We were lucky to have met Glen and Masumi in S.America, who are currently living in Hobart (Tasmania's main city). They offered to do a mini road trip with us, camping and so on...
So, Kit's 2nd night after 48 hours of travelling and 4 airplanes was spent with Team Stanford in a tent, on the banks of a river, in the sleepy town of Deloraine (murder capital of Tasmania - one murder). We enjoyed a camping meal, getting to know each other, and fielding off the over large ducks.
When two Aussies (Glen and Kit) get together, they make up LIES for vulnerable English folk who are scared they are going to die at the paws/fangs of Australian wildlife. Here are some of them:
- hoop snakes. This is a snake that puts its tail in its mouth and rolls down hill to catch you
- you can also catch a kangaroo by tying a hoop snake to some rope and using it as a lassoo
- drop bears - 5 Australians a year are killed by koalas that have eaten rocks and then jump on people
- the Tasmanian Shit Snake that lives down drop toliets in national parks
- when at the side of a lake, Kit shouted "There's a Tasmanian Porpoise!" Kara fell for this one and then killed him afterwards
- when in the tent one night we heard all kinds of screeching. Kara asked "what's that noise?" Kit: "Koala bears feasting"
- Any random large stone is designated an Aboriginal Standing Stone
These are just the ones we can remember.
So, with this mental torture we explored the West side of Tasmania. This is the mountainous side, with some alpine areas, where only stunted trees grow. Lots of mountains, nice forest, and beautiful lakes. We went on a great 20km walk one day, up into an alpine region to see some lakes. Tasmania also has a cooler climate than the rest of Australia - we did actually get snowed on one day!!(we were at over 1000m at the time).
Glen also booked us into a cabin for two nights. Think 16km away from anything. Think up a mountain. Think drop loos, outside. Woodburning fire. Pile of logs with an axe. Full moon. Up a mountain. Can you think of any better setting for a horror film? We loved our little basic cabin (one tap with running water from the local streams, no electricity, no showers) and luckily Glen was a master at getting the wood burning stove going, so we were never cold.
The other cool thing about camping was the mental wildlife we saw. These included:
- padamelons - we'd never heard of these either. They are like stunted wallabies, a bit plumper, more mouse like, and very cute. Little beggars were hopping around everywhere at night time.
- possums - cheeky little things. Their eyes glow red in the dark, which is a bit disconcerting when you pop out to the loo in the horror film setting and just see red eyes staring at you. They have no fear and even got in the car in the search for food.
- wallabies - bouncy bouncy
- cockatoos - noisy, pretty, everywhere
- platypus - conspicuous by their absence. Not for lack of trying though.
Big thanks to Glen and Masumi for organising everything, doing the driving, lending us camping gear and all round being fun and fantastic hosts.
So then to Wollongong, city south of Sydney, and the nesting place of the Chambers family. Luckily Kit's parents were waiting for us at the airport to take us to their lovely home. Ahhh. Carpet. Ahhh. Not fearing needing the loo in the night. Ahhh. A house with wifi. Ahhhh. It got even better, as not only are Kit's parents friendly and nice, but Kit's sister has offered to show us some local nightlife, and also we have acquired Nicky! Hooray! We're going easy on her today as she has just done a 24hr flight yesterday but are looking forwards to exploring and doing stuff together.l
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