Get to know beautiful and wild Tasmania with very useful tips!
Part 1
Hello travelers and welcome to the next story in Australia and more specifically Tasmania. It is known as the smallest state and even the aussies sometimes forget it exists :))
Let’s start, when is the best time to come over here?!
The best time is in December/January. At this time is the hottest in Australia, but down here is nicer!
I came by plane from Sydney. The planes inside Australia are quite affordable 😉
Also there is a nice ferry which I used to go out from here and go to Melbourne.
So, here is how it looks like Tasmania from the plane and on the airport.
My first stop was Hobart – the biggest city here. I was lucky that I went there in their summer vacation and there were cheap student houses, because it is more or less a student city. Otherwise would be very difficult to find something cheap and good.
Well, as I’m an ecotraveler and as well I like to travel cheap, so I can travel as much as I can… I bought a 100$ bike from Kmart. That was great deal until…..I found out that Hobart is not the best city for a bike :))) The streets are VERY narrow, so sometimes you had to push it. Otherwise the city was very nice, very calm, but more or less Aussies go there to retire. So, when there are no students, the city is very very…calm.
So, that was my cool student house, where I met phd and master students who came earlier to settle down before the studies. I liked it. It was peaceful and relaxed 🙂
There was a mountain very close to the city, which reminded me of Sofia, Bulgaria!
It’s called mount Wellington! It is beautiful with a great viewpoints. Let me better show you!
guess, what’s that?
After 2 weeks in Hobart it’s finally time to get out from here!
Before hitting the road let me give you a few tips:
Tip: The best way to travel around Australia is a car as there is not so good connections with buses, trains, planes and there is so many places that you just must stop and enjoy! So, car is your choice, the best is 4wd as the roads sometimes are very narrow and sandy.
Tip: When you buy a car go to a mechanic and give him around 100$ to make a checkup of the car! It will be very unpleasant if you are in the middle of nowhere and your car get broken and you should wait for help hours if you have connection of course! Of course make sure the car is big enough you can sleep inside! There are very often free campsite around Australia.
Tip: But be careful you can’t go on self contained campsite, you could get fined! There is application which shows you free campsites near you called CamperMate
Tip: Telstra mobile operator is with best coverage
Funny story – My first car :
My first dealing with the car was a Holden, from an Indian guy. He was software engineer, very smart and nice! His car was not bad for a few days. I took a few hundreds down and we made a deal! I had my first car in Australiaa!!! Holden Vectra! The Australian version of Opel!
Yeah, yeah, it’s shiny, isn’t it?!
In Australia is so easy to change the ownership and get insurance of the car! Everything is online! I was very happy!
I changed its tires as they were bad, wash it, fuel it up and started enjoy the city and once the surroundings. I went to mount Wellington with it. I felt how I will have great time with this car in Australia! BUT, now the culmination is coming up…on the way out of Hobart, something like 50km as I was driving happily outside of the city….the engine heat up very bad, it went up to over 100 degrees, so I stopped the car… my cooling system was out. I couldn’t start the car at the moment. After 30 minutes it could start and it was fiine for about….3km, and then it should again heat down for another 30-40minutes. I leave to you the calculation how long I needed to come back to the city and try to fix it. So at the evening I was at the city, I found some Airbnb to sleep and on the next day I went to mechanic. The engine was “cooked” – so to fix the car was way more than I paid for it! So, I had my first car in Australia for around 6 days! 😀 I called to the Indian guy and told him he has sold me broken car, so after some negotiating he returned me 60% of the money! That was as so unexpected! In the meantime I was looking for another car, as I needed it very urgently! The search was very organized as I had only 3km and then 40 min wait for another 3km haha I am a problem solver, so I’ve checked at least 10 cars for 3-4 days! But then I fined my car for Australia – Subaru Forester, which served me well! Here it is bellow!
I could return the old car for scrap for 120$! But I should rent a truck to deliver it, so it was better to leave it on the street. Anyway, I didn’t want to do that, I preferred to recycle it, but I could do even better! I find a new owner! I sold it for 100$ to some aussie mechanic with very tough australian accent :)) . Enough to fill up the tank of the Subaru, which I hustle it on very very good price 😉
So, noow it’s time to hit the road with my second car and my first stop is Gordon Dam!
It’s really huge and amazing. What surprised me is that I could walk around the wall…woow check it out below!
140 meters arched wall is holding 272 square kms of water. Lake Gordon is combined with lake Pedder and they provide the largest supply of fresh water in Australia!
Afterwards I was very excite to sleep in the car! It was very cool and comfy!
Next stop is Strahan!
On the way I stopped on a very nice abandoned old gold mine!
So, Strahan was my next stop in south Tasmania! Tip: Don’t get too confident in these sands, as unbelievably I got stuck and bigger 4wd should pull me out of the sands haha anyway it is always good to meet new people! 🙂 For here I should pay a couple of dollars to use the campsite, but I just passed so I could sleep on the beach :)) The place is called Maquire’s Head in South Tasmania! There were many 4wds that were riding around the beach side was veery very long, but I didn’t want to try my luck and go to the end!
After Strahan and the beach it is time to go North to see the Tasmanian Devil in a sanctuary and Craddle Mountains!
Before that I’ve decided have a rest in an AirBnb room after a couple of nights spent in the car. Funny but by accident I’ve reserved a room in a farm full of animals,flies, snakes and old outside shower, and toilet… everything included… 🙂 No AC, no Wi-Fi and no mobile data included too 🙂 . Despite that I was happy to cook some nice meal and spent time with horses and dogs :))
In Craddle Mountains Sanctuary they are saving hurt animals mostly from the road. In Australia is very common to hit and kill animals on the road. The wildlife especially in Tasmania is very very rich and I saw all the time dead animals 🙁 Anyway the positive thing here is there are Sanctuaries where they safe injured animals, so it was well spent money. Way better than supporting the Zoo.
How to prepare for hiking to the top of Craddle Mountains?
Well, first let me tell the tracks in Australia in general are very well marked!
The trek from the parking to the top and back is officially 8h, but I expected to do it for 5h maximum…very stupid, but in other tracks I was almost twice faster as they said, but this time I was wrong! That was my first mistake. Second was to take only two bottles of water – 2x600ml for 8h ot trek in the summer it’s ridiculously not enough.
1.Prepare for 8h trek, where the last 1h and a half is mostly climbing and rocks
2.Take with you at least 3l of water!
3.Take comfy shoes.
4.Suns cream at least 50 protection.
5.Follow the route (it’s well marked)
There is a route just around the lake and a rout to the top. You are walking around the lake for around 40-50 minutes and then you start to climb! As I was climbing, enjoying the views and drinking my water, I almost finished mine on the way to the top…and the way back was very extreme without any water, but anyway I learned me lesson…Don’t underestimate hiking and bring water as much as you can!
Anyway a few times I was thinking that the hike was over, but when I asked is the top close they are saying….mmm not another 20 minutes…and that happened at least 3 times haha 🙂
After all I grit my teeth and I conquered the top! It was so fascinating and amazing, that I firstly couldn’t believe it!
However hard is the hike, the top is always a pleasure to enjoy!
Tip: Stay for the sunset down near to the parking. Having your dinner(sandwich snacks, whatever you have) on the rocks near the lake and watching the sun going behind the mountains is just must do!
Well, I’m going to finish here part 1 of my adventure in Tasmania!
Thanks for reading and see you in part 2, where I am going to have lots of adventures, funny problems, visiting another beautiful places and in the end getting the ferry to Melbourne!
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