Tasmania - June 22, 2012

Our hotel in Hobart had a kitchen, so we made delicious omelettes and sausages for breakfast before we started our long drive north.  If we had a theme for the trip, it would have to be dams.  It turns out that Tasmania is full of them, and geologists love them.  The first one we came across looked neat from the road, so we pulled up to the barricaded entrance and contemplated walking through the bush to see the dam.  At the same time, a truck from Hydro Tasmania  pulled up, opened the gate, and went in.  Justin jumped out of the car and asked if we could take a look, and they told us it was fine as long as we didn't go near the plant.  So off we went, through the woods, to see the dam. 

As we continued our windy drive, I needed a few stops to get over the motion sickness.  The first was just a nice lookout, and the second was a beautiful but gusty beach covered in seashells.

After a few hours, we finally made it to Freycinet National Park.  Our plan was to do a 2 hour hike to see a lookout of Wineglass Bay - supposedly one of the top 10 beaches in the world.  Of course, first the geologists needed to look at their new map.

We all decided that the hike wasn't especially hard (even for Kelsey who is pregnant, though I think I was the slowest of the bunch), and the view wasn't great.  We were surprised that the beach was rated so high, considering the beach we live next to is almost as beautiful.  Maybe it would have helped if it was warmer.

What really made the hike fun was our random photo shoots.  First, Justin played the evil troll under the bridge as the two billy goats gruff tried to cross.

Next, we were cavemen.

Then I tried to be a cavewoman, but I looked more like a monkey.

The hike had all sorts of beautiful trees and massive rocks, so the scenery getting to the lookout was the real gem.  Oh, and the random lounge chair was pretty cool too.

To end off the hike we had a gourmet lunch out of the back of the car, consisting of smoked salmon, cheese, crackers, chutney, veggies, and fruit.

By early evening we reached Launceston (or as we called it, L-Town, since Launceston is a weird word to say), and checked into Fiona's Bed and Breakfast.  We didn't have high expectations, but it turned out to be awesome!  The rooms were spacious with massive walk-in showers and living rooms.  We had read in our borrowed guide book that our B&B was right next to some Roman Baths, so after a cold day we decided that would be perfect.  Of course we didn't realize that our guide book was 4 years old, so the baths had actually been closed for almost 2 years.  We were majorly disappointed.

Next, we found out that the restaurant in the guide book had also closed down, so we walked to Hallam's Waterfront Seafood and gave it a try.  It also exceeded our expectations, and was very cosy and nice.  Of course we had some wine before we arrived, so Ryan decided to speak to the host in French...Kelsey and I cracked right up, but Justin was highly embarrassed, which just made us laugh even harder.  The host was a bit off put by it, but later he came back to our table to chat, so we kind of made up once he realized how much money we were spending.

Dinner was divine.  Upon Justin's suggestion, we all tried Abalone for the first time as an entre (kind of like a big scallop, but very fancy).  Sticking with the theme of fresh, Tasmanian fish, I had Trevalla with vegetables, and chocolate mousse for dessert.  All of it was amazing, and in my opinion it was probably the best meal of the trip.  When we finished eating, the boys were bugging us to take a taxi back to the B&B, but since it was only a 10-15 minute walk Kelsey and I refused.  We bet we would beat them home, so off we went.  As it turned out, the boys couldn't get a cab and ended up stopping at a pub for a pint on the way home.  Despite that, we were all still exhausted so we were in bed by 10:30pm.