10 Jan 2019 Journal Entry

TYLER’S ENTRY: One month since our last journal entry. Good job, Tyler! Today is our last day in Tasmania. This island is the bet place we’ve been so far! We crushed it here. 5 days with so much accomplished. We started with a delayed flight from Melbourne and then a rental car snafu. Our delayed flight caused us to arrive at the rental kiosk after close, so they gave away our reservation. We stayed one night in Hobart to start our trip. We just ate Dominos in the hostel and went to bed. Once we got a rental car the next day, we were unstoppable. We drove north towards Burnie while singing with the windows down, reading Harry Potter,  and avoiding roadkill ‘roos and wallabies. Absolutely beautiful landscapes. We drove to Burnie to meet hashers Ringo and A Bit Of This. We had never met them before, just contacted through another hasher (Swordy) we met at Mother Hash in Kuala Lumpur. Ringo and ABOT were amazing hosts. He is 70 and she is 76 and they can drink us under the table. They kept us up too late each night drinking nice whiskey. ABOT also puts a terrifying amount of butter on her toast.

Burnie H3 was just a 2.5 mile walk with a yummy dinner, a raffle, old people, and a Sam Blevins doppelganger. We drank whiskey in the kitchen until 1am. Ringo took us outside after dark to see a lot of wallabys roaming around the yard, eating from their trees and bushes. He also introduced us to Magellanic Clouds. Look it up. The amount of stars we could see was beyond awesome.

We drove to Stanley, hiked The Nut, relaxed on Sisters Beach, checked out Boat Harbor Bay, and ate a metric ton of Fish ‘n’ Chips from the restaurant with a giant lobster on top. Devenport H3 was weird. No trail, no wet T shirt activity as was promoted. We did get great food and a fun circle. And they we had more kitchen whiskey until 1:30am. It was then that we were introduced to “My Boomerang Won’t Come Back.” Look it up. Swordy met us for coffee the next morning and laughed about pawning us off on Ringo and ABOT. She admitted she didn’t remember meeting us at Mother Hash. It’s a good thing I keep meticulous drunk notes in my phone when I meet new people who offer us crash space.

Drive to Cradle Mountain! Stunning rocks, lakes, cold wind. We started at Dove Lake and continued to Crater Lake, Wombat Pool, and Marion’s Lookout. WOW!

Drive to Sheffield and slept in the car. Not fun. Cold. Very cute little town with murals everywhere. Drove to Wineglass Bay. Very pretty. Hike was short and easy and the beach was empty. We sat and read Harry Potter for a while as the sun set on our isolated beach. A top moment in our travels for sure.

Back to Hobart to return the car and hike Mount Wellington. We chose a network of trails but not the peak. Did 8 miles, lots of climbing. Old Hobart Trail tried to kill us with a sick kangaroo, fire ants, and a cute echidna.

LEAH’S ENTRY: Hobart hostel bed was so small. Tyler watched Harry Potter on the laptop and night and I screamed at him. Road trip to Burnie had lots of pit stops for pictures. Boardwalk along Tassie’s Great Walks. I never slept in the car. Swordy we met at Mother Hash was out of town so she pawned us off on ABOT and Ringo. They were nervous about hosting because Swordy didn't remember us. Ringo drives at light speed while pointing out cool sights. House was built in the 20’s. Comfy bed with heavy blankets. Cool indoor pool made perfect for hash events. We all left each other very happy and new friends. We WILL be back! We were only supposed to stay there one night but they offered to drive us to the Devenport hash and host us another night. Gave us Burnie patches and T shirts. Cradle Mountain 11 mile day. Wombats and echidnas in the wild. Instead of taking the bus back to the parking lot, we ran the boardwalk. Felt good! Ate a PB&J on the mountain. Tyler asked to pass 3 old people on trail and they looked at us like we asked them for their 1st born child. Sheffield dinner was chinese food from a convenience store. A huge mountain overlooks the city. Very beautiful. 2nd night camping in the car ws better. I’m not sure where we were. Beautiful stars. I had an intense dream about Jordan and woke up crying at 2am, then we both had a good cry. We really miss him.

Animal sanctuary had Tasmanian Devil feeding. Huge ‘roos! Giant hawks. Echidnas, Wombats, Quail. We bought Echidna earrings for Everly. Driving on the left side isn’t too bad. Tyler can’t get used to the depth/ space on the passenger side and always rides the shoulder hard. Mt. Wellington was good exercise. We both felt healthy and fast. Huge boulder field on Hunter Trail. Found hash trail at the end of our hike as we ran along a gravel path. We used the city bus to get back to town. Ate delicious dumplings and fried noodles.