Tasmania!!! Hobart, Launceston and Bicheno
Door: Timo van Pelt
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Timo
13 Maart 2013 | Australië, Hobart
Finally I arrived in Tasmania. This has been the place I was dying to see from the start of my journey.
The first thing I noticed was how brown Tassie was. Apparently the weather in Tassie had been very hot and dry and all the green fields and trees Tasmania once had turned brown.
Hobart is a small town with lots of history. It was one of the first settlements of the European colonists and is even older than Melbourne. Hence Hobart is blessed with lovely Georgian architecture which you can experience when walking through the Salamanca market and battery point.
I didn't want to spent too much time here at first as Fabienne would come in a week and I still needed things to see. For that reason I left Hobart and headed out to Launceston.
As with Hobart, Launceston has a lot of atmosphere and feeling to it. It is still quite big but is surrounded by nature. For instance the cataract gorge, which is a gorge surrounded by city but you feel like you're much further away. They do have a nice swimming pool there where loads of people heap up on a hot summers day (though I don't quite get why they put it there as the you can swim in the gorge itself and is not more than 10 m away.
I spent my time here doing some short walks, reading in some parks and going to the QVMAG (Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery). It was a nice museum about a lot but I particularly liked the animal section (where you could see stuffed Tasmanian tigers) and the science part (the part where kids learn to like science in a playful way, oh my I turned in a child again).
The last days before Fabienne came I went to Bicheno, an old fishermen and whaling village. It is very small but the rocks at the beaches were wonderful. They had all kinds of colour ranging from pink to red and yellow and greenish as well.
It also is the place to go from to see Freycinet national park, famous for wineglass bay, a beautiful white beach (though far less white than Whitehaven beach).
I was walking with Julien (French guy) and we decided to do two tracks instead of one. We did not have a lot of time at wineglass bay as we had about 8-9 hours of walking to do in 6.5 hours. I was glad to not spent too much time on wineglass bay and hazards beach as what we did afterwards was just jawdroppingly beautiful.
We decided to climb mt. Amos (455 m and the second highest mountain in the hazards range). It is a very steep climb and it goes straight up the mountain. Already halfway it was astonishing to see but at the top it was just mindblowing. We had a 360 deg view of wineglass, hazards ,Coles bay and even Bicheno and the other part of the Freycinet national park. Though the nicest part still has to come. We climbed the top in 45 min, however the descent to about twice as long. For a large part we needed all four of our limbs and some parts even all five (yes, our bumbs), but we made it down safely.
The next day we walked around Bicheno again and apart from the scenery we saw the mayor (French guy as well) and two stars of the Mel Gibson movie 'mad Max', though the mayor was one of those characters. Finally we went to Hobart again where Fabiennes early arrival made me get up out of bed too early. We booked our flight into the park (yes, the only way to start the walk is to fly to the start by an ultralight) on the 15th and there I will experience if Fabienne really is a worthy walking companion (and hope that she doesn't snore, but she doesn't luckily but I still hope ;-) )
The first thing I noticed was how brown Tassie was. Apparently the weather in Tassie had been very hot and dry and all the green fields and trees Tasmania once had turned brown.
Hobart is a small town with lots of history. It was one of the first settlements of the European colonists and is even older than Melbourne. Hence Hobart is blessed with lovely Georgian architecture which you can experience when walking through the Salamanca market and battery point.
I didn't want to spent too much time here at first as Fabienne would come in a week and I still needed things to see. For that reason I left Hobart and headed out to Launceston.
As with Hobart, Launceston has a lot of atmosphere and feeling to it. It is still quite big but is surrounded by nature. For instance the cataract gorge, which is a gorge surrounded by city but you feel like you're much further away. They do have a nice swimming pool there where loads of people heap up on a hot summers day (though I don't quite get why they put it there as the you can swim in the gorge itself and is not more than 10 m away.
I spent my time here doing some short walks, reading in some parks and going to the QVMAG (Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery). It was a nice museum about a lot but I particularly liked the animal section (where you could see stuffed Tasmanian tigers) and the science part (the part where kids learn to like science in a playful way, oh my I turned in a child again).
The last days before Fabienne came I went to Bicheno, an old fishermen and whaling village. It is very small but the rocks at the beaches were wonderful. They had all kinds of colour ranging from pink to red and yellow and greenish as well.
It also is the place to go from to see Freycinet national park, famous for wineglass bay, a beautiful white beach (though far less white than Whitehaven beach).
I was walking with Julien (French guy) and we decided to do two tracks instead of one. We did not have a lot of time at wineglass bay as we had about 8-9 hours of walking to do in 6.5 hours. I was glad to not spent too much time on wineglass bay and hazards beach as what we did afterwards was just jawdroppingly beautiful.
We decided to climb mt. Amos (455 m and the second highest mountain in the hazards range). It is a very steep climb and it goes straight up the mountain. Already halfway it was astonishing to see but at the top it was just mindblowing. We had a 360 deg view of wineglass, hazards ,Coles bay and even Bicheno and the other part of the Freycinet national park. Though the nicest part still has to come. We climbed the top in 45 min, however the descent to about twice as long. For a large part we needed all four of our limbs and some parts even all five (yes, our bumbs), but we made it down safely.
The next day we walked around Bicheno again and apart from the scenery we saw the mayor (French guy as well) and two stars of the Mel Gibson movie 'mad Max', though the mayor was one of those characters. Finally we went to Hobart again where Fabiennes early arrival made me get up out of bed too early. We booked our flight into the park (yes, the only way to start the walk is to fly to the start by an ultralight) on the 15th and there I will experience if Fabienne really is a worthy walking companion (and hope that she doesn't snore, but she doesn't luckily but I still hope ;-) )
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13 Maart 2013 - 13:57
Stefan:
Hoi Timo,
Nog geen Tasmaanse duivel, tijger of Zuiderlicht? Zoek je wel goed genoeg?
En wacht even, WIE was Fabienne ook alweer? Die naam ben ik nog niet eerder tegengekomen...?
Groetjes,
Stefan -
13 Maart 2013 - 19:13
Ruud:
Hoi Timo,
wat kan jij schrijven zeg! Alsof je er zelf bij bent. Wat kun je dan al beleven op zo'n klein stukje land.
Fabienne moet je nog eens uitleggen? zie reactie boven!
Groeten
ook van Jelly
Ruud -
13 Maart 2013 - 21:04
Vincent:
Even dacht ik dat je je hoofd er bij gebruikte toen je schreef dat je vijf ledematen gebruikte. Nou ja, als het goed is gebruik je altijd je hoofd als je gaat wandelen en klimmen. Veel plezier de komende tien dagen.
Kus, papa -
14 Maart 2013 - 01:02
Timo Van Pelt:
Voor Stefan en Ruud en Jelly,
Fabienne is het meisje wat ik in Nieuw Zeeland heb ontmoet en wat naar avontuur zocht.
Ik heb haar uitgenodigd om de south coast track te wandelen en wonder boven wonder is ze nog gekomen ook. Voor een foto, kijk naar een van mijn blogs in Nieuw Zeeland. -
17 Maart 2013 - 12:53
Trudie :
Hoi Timo,
Van harte gefelicteerd met je verjaardag. We genieten van je verhalen hoor, ook al hebben we niet eerder gereageerd. Wat moet dit een geweldige ervaring voor je zijn en echt iets om nog heel vaak aan terug te denken. Fijne verjaardag en nog veel plezier de laatste weken van je reis.
p.s. knap meisje, Fabienne.
Groetjes
Trudie
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17 Maart 2013 - 14:03
Peter De Klerk:
Ha Timo,
Van harte met je verjaardag!!
En nog veel plezier met de afronding van je prachtige wereldreis!!
Hand en zoen van Peter/Cathie/Muriel/Guy -
18 Maart 2013 - 23:49
Stefan:
Hoi Timo,
Ik was gisteren niet in de buurt van een computer, en nu kom ik net terug van Japans, maar ik ben nog net (slechts?) één dag te laat met je feliciteren. Ik wilde het echt gisteren doen, maar we waren zo druk bezig met dingen voor Douwe bedenken dat ik te moe was om nog na te denken toen ik thuiskwam.
Dus, alsnog hartelijk gefeliciteerd met je 23e verjaardag! Heb je het gevierd met Fabienne?
Groetjes,
Stefan
P.S.: Je wilt niet weten hoe ik er gisteren achter kwam dat je jarig was: Ferdi sms'te me dat hij niet kon komen naar de brainstormsessie voor Douwe omdat hij FAMILIEWEEKEND had. Toen wist ik het weer: Hij kon ook nooit op je verjaardag komen XD
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19 Maart 2013 - 06:30
Irma:
Hoi Timo volgens mij gaat het heel goed met je ;-) ;-) ;-) ik heb enorm plezier gehad om je ouders in de musical josef te zien spelen je hebt wat gemist ha ha
maak een mooi afronding van je geweldige trip
groetjes irma xxx
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