Tasmania - Part 1: Hobart to Lonny

Our fourth Australian state was the island of Tasmania where we were surprised by the similarity between the landscape to the English countryside. The island is approximately 70% of the size of England but has just 1% of the population.

Our first impressions of the friendliness of Tasmanians was fantastic - the bus driver from the airport gave us student discount even though we said we weren't students; our first hostel in Hobart gave us a discount, free bed-linen and a dorm to ourselves; and we managed to get a nice little hire car for a great daily rate.

We headed North from Hobart through a number of Georgian villages rich in convict history before stopping in Oatlands for lunch. Our guidebook recommended looking at the old flour mill (built 1837) as it was undergoing a full restoration. By chance the restoration project had just been completed and we joined the first ever tour group of the mill. It was a reasonably windy day so it was great to be inside a fully-functioning windmill. On the tour was the Mill Manager, the Builder and also the local Baker who would be using the end product. Mark's interest in the mechanics of the 360-degree rotating cap on top of the windmill was equalled by Meg's interest in the types of cakes and bread which would be produced in the local bakery.

After Oatlands we continued North, stopping at "Tunbridge" so that Mark could take a photo in front of the town's sign. Tunbridge was originally a coaching stop on the Hobart to Launceston road, and was named after one its three original coaching inns, the Tunbridge Wells, which in turn was named after Tunbridge Wells in Kent. We were in the middle of a discussion about where to get a cup of tea in the deserted town, when another example of good fortune occurred - a lady who had been on the tour of the windmill drove past and invited us back to her house for a cuppa. We gratefully accepted the offer. We then continued North and stayed the night in Ross, a small town in the rolling midlands hills.

The next day we headed over to the East Coast to the Freycinet National Park. We laced up our hiking boots and set off to take on Mount Amos - part of the range of granite mountains known as the Hazards. Normally the hiking guides seem to overstate the difficulty of a hike, so when we read " ... the arduous track crosses steep and slippery rock ... can be difficult to follow ... very steep slabs of rock ... " we took it with a pinch of salt. Surprisingly it turned out to be an understatement of the difficulty and we spent much of the climb searching for foot and hand-holds to make our way to the summit of the mountain. Fortunately the panoramic views of Wineglass Bay and the ocean from the top were spectacular and well worth the effort.

After the descent we were exhausted and Mark decided to cool down his feet with a quick paddle in the sea. The coldness of the water made it an extremely quick paddle!

Next stop Launceston - which apparently is pronounced "lon-sess-ton" and not "lawn-ston" as we expected. Fortunately everyone just refers to it as "Lonny" so no need to worry!