Beck and Forest in Tasmania! April 25th to May 10th, 2003
I'm currently studying abroad at the University of Tasmania (which everyone here calls "Uni") at the Hobart campus. I had to start class again the day after Forest and I left from Melbourne.
The Hobart Waterfront at night (More...)
My flatmates, Scott and Amy, were nice enough not to mind Forest staying with us for several weeks.
While I was in my Computer Networking prac, Forest sat at the Uni bar drinking. He ended up talking to two guys of the type Aussies call "bogans", which describes: guys who drive flashy cars and holler out the windows to girls walking along the road, middle-aged guys with bad teeth and tight jeans, and anyone with a mullet. These two guys sat at the bar sculling their beer, insulting other patrons, and punching each other repeatedly in the face.
When me and my friend Matt Smith showed up, Forest was playing drinking games with the bogans and all three of them were drunk. Matt and I sat down at the bar and played a few rounds of a drinking game that involved throwing a 20-cent piece towards a beer glass and drinking the contents if the coin went in. The bogans also threw the coin at the barmaid, who was getting increasingly pissed off at them. When she bent over to pick up the coin, the bogans whistled and hollered. "All right," she said, "you two are out of here."
We walked them out of the bar, and they proceeded to stip naked and run across the parking lot to their "chariot" - a sporty ute with all their possessions loaded in the back. Matt convinced them to walk (rather than drive) to the Mayfair, a bar downtown, and the last we saw of them they were peeing happily into the road.
A few days later, Forest and I went to Amateur night at the Uni Bar, which featured many (bad) local bands. Before heading to the bar, we met my friend Claire and a couple of her friends at her house, where we drank more than was probably good for us. We all staggered off to the bar.
Am-night at the Uni Bar (More...)
Cascade brewery (More...)
While I was in class one day, Forest toured the Cascade brewery, which is right outside Hobart. The other Tasmanian brewery - Boags - is outside Launceston, the other major city. There's somewhat of a rivalry between the two cities; people from Launceston would never dream of drinking Cascade, and people from Hobart don't drink Boags.
The next weekend, Forest and I rented a car and drove up along the eastern coast of Tasmania. We stopped in Richmond, the second oldest town in Australia, where we had Devonshire tea with scones, clotted cream, and raspberry jam. There were two huge wooden mazes behind the tea shop, complex enough that I got lost in them. It was like being in the movie The Labrinth. We also saw the oldest bridge in Australia, built out of sandstone by convicts (of course).
We also took many breaks to walk along the sandy beaches. The water was a brilliant teal colour that looked tropical, although it was freezing cold.
Me walking along the Tasmanian beach, near Bicheno (More...)
We spent a day exploring the Freycinet Peninsula, a large outcropping off the eastern coast, all of which is federally protected national forest. We did a few short day hikes, including the steep climb to view Wineglass Bay. We also scrambled up some massive rocks and had an impromptu feast of crackers and cheese.
Wineglass Bay, in the Freycinet National Park in Tasmania
We stopped at Kate's Berry Farm to get the last of the season's strawberries. It involved following a long, bumpy dirt road, and on the way we saw a Volkswagon bug totally overgrown with vines, and a gorgeous rainbow.
We ended up eventually in Launceston (pronounced "LAWN-cess-tin"), the only other big city in Tasmania. We walked for several hours along the Gorge, which is a large park around the canyon carved by the Tamar River. There are dozens of winding paths, lit by globe lights and teeming with mangy-looking peacocks.
There were a lot of beautiful Bed & Breakfasts in Launceston to choose from, but we finally decided on a Victorian-style theme B&B. It was luxurious, with a jacuzzi in the corner of our room.
Related travels:
Beck and Forest in Fiji
Poppy in Australia