Hobart, Tasmania

March 22
Hobart, Tasmania

Today was another day off the ship with the fotogs, but instead of looking for exotic animals, the plan for today was to rent a car and go driving well outside the city for a much more scenic look at south Tasmania.
I’d originally gotten off the ship with Terry and was instructed to meet at some shop around 12 to pick up my ride. I walked around the city for the morning, got a cappuccino, and then waited at the shop for 20 minutes waiting for my group to pick me up. After 20 minutes of bewilderment, I decided to start walking hoping to run into them driving through the city somewhere, and by pure coincidence, I made the right turn at just the right time and found them within 5 minutes of searching. Apparently the fotog who gave me the instructions completely forgot where and when he told me to meet him. No harm done though, and 6 of us squeezed into a car meant for 5 and we started the excursion.
I was kind of hoping to drive and actually was almost needed to rent the car seeing as I have a license from an English speaking country, but the honors instead went to the Canadian who had slightly more experience driving on the left side of the road. That was probably for the best.
After getting turned around by a confusing highway system, we eventually made it onto the right road and drove over an hour to our destinations. The first of these points was tessellated cove, or something like that, which is a long slab of rock separated by straight lines into a remarkable grid, all naturally occurring. Something about the salt water breaks the stone in long straight lines, resulting in an interesting picture of square and rectangular stones perfectly aligned.
That was followed by the “blow hole”, an inlet from the ocean that flows through a cave and opens up to a large hole in the ground, one that focuses the waves and causes large splashes to shoot up over the hole. It wasn’t exactly as exciting as I’d hoped, but it was still good for a few pics and much better than sitting in my cabin. We then did some hiking around the area, jumped a few fences, walked along some gorgeous cliffs, and just enjoyed this part of the world. It was a really nice time, and seeing as we had our own car, it was extremely laid back as we didn’t have a schedule. Everyone was having a great time. This was followed by a lunch from a lunch stand where I got a smoked salmon sandwich, one that was surprisingly delicious, even more so considering I don’t necessarily like fish.
This was followed by one more quick stop to Devil’s Kitchen, where we quickly snapped some pictures of the cliffs and rock formations only to run back to the car and speed our way back to the city. The driving was great though and is always, as I believe, one of the best ways to just get a feel for the area. My favorite part of the drive though wasn’t the scenery or the freedom, but the signs. Where we have deer crossing signs with sketches of deer, they show sketches of kangaroos and Tasmanian Devils...neither of which were seen, but just the possibility of seeing them was enough for me. The drive back went fine, my Canadian friend adapted to the roads very well, and soon we were back in Hobart dropping off the car.
Back in town I joined my friends for a drink, hung out for a bit, and eventually walked back to the ship. We had a later than usual departure time and the night off, meaning I had a little more time than usual to see stuff, time that I felt was well used. I’d say my first and only visit to Tasmania has been a great one! Thanks for reading!