Oct 6, 2005 - Cygnet (03/08/05)

Not a place picked from the map, but a spot to break the journey. Not much more than a village surrounded by rich farmland, it doesn't make a strong impression on you but comes across as very likeable nonetheless. Looking it up in the Rough Guide later out of curiosity, it transpires that on the quiet, there is something of an alternative scene flourishing. It is centred in the 'Red Velvet Lounge Cafe' but I only noticed that place on the way out, having already had a cup of coffee in the Mom & Pop cafe at the other end of the main...

Sep 28, 2005 - Tasmania

Sept 20-28 Here we are in the land of the "Devil" and many other strange creatures. We arrived in Hobart to find a beautiful, clean city quite like home( maybe even cleaner). It has a fantastic harbour with a few more working fishing boats than Victoria. You can buy fresh fish or stroll the Salamanca Market for some interesting gifts but nothing more fits into our packs. We stayed at the Pickled Frog and arranged to rent a Hippie Mobile to tour Tas with. The only thing missing was a lack of tye die clothing that has been replaced with...

Aug 18, 2005 - The big day is almost here!!

Hi Everyone! Well the beg day is almost here! After spending the day showing Rich and Sheree the highlights of North-West Tasmania I have spent the night at home packing the last of what I can fit and setting up this little travel diary! From here you will all be able to keep track of our travels! Hope you all enjoy our notes! Feel free to send Min or myself a line! Oh Yeah, BRING ON SOUTH AMERICA! Yoshi! Ps. The Pig is excited!

Aug 5, 2005 - Australia - Tasmania - Hobart

How ya doin', mates? We flew from Denpasar Bali to Sydney's airport overnight and hardly had any sleep because they seem to like serving food right in the middle of the night. At Sydney's Airport we had to take all our winter clothes out and go from one terminal to the other for our next flight to Hobart, Tasmania's capital city. We really enjoyed Hobart, where I felt terribly at home and even slightly nostalgic because it was so much like Norwich that I had the feeling I was going to bump into my friends Sergio, Esteve, Dario, Colin,...

Aug 5, 2005 - Tassie tales

Hobart - August 5th 2005 G'day! Can you tell what it is yet? Sorry. Wrong show! He's over there, and most Aussies deny he is Australian anyway! Just letting you know I've arrived and am staying at the Customs House Hotel if you're passing. Room number 7. Knock twice!! And now the news.... Left Ballarat this morning around 9.15 am (such information is I know of great importance to some of you so I like to be accurate) after my pilgrimmage to Ray's Outdoors. Visited his fine emporium the day before in search of an Aussie hat - leather, and...

Jul 7, 2005 - Reunited "The Sezgin Six" and TAZMANIA

We left Sydney after dropping off the "WICKED" van and taking the train to the air-port. We landed ahead of schedule in Hobart at 2:55pm, all prepared to film Peter and Wendys' reaction, but they were nowhere to be found (those buggers!). We waited and waited for about 15 mins, until Kerry told me to phone them. While I was on the phone leaving a message on the machine, I saw Peter walking down the stairs toward the airport. Quickly, I said "Good-bye, cause I found you" on the machine and then ran with the camera to start filming him. He...

May 13, 2005 - Hobart, Tasmania

Help me! Its Friday the 13th, I've just arrived in Hobart, Tasmania, and I've been given a rental car that is manual, and I'm driving through the hills on the left side of the road hoping that I don't kill anyone. I love this city already! It's SOOO beautiful. Tomorrow we're going to go to the Salamanca Market, hike Mount Wellington, and then on Sunday we're going to Port Arthur, Tasman National Park, and hopefully see a Tasmanian Devil! As it turned out, we drove to the top of Mount Wellington, and then headed over to Port Arthur. On the...

May 4, 2005 - Day 2 in Tazmainia

The next morning we woke early checked out of the hostel and picked the car up. I bent over with my backpack on to try and open the boot, as it was top heavy I fell forward on my self and the backpack came half off. Not enough to let me get out and it was too heavy for me to straighten up. Ruth was in the driver seat so I started banging on the rear bumper. She said she looked through the rear mirror one minute and I was there and the next I wasn't. She stood there laughing but eventually helped me up. At which point I realized that there...

May 3, 2005 - Arriving in Tasmainia 3/5/05-7/5/05

We woke early for our flight to Tasmania. I reduced my luggage down and got an Aussie SIM from the airport. The number is 00 61 424789918. We then boarded our flight for Hobart. WE arrived at the airport and got a bus to into the city, we booked into out YHA which was really nice and then went for a wander, round the shops and the tourist information centre. Within about 5 minutes we had both decided that Tasmania was not what we had expected. Let's just say if they had webbed feet and 6 fingers I wouldn't be surprised and in a class of 40...

Apr 6, 2005 - Hobart

hey, we are still alive in this strange little island state they call Taz! I've got so used to the idea of Oz bieng huge that to be in an island that you could drive acress in a few hours is a bit strange. We are staying at a town called Cygnet, a bit south of Hobart. We are spending our days very wisley, saving money (mostly because there is nothing to do, it is 1hr walk to the nearest shop/pub/takeaway), and picking apples. We are up at 6.30 am (yes, that does include Susan) and we are picking apples for 8 hours 5 or 6 days a week. It's...

Mar 7, 2005 - Getting to Tasmania and Port Arthur

Here I go on another adventure! I had a nice flight booked, leaving at 9pm, or so I thought! My travel agent had told me that he had made sure the hostel would be open when I got there at 11pm! in reality he had not riung ahead he had just guessed and it was not open! luckily a guy who was staying there was nice enough to let me in and said there was a spare room in his dorm! So there I slept, on the top bunk with a dirty duvet and no sheet or liner! not nice! In the morning I was being picked up at 8am and I didnt have any way of getting...

Mar 3, 2005 - Tasmania

Tazmania! Home of the Devil and the extinct Tiger. I arrived in Hobart, but it was exhausting. After missing my airport shuttle in Christchurch, I got a cab to just make my flight to Melbourne. We got into Melbourne late, my bags were the last one out of the carosel and I then had only 1 hour to make my connection. I went to customs and having declared some food and looking very suspicious as usual, they put me in the "search every little corner of everything he's got" line. Thanks! So as I waited another 20 minutes before I got totally...