Tasmania Trip Day 6 ~ Salamanca Market + Historic Richmond

Time really flies man~ Its already our 6th day in Tasmania and we'll all be heading back tomorrow. But before that, there's still 2 more places to go - Salamanca weekend market and the historic village of Richmond.

We went to Salamanca at around 9 am and started strolling along one whole stretch of stalls. There's lots and lots of stalls at this weekend market. They sell almost everything, like art & craft, clothes, books, food and wine, etc. Its something like pasar malam in Msia but its a morning market in Hobart. Haha~ And they are only open on Saturday morning! Initially we wanted to go back on Saturday but in the end, we decided to stay back for the market cos its really interesting. Lots of people were there and I like that kind of atmosphere. Haha~

My favourite stall was the House of Fudge. You guys know why? Cos they offered free tasting!! Haha~ And I seriously loved chocolates so so so much! I know I'm fat already...but lets not worry about that first...lol~ Anyway, I'm not the only one who went for the tasting ok~ Shirlin and Santiago went as well. And they can't stop trying too! Cos its very nice~ Haha~ And there's so many different flavours...so we ended up trying non-stop...

Eventually, I bought 10 bars!! But I'm not gonna finish it all by myself of course, its actually for you guys...I'm bringing back nice stuffs to share with you all ok~ Faster thank me! Haha~ Here's some pics of the stall, me and my chocolate fudges... =p

I think I skipped lunch that day...felt so full after so many rounds of tasting, lol~

After visiting the market, we joined a half day tour to Richmond, the oldest village in Australia. Since its the oldest place of all, they basically have all the oldest buildings there, like the oldest Roman Catholic Church, the oldest bridge and the oldest prison. Haha~ Here are some of the pics.

By the way, we discovered one funny thing about Santiago and his friends. They have this project where they will bring along a photo of their pet, Oxo, wherever they go... Basically, they will take pictures of new places together with the pet to show that Oxo actually been there as well. Its quite interesting though...but funny at the same time~

I secretly took a picture of Santiago & Oxo at the Richmond Bridge. Have a look~ They looked funny~ Haha~ He'll kill me if he sees this blog... Lol!! But I don't care =p

Tasmania Trip Day 5 ~ Freycinet National Park

This morning, as usual...we had to wake up early again~ Joining our 3rd day tour ever since we came to Tasmania. Believe me...full day tours can be real tiring sometimes. And the one that we joined today was the most tiring of all~ Well, at least for me it is!! Haha~ Lots of walking + climbing...

We arrived at Freycinet National Park at about 11 plus, we saw this cute wallaby by the roadside. Its carrying a baby wallaby in it pouch somemore~ So so so cute!! Haha~ Here's a pic of them =p

We started off with a brief explanation on the things we need to kept in mind, like we were not allowed to feed the wildlife in this national park or plug any flowers along the way...Basically, we can only leave footprints behind...lol~ Thats what our tour guide said ok~

Yup...so we continue walking, climbing, resting...and walk...and climb...and rest again...haha~ Pretty tiring though...guess i have to do more of these to build up my stamina!!

We roughly walked about 30 minutes to reach Wineglass Bay's lookout point. Phew~ Finally its time to take a deep breath and enjoy the beautiful scenery~ As you can see from the picture i took, the bay actually has a very nice 'U' shape curve, like the shape of a wine glass and thats how it got its name from.

We had our lunch at the lookout point and continue walking down towards the beach where Wineglass Bay is. Its a very long walk and the track was very rocky...not that easy to travel even when we are walking downwards. Half way down the route, we stop for a short rest and took a picture of our shadows. Haha~

After 30 minutes of walking along such uneven tracks, its tiring but worth it! Cos the scenery of the beach is really very beautiful~ The waves were great and the sea was greenish blue in colour...Crystal clear...so so so nice~ The strong wind makes the weather rather cold that day, luckily, with the sun around, we felt more comfortable.

Shirlin was drawing 3 Ss on the beach but I had no idea what that means until she mentioned that the 3 of us have names started with the letter 'S'. I never noticed before that. Lol!! So we took a group photo with our 3 Ss, represent Santiago, Suping & Shirlin. Haha~

Tasmania Trip Day 4 ~ Port Arthur Historic Site

Today, we're going to join a day tour to Port Arthur, one of Australia's most significant heritage area, it was the former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania. Sounds spooky huh? But its actually a very nice place, I'll tell you guys more about it later.

On our way there, we stop by at Pirates Bay to have a look at its beautiful scenery and of course, to snap some wonderful pictures for our photo album!! Haha~ Here's a pic of Pirates Bay.

When we reached Port Arthur, each of us were given a card to play "The Lottery of LIFE". Each card actually leads to the background of a convict previously brought to this prison. I got Heart No. 6, wanna know who is it? Then go to my photo album to have a look at his story...hehe =p

Port Arthur is indeed very big, we started off by joining a short guided tour where they briefly explain the establishment of the prison. Most of the convicts were actually shifted from England and between 1830 and 1853, there were a total of 12,500 convicts passed through Port Arthur. Can you imagine how many more were brought in until 1878 when they finally closed the prison?

I'll leave that to your own imagination. Hehe =p Lets move on to our first stop as we were given a few hours to explore the place on our own. We arrived at the Separate Prison where convicts were locked in separate cells, they were each given a number, hence, their names were no longer spoken. The guard will constantly checked on them through a peep hole on their cell door. The convicts will spent 1 hour outside their cells for exercise, and for the rest of 23 hours, they will stay in the cell in solitude and silence. And even when they were exercising, they need to be chained and wear a mask to prevent them from having any contact with anyone. Its like living in their own world, all by themselves...hopelessly...

Ok, enough of sad stories, its time for our favourite - photo taking around the whole of Port Arthur!! Haha~ Shirlin & me just ~love~ taking pictures...lol~ So we went to the Church, Museum, Hospital, The Guard Tower, etc. The whole place gave me a feeling as if I'm in the world of warcraft. Lol!! Really...the settings is really nice, with the remains of those historic buildings, the garden, the sea, basically the whole landscape gave me that feeling. And you know what, most of the buildings were built by the convicts, even every single brick was made individually. Pretty impressive huh~

At about 1.30 pm, its time for a ferry ride to the Isle of the Dead where they buried about 1100 people. The convicts were buried at the lower level of the island and they basically have no tombstone on their graves. The higher ground level was reserved for civil and military burials. There was Ghost Tours available at night but we didn't join as we need to head back to Hobart by evening. Honestly, I wouldn't dare to go for the ghost tour also...haha~

So thats basically all about the experience we had for this tour, it involved quite a lot of thinking while we visit the places in Port Arthur, imagine its previously full of convicts, how's life for them in the prison...well...follow your imagination...

Tasmania Trip Day 3 ~ Hobart - Mt Wellington + Dinner Cruise

This day, we set off to Hobart at around 9.30 am. Its the 2nd oldest city in Australia. From Launceston, we need to board a coach and it took us about 2.5 hours to reach Hobart. I think i slept through the whole journey, haha~ too tired of walking i guess...

Anyway, we reached Hobart around 12 noon. First thing is to check-in to our backpacker hostel, then book the tours that wanna join. Again, i did my 'homework' on where to go beforehand, so we just need the backpacker people to contact the tour agent for us. But there's slight changes for today's schedule as our initial plan was to tour around the city. However, its kinda boring just to do sight-seeing in the city so we decided to go for a half day tour to Mt Wellington. But thats not the end yet, we were discussing what to do at night...and Santiago saw this brochure on a dinner cruise, it costs us 40 bucks!! But anyway, its nice to try something different, rather than just doing sight-seeing all day...Lol~

We need to board a mini bus to bring us to Mt Wellington, heard it'll be colder on top of the mountain. Hope its not....too cold~ The weather was quite ok when we were on our way up...BUT!! It started to rain and the wind was super duper strong when we finally reach there. It was rated the worst weather of all by the 3 of us. Worst weather meaning cold weather + rain + strong wind...really feel like fainting/ dying/ whatever~ I had a feeling that my face was about to crack at any moment and my hands were freezing, you'll feel pain rather than just cold!! But Santiago was so energetic, running here and there under such weather, ya...its for the sake of taking pictures...he took almost every single corner whenever we visit a new place...haha~

After an adventurous visit to Mt Wellington, we finally got back into our coach and headed back to Hobart to catch our dinner cruise. We had a 4-course dinner, 1- soup, 2- main meal, 3- ice cream, 4- biscuits & tea. I felt so so so full~ Haha~ Can't remember when was the last time I had such a heavy dinner... But it was nice, we got to take pictures of the harbour, the night view, everything was very relaxing~ We even got a chance to know other people who went on the cruise, they were indeed very friendly and we had a good time talking and chit-chatting with one another...

Tasmania Trip Day 2 ~ Cradle Mountain National Park

This day, we joined a day tour to Cradle Mountain National Park. On the way there, we stop by at Sheffield, the town of Murals. This place is very interesting~ Almost all the shops and walls are decorated with drawings and the drawings normally explained some background history about the building. We were shooting photos like crazy~ Haha! Cos the drawings were really nice, some were like real sceneries, here's a couple of it. Beautiful waterfall and the post office. Check out the rest from my photo album...bet you guys will like it =p

By the time we reach Cradle Mountain, its already lunch time. Guess what we had for lunch? Its bread and ham again~ Haha~ On budget, so no choice~ But we did had a good time picnicking beside Dove Lake, what a lovely name, its a beautiful lake at the bottom of the mountain. But we got irritated by some birds, they were flying around, trying to have a bite at our lunch!! So we kinda eating in a very unsecured situation, a bit chaotic though, eating and covering our food at the same time, damn funny~ Here's a pic of Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain. Its kinda cold that day, we can even see some snow on top of the mountain, its 1,545 metres above the sea level~ how high it is...

After lunch, we head towards to the Suicide Rock, lol~ no worries, not going to do anything silly there, but just to have a look at this interesting rock. Haha~ We were teasing one another about the possibility of suiciding if we really jump off that rock. Lol!! There were quite a lot of tourists when we were there, guess everyone was curious about the rock, I wonder if there's any suicide incidents happened before...

Tasmania Trip Day 1 [24/9/07] ~ Launceston city ~

Today, I met up with Shirlin and Santiago at Melbourne airport to catch our flight to Launceston, the 3rd oldest city in Australia. Hmm...how should i describe this place? Its kinda quiet if compared to big cities like Sydney, and its not a popular tourist spot, the streets are so quiet, even on a Saturday afternoon! Definitely not a shopping place for us, its even quite hard to find some familiar fast-food centres. We spent quite some time asking around, trying to find one, and finally!! We managed to settle our lunch at Subway~

So why on earth do we wanna come to Launceston in the first place? Haha~ Its because we need to join a day tour that will only depart from this city, thats why we are here~ Basically, we just did some sight-seeing around the 'very small' city and went for our groceries shopping, gotta cook our dinner at night. Hehe~

We went to a few places to take photos, like Albert Hall - Launceston Convention Centre, City Park and Inveresk Precinct, where Queen Victoria Museum and the Art Gallery are situated. But we didn't manage to visit the museum and art gallery cos they were already closed when we reached =( Too bad~