A Day in Tasmania

On the first day of 2012, we caught the shuttle from the Falls Fest back to the Hobart Airport in the morning. We had a rental car booked for the day (not cheap!), and our flight back to Melbourne wasn't until 9pm, so we had a full day to explore Tasmania. I knew we wouldn't have time to make it over to Cradle Mountain (where most tourists go), but I wanted to see something Tasmania was known for. So after a huge buffet breakfast at a casino in the town of Hobart (to wait out the rain), we headed out to Freycinet National Park. The first thing I noticed was that Tasmania only has a few main highways that run through the country, and the roads are extremely windy with very narrow lanes. It made for kind of scary driving, but the land was pretty. There were lots of sheep in green pastures and beautiful, remote beaches. 

On the way, we pulled off the road to stop at a little winery. It happened to be Freycinet Vineyard, and they've won some pretty major awards for their wine. We enjoyed a tasting; their 2010 Pinot Noir was especially good.

After about two and a half hours, we finally made it to Cole's Bay at Freycinet National Park. Our mission was to walk to Wineglass Bay, and that's what we did. This bay is considered one of the top ten beaches in the world. It's supposedly shaped like a wine glass, though I don't really see it. I think it's a gem because it's so remote; you can't drive to it. This picture is from one of the lookout points. 

Other than the water, the hike was rather Colorado-ish with big boulders and such. Of course, we were surrounded by eucalyptus trees instead of aspens!









We walked down to the beach to get a closer look. The orange on the rocks reminded me a lot of Squeaky Beach at Wilson's Promontory. The water was a beautiful shade of blue, but when I saw hundreds of little blue bottle jellyfish (and some big clear ones) washed up on shore, I had no desire to swim at this beach!

This wallaby was hanging out on the beach. It was very friendly; I think tourists feed it. We saw another one on the trail right before the beach as well. Overall, it was a decent hike, and it was cool to see Wineglass Bay and say we were on one of the top ten beaches in the world.

On the drive back to the airport, Zack spotted an emu in the field on the side of the road, so I finally got to see one in the wild. They are such strange, big birds! We stopped in a little town for some fish and chips (for me) and fresh oysters (for Zack) and talked about how Tasmania is basically a miniature version of Australia with a nautical feel. In fact, Hobart reminded me a little bit of Seattle.

Originally we thought we'd have to make another trip back to Tasmania sometime to really see the state and get the Tasmanian experience, but we both felt satisfied with our short trip. Yes, it would have been cool to visit Cradle Mountain or tour the Cadbury Chocolate Factory (they weren't open on New Year's Day), but there are so many other places we'd like to see in Australia and beyond, so I think we've crossed Tasmania off our list.

Everyone wants to know if we saw a Tasmanian devil. The short answer is no. The long answer is that they are extremely rare to see in the wild because a facial tumor disease that has been spreading and decreasing their population. You can go to wildlife centers and such and see them there, but we'd already seen them at the zoo and Maru Animal Park with my family, so we didn't take the time to see them in Tassie. So yeah, that was our day in Tasmania and our start to 2012!

Falls Fest Fun

Over the holidays, we went to the Falls Fest. This is a music festival held every year in both Lorne (on the Great Ocean Road) and at Marion Bay in Tasmania. We thought it would be a good excuse to visit Tasmania, so we flew into Hobart on Friday, December 30 and met up with our friends Todd and Alena. This was a two day festival, so we camped onsite with 15,000 or so other people. It wasn't as crazy as it sounds, though the lines for the bathroom could be a bit annoying!

See the bubbles?

The site was beautiful. The main stage was set against the backdrop of the water and mountains, and we had HOT weather on both days. Seriously, I probably put on more sunscreen that weekend than I have in my entire life altogether. Workers were actually walking around pumping it out for free. Tasmania isn't usually known for being that warm, but it sure was when we were there.

After listening to music all day and night on Friday, we headed to the beach on Saturday morning before the afternoon acts we wanted to see. Everyone else had the same idea, and there was actually a line to get on the sectioned off area of the beach where festival-goers were allowed. We got tired of the line and followed some folks who took us on a "shortcut" which required walking through heavy brush and slogging through a chest-deep river (with our clothes and bags held above our heads) to get to the beach. People who went the normal way got to use a bridge! But it was all good; we enjoyed cooling off in the waves and playing some games on the beach. I think I even took a nap on the sand for a bit. Oh yeah, and I put on tons of sunscreen!

Some of my favorite acts from the weekend included Kimbra...

Kimbra sort of looks like Katy Perry and sounds like Jessie J.

...Young MC...

This is the guy who sings "Bust A Move"-it was hilariously awesome!

...and the Fleet Foxes.

These were the guys Zack was waiting to see all weekend.

I also liked Aloe Blacc (he sings the "I Need A Dollar" song). Other acts included Arctic Monkeys, The Jezabels, Crystal Castles, Beirut, and many more. This picture is from some crazy festival parade that went through on Saturday night. I guess there was a tent where people made strange costumes and decorations for this. Anyway, the whole festival reminded us a lot of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado, but with less of a hippie vibe. The whole festival was very well-run, and we enjoyed hearing good music in the Tasmanian sunshine and bringing in the new year with friends and thousands of other festival-goers.




If you are one of our Australian readers or happen upon this blog and plan on going to the Falls Fest, below are my helpful hints. International readers, you probably won't care about this stuff.

1. You can't bring any sort of cooking device, so you will pretty much be stuck eating the food sold at the festival. Don't worry-there are tons of choices, and they are all pretty good. And the prices are very reasonable. We were big fans of the pizza cones!
2. Bring plenty of cash. Food stalls only take cash, and the line to get drink tickets is much shorter if you're not using a card.
3. You have to get tickets to buy drinks. Again, they are reasonably priced for Australia ($5 for a beer and $7.50 for wine/spirits). Ticket lines can get long, so get your tickets early and use them later. But they are only good for the day you buy them, so make sure you only buy as many as you're going to use, or it's a waste.
4. The pink camp is the only one with showers, and the lines for them are ridiculously long in the morning. Try going in the late afternoon during some act you don't mind if you miss.
5. Bathroom lines are long at times. Don't line up behind boys (they have a urinal trough for #1s, so you know why they're in line for the toilets!). Instead, try the lines at the inner corners of the right angles; people tend to get confused there and sometimes there is nobody waiting for those.
6. Get to the beach early on Saturday morning (and it's kind of a long walk to get there), and then relax while everyone else waits in line to get on the beach.
7. Be prepared to stay up late if you want to see some of the acts. Lesser known ones start in the late morning, but some go until 3am! We chose to miss the Arctic Monkeys (playing past midnight) because we had gotten up that morning at 4am to catch our flight (and we hated the act playing before them).
8. Bring a hat and lots of sunscreen for the days. Glow bracelets and such are fun to have at night, along with warm clothes, because when the sun is gone, it gets pretty darn cold!
9. Bring or buy cheap chairs. It's wonderful to just chill on them all afternoon while listening to music. And you won't feel like you lost lots of money if you have to dump them after the festival.
10. The shuttle service from Hobart Airport to the festival site and back works well and is affordable. Rental cars in Tasmania are expensive, so not having to pay for just storing a car on site was nice. Book/pay ahead of time to make your life easier.
11. Bring or note some sort of flag/sign/marker to find your campsite. There are tons of tents, and it's hard to find yours in the maze, especially at night.
12. Bring earplugs if you can't sleep through the sound of music and/or people talking. Everyone seemed to stay up pretty late and get up very early!
13. Some people seemed to have brought their Halloween costumes. We saw Waldos (called Wally here), Mario/Luigi, a Borat mankini, a banana, a light-up suit, a gorilla, and more. Mostly these costumes were worn by guys; I think they were a strategy to get attention from and pick up girls. So if that's what you're looking to do, bring a costume I guess.
14. Stay a couple of extra days before or after the festival to visit Tasmania.
15. Have fun-it's a nice festival and a good way to visit Tasmania and do something cool for New Year's Eve!

Bogan Bingo

Before Christmas, I met up with Orla, Alena, and Todd in the CBD one night to go to a Bogan Bingo show. In Australia, the term "bogan" is a derogatory word. It's kind of equivalent to "white trash" or "hick" or "redneck" in America. So, you know how Americans have "white trash parties" where they dress up (well, dress down would be more accurate)? Well, Australians have Bogan Bingo!

Two guys with fake mullets led the show, complete with 80s rock songs to accompany various numbers that they called and little breaks with competitions to spice things up. Here is Alena rocking out on a blow-up guitar during an air guitar competition.

Orla actually won one of the Bingo games. She got a shirt, blow-up guitar, and a few other prizes. We were pretty excited to have someone from our group win!

Here are the girls posing after the show with one of the mullet guys. We all wore really dorky Christmas attire (including cheesy earrings) to go with the theme. It was a pretty entertaining way to spend a random Thursday evening before the holidays.

Christmas Dinner, Kookaburras, and a Koala

We had spent three days at the beach over Christmas but hadn't done any surfing yet, so on the morning of December 27, we packed up our camping things at Johanna Beach and headed down the Great Ocean Road in search of the perfect place to surf. We decided on Wye River. The waves were a good size, and we had fun practicing our skills. Afterward, we rinsed off and attempted to wash our hair in the beachside shower. This is the lovely knot I had to brush through after three days of boogie boarding, hiking, surfing, and no showers. Yes, it took FOREVER to get through!

Zack and I have a tradition of getting dressed up and going out for a fancy steak dinner right around Christmastime. I always get filet mignon, mashed potatoes, and creme brulee for dessert. Since Zack's now a vegetarian, he gets a fancy fish dish. Well, since we're in Australia, our Christmas dinner took on a new twist. We didn't really dress up and instead went to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant next to the pier in Lorne. Zack got some fresh snapper (it was delicious), and I got a kangaroo filet! For dessert, we had the most amazing passionfruit creme brulee. SO good!

This guy was in the tree above our tent for awhile.

There is another free campground at Wye River, off a dirt road up in the woods, so we stayed there for the night. We saw a couple of koalas, including one right near our campsite. He was making grunting noises at night, which sounded like a wild boar or something! There were also a ton of kookaburras flying around. They really do sound like they're laughing, and their calls woke us up early in the morning.

We camped near this guy!

The next day, we drove to Anglesea for some more surfing. Traffic coming from the other direction was ridiculous. Apparently everyone comes down the Great Ocean Road after Christmas, because the lines of cars (especially heading into Lorne and Apollo Bay) were insane. We were glad to head back to Melbourne after a few hours at the beach. It was a very memorable Christmas holiday in Australia spent camping and surfing along the Great Ocean Road!

Great Ocean Walk to Remember

On the day after Christmas, after some more boogie boarding in the ocean, we went for a longer hike in the other direction on the Great Ocean Walk. It starts with walking the length of Johanna Beach. A light rain and some wind came through, so this part of the walk wasn't exactly our favorite. But there were tons of pretty little purple shells, so that was kind of neat.

It started to clear up as we reached the path at the end, and we got some nice views of the beach from the other side as we went higher.

The landscape soon turned from beach into rainforest. If you see Zack in the corner of the picture above, it gives you some sort of idea of the size of these trees. It was unbelievably green and beautiful with huge ferns and other plants. The coolest part was the amount of butterflies swarming around us as we walked. It was kind of surreal having up to ten at a time just flying around your head; I've never experienced that except in enclosed butterfly gardens.

We walked until we reached an outcropping where we could see the other side of the cove and get the view seen above. In the water, Zack spotted this animal which was doing flips. At various points we could see two fins. We can't figure out if it was a turtle or a dolphin. This picture looks more like a dolphin, but it stayed in one spot and played like a turtle. What do you think?

We headed back to our campsite as the sun was starting to set. There was a kangaroo in the woods, but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture. Overall, it was a gorgeous hike, and I imagine it's one of the prettiest ones on the Great Ocean Walk.

Zack did spot these three kangaroos in a field near the campground after dinner, so here's a shot of them hopping away after we scared them!

This was our last night at Johanna Beach, because we headed out the next morning to do some surfing at another beach. We enjoyed one last beautiful sunset, and we'll always remember the place where we spent our first Australian Christmas!

Christmas Day Down Under

We spent Christmas day on Johanna Beach. It didn't exactly feel like Christmas without snow, family, decorations, etc., but we had a wonderful day!

We explored the beach and its various waterholes and rock formations...

...and we boogie boarded in the big, crazy waves.

Johanna Beach is one of the stopping points on the Great Ocean Walk, a multi-day trip you can do in about one week if backpacking or in multiple segments over a longer period of time. It stretches all the way from Apollo Bay to the Twelve Apostles near Port Campbell. In the afternoon, we hiked a small section from our campsite up to the hike-in campsite, and on the way, we got some beautiful views.

The hills and valleys were green and lush...

...and full of kangaroos! We even saw two big ones "boxing". There were over 100 of them, but the picture below is a closeup of some of the lazy ones.

This is a view of Johanna Beach from way up high. Very pretty. We chatted with a backpacking Aussie who was staying at the hike-in campsite for the night, and he taught us a little more about how to spot the rips at the beach. Johanna Beach is where the Rip Curl Pro is held when the waves aren't good at Bells Beach, so it makes sense that it was above our level of surfing!

The sun went down on our little Christmas, and we cooked up some ravioli and garlic bread for dinner before putting on some fun glow bracelets and walking down our own private beach. Merry Christmas to us!

Acting Aussie with Christmas Crackers

Happy 2012 everyone! It's time to catch up on my posts from Christmas before I get to posts about our trip to Tasmania. One Australian tradition we tried this year was Christmas crackers (also called bon bons). These are cardboard tube-type things that you break open on Christmas day. You can buy tiny or huge ones, fancy or simple ones, and they come in all different colors and designs.

Each person takes one end, and you pull. It makes a popping sound, and one end comes off. It's kind of like a wishbone, so the person with the larger piece gets to keep what's inside.

Most Christmas crackers contain a paper hat/crown (you can see Zack wearing a pink one here), a small toy, and a joke. I think we got a key chain in one and a pencil sharpener in another. Anyway, they are a fun tradition, and we enjoyed opening ours on Christmas morning while overlooking the beach!