Day 3. After spending another comfy night in our little campervan we woke up to a brisk morning, perfect for an 11km hike around Freyicent National Park. The hike took us through the forest, which had large red block like rocks displaced throughout. We then headed to Wineglass Bay a very popular but secluded beach in Tasmania where we had beautiful views of the calm bay. The trail continued through to another forest section leading to Hazards Beach, a second beach on the other side of Wineglass Bay with rougher water. Along the way we enjoyed the views and loved seeing the wild wallabies bounce through the bush. After the hike we made our way inland to Mount Field National Park, a park known for its incredible diversity. The atlas we were using to get around highlighted the town of Ross as a great spot to stop for a break and it didn't let us down! Ross is a quaint town off one of the main highways with cute bakeries, antique shops and an old gas station lining main street. We visited one great bakery where Andrew bought a special beef pie (very popular in Australia), however this one was wasn't the traditional pie shape, but was shaped in a triangle with the top squeezed together in a hand shape. The baker explained that this was the traditional way miners wives use to bake them, one side was filled with savoury meat and the other with a sweet pie mix. The pie was shaped with the top formed this way in order for the miners to hold it with their dirty hands, eat it and then when done they could just the throw away the top bit. In addition to the bakery, we also visited an interesting tourist information centre with a large exhibit on wool production. Once we had poked around there we headed to Ross's last attraction the historic bridge which is the third oldest bridge built by convicts and still used in Australia. Two of the convict labourers were stonemasons who were later credited for their intricate designs and carvings alongside the bridge. It took the majority of the day to get to Mount Field National Park so we re-stocked our food supplies along the way in the town nearest to the park. Once we had arrived we realized the park office was closed so we decided we would head up the mountain to a parking lot set next to the Tall Trees walk where we ended up staying for the night. The road up the mountain had lots of warning signs regarding not driving in the evening (had no other choice really) and to be cautious of icy conditions. ICE? But we are sleeping in a unheated camper van! Although it was a Saturday night we were the only ones up there; a tad chilling as it was very windy, dark and we were surrounded by monstrous trees. We decided we would do the tall trees walk in the dark with our headlamps. It was a short 1 km walk with informative signs posted throughout explaining the tall tree ecosystem and their incredible size. The signs explained that the swamp gums, eucalyptus regnans, are the largest flowering tree in the world and have been growing before 1642. After our walk we made some food, drank some Tasmanian wine and hunkered in for the night listening to the howling wind. We woke up to a think fog around the van, we decided that we would continue up the mountain road where we would start a long days hike to see some of the parks diversity. Up and up we drove eventually leaving the fog below us, which lead to amazing views of the surrounding area. The park is hugely diverse, at the bottom there are massive tress surrounded by very lush damp rainforest. As the winding road continued up we could already see a huge difference in the plant life and moisture content. Mount Field is unique in that plant diversity increases as you increase in altitude which is usually not the case in other mountain ecosystems. The hike was incredible. It traversed up on to a mountainous plateau and across several different eco systems. At one point we lost the track but a little bit if route finding got us back on track. The walk ended up taking a bit longer than we expected and we found ourselves returning to the camp near sunset. We had't planned on where we would be sleeping next so we thought we would just drive out of the national park towards the next nearest town and camp near the town for the night. Day 5 - Although the park was beautiful it was quite cold to sleep high in the mountains so we drove down to the closet town and free camped for the evening in a back street. In the morning we drove to Bonorong Wildlife Park where we had a lovely time making new kangaroo friends and finally meeting a Tasmanian Devil! After the wildlife park we continued making our way to Hobart but stopped off at the Cadbury Chocolate factory where we enjoyed a heavenly delicious hot chocolate, loaded up on reduced priced goodies and learned about Cadburys processing history. Unfortunately we didn't get to go on a tour through the factory which you used to be able to go on. Big changes to come now that Kraft owns Cadbury. Last we heard they were planning on changing their chocloate composition to 50% rubber. Our last stop before returning the van was a drive through Hobart and up to Mount Wellington. From the top we were surprised to see the smoke from a nearby forest fire. The view from the top was fantastic! Tasmania is a really beautiful place with immense diversity and variety. We had an amazing time and definitely felt 5 days wan't enough to even scratch the surface. We'll have to return again to enjoy more of the scenery, hikes and National Parks. It is very different to mainland Australia and we highly recommend it!
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View Full Size Travel Map at Travellerspoint Day 1 - Newcastle - Hobart - Tasman National Park Our Aussie friends had sold us on visiting Tasmania; they had explained it was a beautiful part of Australia with massive diversity and a real different feel to the main land, so we were totally stocked to see it for ourselves. Friday early morning we jumped out of bed to catch our 6:00am flight to Hobart with a connection through Melbourne. Once we were on our flight to Hobart the pilot had suggested there might be some turbulence near Hobart and he wasn't kidding! As the plane descended though the clouds we felt like we were at Canada's Wonderland on a roller coaster ride! Once we were through the cloud cover we safety landed to the Land truly down under. Our first moments in Tassie we experienced some of the beauty of the land and people that all the Aussies had told us about. Everyone was super friendly and on a much more relaxed pace than the main land (which is already pretty relaxed). Shortly after our flight arrived, we were picked up at the airport and taken to our van rental where we were introduced to our campervan, which would be our wheels and home for the next four nights! After researching different van companies we went with Devil Campers because truthfully their prices couldn’t be beat and there were no terrible reviews online. We didn’t have high expectations; for the price we expected the van to be more or less ghetto but we were pleasantly surprised that everything was clean and functioning! The owner showed us around to all the neat and funky features. It was a pop-top campervan that had a mini kitchenette with a sink, gas stove, fridge, cupboards and even a small closet with clothes hangers! Along the back walls were two benches and a table that we could set up during the day. During the evening the benches flattened into a comfy double bed, above the bed was a storage area that also converted into a double bed however we used it to store all the bedding. At the other end of the van, above the car seats was another storage area where we put bags and food while driving. Once we got acquainted with the van we set off for another adventure and headed to the infamous Tasman National Park, 100 km south east of Hobart. Although the distance wasn’t very much the roads are very small and winding so we had to take our time. The roads are also covered with road kill… yuck! Unfortunately locals drive very fast and with there being so many nocturnal animals road kill is inevitable. The scenery to the park was beautiful, the road followed the coast with great lookouts along the way. Once we got near the park we turned down a 14 km unsealed or better known at home as dirt road, which led us to where we’d be staying. As we drove the whole van rattled away, we kept our fingers and toes crossed hoping we wouldn’t break down as we had just signed a document stating we wouldn’t drive on unsealed roads… woops! It was well worth the risk, the campsite was set in a beautiful area right on the waters edge in a bay with ocean access for the lucky people with boats. We hadn’t pre-booked so we were happy to hear that it wasn’t fully booked up, all other campers were there fishing and had great big ocean fishing boats rigged with heavy duty fishing poles. Once we got settled we set out on our first Tassie hike. On the way we ran into some fisherman who had gotten back and were preparing their dinner. The hike took us through the forest and then opened up to viewpoints looking out onto the bay where the campsite was set. We kept climbing and then veered off course to where the Ranger had suggested we sit to watch the moon rise. We caught it at the perfect time, just as the sun set this massive ball of fire rose over the ocean and lit up the area. We stayed enjoying the moonlight until our bellies started to rumble, when we finally decided to head back. Good thing we brought our headlamps as it was night dark. The trail was pretty easy to maneuver in the dark and we were only spooked once when a little wallaby jumped out onto the trail and hopped along with us for a bit. Once we were back at camp we made a delicious pasta dinner then headed to bed to wake up for sunrise. As our alarms went off on Sunday morning we decided it was a better idea to stay in the warm bed and watch the sun rise over the bay instead of hiking to see it rise over the ocean. We did go for a little of a walk to get some views but then returned and made our way to the next park, Frecyinet National Park. The drive between the two parks took a good portion of the day as we would stop at lookouts, for food and at one berry and chocolate farm where we spoiled ourselves with delicious chocolate and beautiful views of the park in the distance. Once we arrived in the park we decided to head out on a small hike up to a nice lookout of Wineglass Bay, a beautiful bay with a pristine beach stretching in the shape of a wine glass. After our hike we settled into our campervan spot then headed out to the local pub for some grub. Being in the area known for it’s salmon I had the wild salmon and Andrew ate the the Sunday roast, the food wasn’t anything special but the atmosphere and people were friendly and hospitable. During our first few days in Tasmania we experienced lots of beautiful scenery, super friendly people and the awesomeness of having a mobile home! Stay tuned for the second part of our Tasmanian Adventure!
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