Taz-Mania!!

Friday! Friday! Friday! The chant heard all around the school when the bell rang on Friday afternoon to signal the beginnings of Term Break. For me, this meant 'milkshakes' at the club and then onto the airport for my flight to Hobart and the beginnings of my Tasmanian tour.

Day 1 - Arrive in Hobart
An interesting evening considering I did nothing touristy. I rented my beautiful 6-speed Mazda 3 (sky blue) and spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out how to drive the thing. Thank God it was parked backed in as I did not figure out how to reverse until the next morning. This was my first experience driving a standard on the wrong side of the car.  Shifting with my left hand took some getting used to, but now it is so much fun.  Especially on these Tasmanian roads which twist and turn and climb and dip.  Soooooo much fun.

Once I finally made it into central Hobart and to my hostel, I checked in and went right to bed.  Unfortunately, not right to sleep. My roommate was the world champion of snorers.  I swear to God, from across the room she was shaking my bed she was so loud. I had my iPod turned up as loud as it could go, and I could still hear (and feel) the snores.  To say the least, I did not get much sleep. On the good news side of things, it meant I got an early start to my day in Hobart.

I started at the Salamanca Markets.  Very cool. Lots of need stuff.  I even managed to buy a couple Christmas presents for people. I then made my way up to Battery Point which is the centre of Old Hobart. The architecture is insane. It's no wonder everyone wants to live up here (except for the ghosts, which I'll get to later). I then made my way back to my car and drove up to the Cascade Brewery.  Unfortunately 'bookings are essential' and I was unable to go in.  Maybe at the end of my journey I'll get the tour. So I decided to go to the MONA (Museum of Old and New). This is the wierdest art gallery every.  There is everything from Egyptian art to post-modern wierdness. If you ever get to Hobart, I highly recommend it just for the experience.  I can guarantee there will be stuff that you love and stuff that you loathe. As I was driving away from the MONA, I saw that the clouds had managed to clear a little so I decided to drive up Mt. Wellington, the mountain that dominates Hobart. The mountain had been under cloud cover for the entire day up to this point. It was a 20 minute drive to the top on a winding, twisting, narrow road with few guardrails.  I almost pissed myself a few times. Once I got to the top, the views were stunning. You could see all of Hobart and the harbour. There was also SNOW! That's right snow.  I was talking to an Australian couple later that night and their daughter was so excited to see snow.  It was a first for her at the age of 8. 

Once I'd had enough of the cold, snow and gorgeous views and then headed back down the mountain and found an Irish pub to watch the 2nd half of the AFL Grand Final. The Geelong Cats won in a thriller.  They actually dominated the 2nd half. I had fun with the other patrons at the bar cheering against Collingwood (kinda the Toronto Maple Leafs of AFL, except Collingwood wins).

Now to the ghosts.  That night, stupid person that I am, I made a booking with the local ghost tour company.  This was actually quite fantastic. We walked around Battery Point with a true believer who told us all the local ghost stories.  We actually got to go underneath the Point to where they used to store the munitions.  No one else gets to see this part of Hobart's history.  This of course was the scariest place, though I had no ghostly encounters. There were some very fascinating stories to do with all the old buildings in the district and our tour guide had pictures to prove some of the sightings.  You can check them out at the Hobart Ghost Tours website if you want to see.

I headed back to the hostel and my snoring roommate.  I was actually grateful for her on this night as the ghosts stayed away and I was able to sleep a little. The next day I made my way to the Tasman peninsula and more ghosts.

More to come later......