembeling turns!


By the time we got to Melbourne it was after 2100 so we went straight to the apartments we were staying in. I think we both slept well that night!


It was nice staying the two nights in melburne because it meant i could sleep in and recover from the long trip that we had endured. it also meant that we could check out the markets and have a nice relaxing day eating lots of yummy food.


Opa and i were both pretty excited to catch the ferry, it meant that our Tasmainian adventure was really about to begin!! I was a little worried about getting motion sickness and about there not being enough food to last me the night. turns out there was nothing  to worry about! neither one of us slept really well, there wasnt very much room to get too comfy. 


We were both a little tired after the long boat ride and were thinking about staying the night in Devonport but ended up driving to Launceston because we had to do the hang gliding the next morning


We stayed at a cheap motel? called Batman Fawkner, opa pointed out that the tv wasnt flat screen (im pretty sure the tv was older than him :-) but that didnt matter because we were both pretty wrecked. so we went for a bit of a walk around, had some tea and went to bed.


The next morning we didnt get to hang gliding as expected becasue opas bike broke down  :( but no worries we went for a lovely stroll around town, down the harbour where we each ate an ice cream and then opa suggested going for a relaxing walk up to see the old buildings (made in 1979 they were pretend old buildings) turns out we went the wrong way! we didnt see any buildings pretending to be old, but we did find ourselves taking a massive hike up what seemed like thousands of steps! it was actually alot of fun :) although im not sure opa will agree with me. Launceston turned out to be a bit of fun we got to see a bike museum watch a few movies ( sherlock holmes and tin tin) and also explore te best places to eat!!


The next day i convinced opa that we could walk to hang gliding, on the way we stopped at a shop. we told the lady behind the counter of our plan and she was quite negative, said that she is a walker and that it is 100% impossible to do. set a challenge for me!!! opa not so much, but i tell you what i must have batted some serious eyelashes or be really convincing because he agreed  that we could give walking a shot. My o my it was a long walk it even left me feeling a little sore, imagine how poor opa felt! hang gliding was fun but it was over too fast. if i could make some suggestions it would be to lengthen the ride and put a bigger drop below to make it that much more thrilling.


Opa's bike was going to take time getting fixed so we hired a car and went to Coles Bay so we could do our kyaking tour. it was nice there and the beach looked lovely.  we set up our tents if you have ever heard the story of the three little pigs my tent was the one made of straw (which was up really quickly!!) and opas was the one made out of bricks ( so it took a little longer to put up). then we went for a walk along the beach, i even went for a swim!  it was freezing... turns out our kyaking tour was cancelled because the sea was to choppy so we booked it for another day.


Because Coles Bay is so small there wasnt much keeping us there so we went for a drive to Bicheno! i got car sick on the way so had a nap to try avoid getting any worse! the driving and the sickness was well worth it Bicheno was lovely. we went for a nice walk along the rocks took a few pictures had some lunch and then headed to the bay of fires. i got quite sick in the car and was happy when we finally arrived. Opa preferred bicheno because of all the granet but i liked the bay of fires because of the lovely beach. it was so nice that the white sand and small waves pulled me in. 


The kyaking tour was really good, hard on the shoulders at times but LOTS of fun! getting out wasnt so fun, the beach was really windy and i was soaked. i was cold to say the least.
After the kyaking we had a big amount of driving to be done. i ended up gettiing some wrist bands to help me not get so sick and thank golly they worked! i slept alot of the way :) so the drive was a lot longer for opa than it was for me... he loved the drive though and was really impressed with some of the corners.


Riding to hobart was an experience!! i dont think i have ever been so cold in my life. it was raining and windy and some stupid temperature. we were both really happy when we got to our campsite and were able to grab a warm bite to eat, set up our tents and have hot hot hot showers mmm :)


Today is my last day in tasmania although  it wasnt the holiday i was expecting at all!!! i had alot of fun learnt alot and got to spend some quality time with opa that i never would have been able to do otherwise. i am looking forward to coming home because i miss family and definatly the weather but i am really glad that i have been able to have this experience. i will definatly miss opa im getting used to having him around all the time and im sure he is going to have a great adventure!!