Tasmania - Day 6

Here's the very last installation of the tassie trip. Oh, before I proceed further, on the night of Day 5, we drove up Mt Wellington and the view was magnificent! Seeing the entire city lit up and the perfect round moon reflected onto the waters of the lake - stunning! I borrowed Ash's cam as Pete's was left elsewhere and he has yet to pass me the photos, so, sorry can't share the wonderful view with you readers... Maybe someday when he does pass them to me, I may upload it here... But dare I say that despite it being summer, the temperature up the mountain (12km drive from base to peak, slightly more than 1km high) was below freezing point and silly me who left my Kathmandu jacket at our accommodation had to bear the chilly winds on the pinnacle with just 2 layers: a sleeveless tee inside and my thin-fabric Adidas Core Power hoodie top outside... Brr... My ears did hurt later, standing exposed for more than 10 minutes... You may wonder why I left my jacket - well, before we came out for dinner (which was Mures Seafood by the way), I checked my exam results online and the jubilant email from med fac telling me I've passed ICE and can now proceed onto Phase 3 kept me grinning and distracted that night, so there...

Anyway, back to Day 6. We went to Sorell Fruit Farm to pick fresh fruits. For $10, you get a medium-sized container: fruits in season at the time we went were strawberries, cherries, raspberries and tayberries. Of course we busied ourselves with tasting the delectable fruits as we picked them, so in other words, $10 = a container full of fruits + whatever you choose to put into your mouth before you leave. Mind you, I felt like I gobbled more than a container of fruits along the way...


Sara posing at the entrance of the cafe / gift shop




Look guys, Ash is gonna be our tour guide... Oh wait! There's a "directory" here!




Richard and I at the cherries section




Pete's container of mixed berries



Could have taken more photos but Pete's cam "crashed", which was surprising since it was only recently bought. Thank goodness he could get it to work again after a few tweaks here and there and need not pin the blame on yours truly who had been snapping away with it for the past week. Well, what can I say? After all, he did chuck his cam at me every morning as we hit the road and told me to "go nuts" - literally quoting him here! In case you're wondering, the cam is Olympus Mju Tough 6010 - it's supposedly waterproof, shockproof, snowproof, shakeproof and nightproof but I guess it's not "crashproof"? Not so tough, eh? I suppose that's why they went on to develop the 8000 model instead (claimed to be the strongest digicam in the world)... But I do admit that aside from this "crash" incident and the relatively long waiting time between taking photos (compared to other digicams), the 6010 is quite a good model, especially with the Panaroma mode...

Ok, let's not get carried away with the rantings on digicams; back to the trip. After fruit-picking, we went shopping at Hobart and before we knew it, it was time to return our hired car (still can't believe we got the massive Hyundai iMax!) and checked in at the airport for our flight back to Sydney.


Unloading the luggages



6 days around Tasmania, clockwise (south-west-north-east-south), from Hobart back to Hobart?
It was one amazing picturesque trip.

Sigh, can't believe it's more than a month since the trip and exactly a month since moving into my new place (15/12/2009-14/1/2010) - time flies! And while I'm all excited to start my Surgery term at Prince of Wales Hospital, I find it hard to bid adieu to summer break...

2010, what will you bring?

Tasmania - Day 5

Such freakishly hot weather here in Sydney - how I yearned for the cooler summer that I had while on holiday in Tassie... Here are the shots from Day 5!




A model of the architectural layout of Port Arthur




Getting ready to board for the cruise




Group shot while cruising




Richard posing while we were at the gallery




We were each given a Lottery of Life card for the Convict Trail - here I was, finally matching my Queen of Diamonds...




Here's my Queen of Diamonds convict: Charles Hogan, a barber/pickpocket from Essex who was sentenced to life at Port Arthur to mend his drunken ways - his good behaviour promoted him to be a leech-gatherer for the hospital... I know it's a lil too far-fetched but hey, he's also in the medical profession indirectly, eh? :p




Let me outta here!! I promise I'll be a good, good gal...




Interesting displays at the museum including the classic magpie convict's uniform




You can also try to trace an ancestor using the database/journals available - a form is provided for you to record the details




Hard to believe that a penal settlement should have such beautiful scenery...




Yet another view...




Remains of some of the ruins



Ended the Port Arthur trip with a visit to the souvenir shop - bought myself a commemorative coin and also a most dazzling cubic zirconia cross necklace... Happy happy... Will post up the final day sometime soon... ;)

Tasmania - Day 4

As promised! ;)


Getting ready to leave our beautiful home in Launceston...




First stop: brunch at the infamous Mount Elephant Pancakes!




The salmon, mushroom, camembert and white wine sauce pancakes were to die for!!




Mixture of dessert pancakes after the savoury ones - yum!




Posing with the elephants before we left...




Can't resist to take a shot with a wildlife wallaby when we arrived at Coles Bay - Freycinet National Park (our next stop)




The awesome Wineglass Bay from the lookout point - man, the climb was exhausting but totally worth it!




We did a bbq dinner that evening back in our cottage - this is a view of Mt Amos right from the huge balcony of our cottage... ;)



Day 5 pics coming soon! ^_^

Tasmania - Day 3

Ok, here comes the update for Day 3...

This tiny fur ball of a possum was found just right under the steps as we proceeded to leave our chalet in the morning

Man, there were so many roadkills - Pete and Ash were already starting to play the "Roadkill" game (kinda similar to the one Ted and Marshall played whenever they saw dogs during their roadtrip in How I Met Your Mother)...

Despite it being summer, the mornings can be pretty chilly as evidenced by the frozen dews like the ones on this plant

First destination of the day: Woolmers Historic Estate and National Rose Garden

We were so hungry when we arrived that we had to do lunch first, hehe... Here's me posing with a mini Christmas tree while waiting for my meal...

My delicious tuna mornay and salad

Some of the guys had the lamb shank - they would go on and on for days (maybe even up till today), saying how this was their best meal ever, unsurpassed by anything!

The charming sight that greets us as we entered the gardens... Too many roses to display them individually... One of the most memorable quotes of the trip happened here when Richard asked a rose, "Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir?" - apparently that rose was named "Moulin Rouge", hence why it prompted him to sing that phrase - well, let's hope that certainly was the case and not Richard turning into a dendrophiliac of some sort...

Another view of the garden

The guys were walking down the aisle, hehe

It isn't just roses - they've got lavenders too, yay!!

Next stop: Tamar Valley for wine-tasting... Velo Wines are awesome!!

Did you know that this guy who runs the place used to represent Australia in the Olympics cycling event?

Group shot at another winery

Next stop: Low Head Lighthouse overlooking Bass Straits

The awesomeness of the view there, hehe

Dinner @ Jailhouse Grill, Launceston - I had their famous salted, pre-fried bbq ribs; something different from the usual ribs we get over here in Hurricanes or Tony Roma...

Rest of the evening was spent chilling away at our cool accommodation (we had the whole 4-bedroom house to ourselves!) with wine and cheese - spectacular!!

This was probably the longest and most tiring day of all, since we drove quite a number of hours from Derwent Bridge all the way to Launceston... But heck, it was one great trip!! More photos from Day 4 will be uploaded soon... ;)

Happy New Year 2010!

Whoa, still can't believe it's already the first day of the year 2010!! How did you usher in the new year? Well, Pete, Janet and I drove up to Gladesville Bridge (one of the vantage points) to view the fireworks display at Sydney Harbour Bridge. Oh yeah, nothing like viewing the fireworks at a bridge from another bridge eh? ;)

The colours were magnificent, the patterns were astounding, and the accompanying soundtrack music was splendiferous - matched well with the tempo and rhythm of the fireworks itself. Missed out on this great event? Fret not, here's the complete 12-minute plus video of the new year fireworks at Sydney Harbour Bridge:

May all of you have a wonderful 2010 blessed with joy, happiness, and good health! ^_^

Ps. If you notice carefully, I've purposely selected to blog this post at 01/01/10 (signifying the wonderful start of the new year) at 12.31PM (analogous to December 31st - farewelling but not forgetting to cherish the wonderful memories that 2009 brought us)... ;)