A Last Few Days In Australia (And a Couple of Birthdays)!

In order to get from Melbourne and through Canberra to get to our final destination of Sydney (where we would eventually fly out from), we decided on the cheaper option of taking a bus to these places. Our first bus ride took about eight hours through some beautiful scenery before arriving in Canberra. 

I was quite surprised when we got near the city and the surrounding landscapes were more hilly than I had realized. The city is laid out in a very unique circular pattern in order to have less of an impact on the natural landscape. To be honest, it was a bit difficult to navigate to our hostel when we first arrived (partly because it was dark) as it was quite disconcerting to be walking down a street (3 blocks as we were told) and feel as if you're circling back around to where you started without meaning to. 

For any of those who don't know, Canberra is the capital city of Australia. We were told it was rather boring, but Kaitlyn and I decided to visit it anyways because we did a project last year on the Canberra Parliament Buildings and wanted to see it for ourselves. So, on my birthday (at least the Australian day), the two of us headed out in that direction in the morning, after a nice sleep in. It was quite surreal to see them in person, however although it is very impressive, I'm not entirely convinced that I like the architecture.

Our next stop was a nail salon in the mall to get our nails done as a fun activity for my birthday. We both got gel nails (to which my parents would later refer to as hawk talons - but seriously, they weren't that long!), complete with fancy designs. We stopped at a bookstore where I bought myself a book as a birthday present (as a tip - books in Australia are ridiculously expensive! A simple small paperback was $20) and went back to the hostel for a few hours to read and relax.

Kaitlyn and I went out for a nice pasta dinner, complete with a nice glass of Moscato for myself. As restaurants in the downtown area are also expensive, we decided to stop by a local grocery store afterwards  where we bought apple pie and ice cream as a birthday cake (since all they had were mud cakes that didn't look to appetizing). Although I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get any birthday candles, it was delicious.

The next hour or so was spent in the pool, spa, and sauna in the basement of our hotel. We went out for another couple drinks at a lounge next to the hostel before calling it a day. Although simple, I had a great birthday and think its just awesome that I can say I turned 21 in Australia!

We headed to Sydney the next day in order to be there for Kaitlyn's birthday on July 5th. To celebrate her birthday, we once again slept in, got a full delicious breakfast, and headed to Bondi Beach. We were planning on skating at the beach, however it was $30 to skate. We decided that the price would have been alright to pay if it were a nice day out, however it was raining on and off so we walked down the beautiful beach and I bought her hot chocolate instead.

After heading back to the center of the city, we explored around Circular Quay (the pier) for a few hours before the sun set and we got a few of the skyline illuminated at night. It was absolutely stunning and a great way to end our travels in Australia.

It's hard to believe that my five month journey to Australia has come to an end and I'm back in Kelowna for the summer before heading back to finish my final year of university in Ontario. So I think I'll just end my blog with this: it was truly an amazing experience to get to see and study in Australia and although I'm back to reality, I'll never forget all the memories and friends I made along the way!

P.S. Pictures will be up once Kaitlyn returns home and can send them my way.

The Rainy Town of Launceston.

Our next destination in Tasmania was Launceston. Since we weren't leaving until the afternoon, Kaitlyn and I checked out of the hostel and dropped our bags off at the bus terminal before grabbing breakfast. Afterwards, we decided to visit the library and use their public free wifi until we had to head back to the bus station. The bus ride wasn't too long but we ended up getting into Launceston later than planned because of a construction hold-up along the way.

We checked into our hostel and headed off for dinner at the Seaport. The weather turned from cloudy to rainy along the way, but we found a modern Italian restaurant that was warm and dry. Kaitlyn and I decided to share a pizza and salad, and we ordered a couple cheap beers too (only $4!). The ended up making the wrong size pizza so we got another one of the same size for free, which was pretty awesome.

On our second day in Launceston, and final day in Tasmania, we headed off in the morning - and more rain! - to find Cataract Gorge, the main highlight in Launceston, and only a 20 minute walk from the centre of the city. After a while of admiring the scenery we stopped in at a small cafe and ordered a couple of smoothies that were delicious. Since we didn't want to spend more time out in the rain (and it was raining quite hard!) we headed over to the local cinema to see Ice Age 4: Continental Drift. I think Kaitlyn and I may have been the only young adults there (the rest were young children with their parents) but we enjoyed ourselves none the less.

Cool bridge in the city.

On the trail to the Gorge.

Kaitlyn on the trail to the Gorge.

On the suspension bridge over the Gorge.

  

Cataract Gorge.

We flew back to Melbourne later that evening and spend the next day packing up for the last leg of our journey in Australia. My last few days were spent in Canberra and Sydney where both Kaitlyn and I celebrated our birthdays - that's next to come!

Climbing a Mountain!

On Thursday, Kaitlyn and I decided to do more hiking - this time a little closer to the city of Hobart. We took a bus up to a little place called Ferntree, which was 430m above sea level. It was quite surprising that the city has a public bus service that went up this particular road as it was rather steep and had a bunch of S-turns. Once we arrived, we started up the trail to the Springs (a common starting point for most hikers but we were a bit ambitious that morning and so we started lower). The trail was not easy at all; quite steep but we managed to make it all the way up to the Springs in the time it listed for the trail: 40 minutes. From here, we got a great view of the peak of the mountain, also known as the Pinnacle, rising a total of 1270m above sea level.

The Pinnacle - doesn't look that high, does it?

We also got our first look at some snow on the mountain, which I was quite excited about since snow in Australia must be rare, right??

Way too excited to find snow in Australia.

Kaitlyn and I decided (well mostly me) that we should totally try and hike all the way to the Pinnacle as the trail maps listed that the trail should only take 3 hours to return. Well we decided later that this silly decision was made because I had too much energy and Kaitlyn doesn't say no. So we started to hike up the trail, little to our knowledge that it would take three full hours to get to the top, much less come back down. Up, up, up we went, but it didn't take long before what was just a bit of frost turned into several inches (maybe even more than a foot) of snow. Shortly after, there was also ice covering the trail. Never fear, we're CANADIAN! We're used to this! Continue on!

Proud to be Canadian!

After climbing over lots of rocks, making our way slowly over the snow and ice and avoiding falling down some rather hazardous drop-offs, Kaitlyn and I did manage to make it to the Pinnacle to be rewarded with some amazing views of the city of Hobart in the valley below, albeit being constantly buffeted by some very strong winds at the summit (they were strong enough to move us and make it difficult to walk into them so we figure they were gusting around or over 60km/h). We ate some snacks in a shelter at the top, before beginning the long journey back down the mountain.

View from the trail.

View from the Pinnacle (in the shelter).

We chose to walk back down the mountain along the road that those fortunate to have cars drove up, with the idea that if we really wanted to, we could hitch-hike our way back down to the Springs. However, we ended up just enjoying the walk down. Kaitlyn and I stopped for a picnic lunch at the Springs, which we noticed was also several degrees warmer than the summit, before continuing down to Ferntree to catch the bus back to our hostel.

I don't think a sandwich has ever tasted so good!

All in all it was a good, VERY exhausting day of hiking, but we were also very proud of ourselves for what we achieved. We trekked up 840 meters (12.5 kilometers one way) of snowing hiking trails to reach the top of Mount Wellington! Cheers.

Find me next in rainy Launceston!

One of the Top Scenic Views in the World...

On Monday, Kaitlyn and I hopped on a bus that would take us just over two hours out of Hobart and drop us off literally on the side of the road (known as the Cole's Bay Turn-off) where we were picked up by a smaller shuttle van that took us into the small town of Cole's Bay. We checked into the small hostel, which was part of a larger campground that operated during the summer months. Kaitlyn and I set off to explore the town, which was tiny - with only about 150 locals who live there all year long. We found a jetty, a beautiful beach, and got a great view of the Hazards (the mountain range in Freycinet National Park that we would be climbing the next day). We finished off the day by relaxing at the hostel.

On the Jetty at Cole's Bay.

The entire next day was spent in Freycinet National Park - hiking. We left the hostel early in the morning around 8:30am and even though the start of the trails were only 3 kilometers down the road, it took us the better part of an hour to get there. We chose to start the loop trail by going to the famous Wineglass Bay first. The trail was quite steep and had too many steps to count, however once we emerged at the top we were rewarded with one of the top scenic views in the world - looking down at Wineglass Bay.

Wineglass Bay from the Lookout.

We continued down the other side of the mountain range and onto the beach itself, where we rested for a while and got took some cool photos that definitely have to be printed and framed!

Wineglass Bay Beach.

Our journey took us another 30 minutes down the Isthmus trail, which crossed the peninsula of Freycinet National Park to the beach on the other side, called Hazards beach. Along the way we say a cute wallaby who wasn't too afraid of us at all as we passed and just continued to munch happily on the grass. Once we arrived at the beach, we stopped for some lunch while admiring the view.

Hazards Beach.

The last leg of our hike took the longest and circled one of the mountains that make up the Hazards. We got to see some beautiful coves, great views across the ocean bay to see the towns of Swansea and Cole's Bay, and awesome forest walks. We stopped quite a bit to just enjoy the scenery and managed to see another two wallabies. Once we finally made it back to the start of the trails we were exhausted but proud of the full day of exercise. We caught a shuttle back to the hostel, had dinner, and had great sleeps.

Kaitlyn sitting on some rocks near the hiking trail.

On Wednesday, we checked out of our hostel, got some great (and cheap) chai lattes and wasted some time waiting for our shuttle back to the turn-off by walking down another beach that was right across from the campground. Soon we were headed back to Hobart for another day before taking a bus to Launceston - our final destination in Tasmania. 

Waiting at the turn-off for the bus.

Next post: climbing a mountain in Tasmania!

Hobart, Tasmania!

On Friday, June 22nd, Kaitlyn and I woke up super early (around 4am) to get to the Melbourne airport to catch our flight to Hobart, Tasmania. After arriving in the city and finding our hostel reception not open yet, we walked to a nearby coffee shop and ordered ourselves a couple vanilla lattes with apple scrolls (they looked like cinnamon buns but filled with apples). We quickly decided they were very delicious - possibly the best we had ever tasted, however to truly be sure, we have to taste the coffee at one specific shop called 'The Red Brick' once we get back to Guelph.

Once we dropped off our luggage at the hostel, Kaitlyn and I decided to explore the town of Hobart. We ended up finding the pier and boat docks, the street where the Salamanca Market was held (only on Saturdays), some small but pretty beach areas, and an expensive and impressive residential district. Four hour later, we returned to our hostel and spent the rest of the day relaxing.

On our second day in Hobart, Kaitlyn and I headed to the Salamanca market. There were tons of shops, lining both sides of the street for several blocks. Its a venue for both locals and visitors with stalls selling everything from mini-pancakes and coffee, to clothing and books, to jewellery and furniture and more! The two of us bought a pairs of mittens for ourselves because the weather was quite chilly. Next, we headed off to see the Botanic Gardens, however we ended up spending several hours wandered around the Queen's Domain before we found them because the map of how to get to the gardens was incorrect. The gardens were beautiful, even though a lot of plants weren't in bloom for the winter season. After walking around for a bit, we headed back into the city for dinner at the pier.

Sunday, the two of us set off for Port Arthur, which is a nearly historical site that used to be an old convict jail. It's quite a large site, covering around 100 acres and it has 30 ruins and old buildings on site. Kaitlyn spent the day exploring through the structures, but we did have a short 40 minute tour with a guide in the morning and a 20 minute river cruise around two nearby islands that were used for a cemetery and a young boys reform school.

The next few days were spent at Cole's Bay, climbing Mount Wellington, and in Launceston. Individual posts on these to come!