And how great it feels to be in’Tassie,’ a place I’ve wanted to go to for years! Tasmania is that little island off the SE tip of Australia, for those of you who didn’t know (No, it’s not Tanzania which is in Africa – look at your maps folks!). It’s Australia’s'Natural State,’ full of clean air, clean water, organic farming, and national parks. Easy to see why I’d want to go. It’s also a big stopping point on the way to Antarctica, which in and of itself is very cool.
I left the Sunshine Coast 4 days ago, flying from Brisbane to Hobart, arriving here on the afternoon of March 3rd. With no guidebook and no plan (as usual!), I still made my way quite easily from the airport to the YHA in town and got set up for the night. From there I tried to contact a fellow cyclist whom I met last year in Airlie Beach. Her name is Tracey and she lives in Hobart and she generously invited me to move from the hostel over to her place to stay for a few days. I gladly accepted! What a treat to stay in a home and not at a hostel, and to spend time with ?locals? as well!
On my first full day in Hobart, I did what any hiking enthusiast would do and that was hike to the top of Mt Wellington, which is a beautiful 1200m peak that sits right next to the city. (The population of Hobart by the way is 200,000, half of the entire population of Tasmania.) It was a perfectly graded trail and took only 3 hours to reach the top. But Holy Winds on the summit! Very reminiscent of the crazy weather in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I hung on for dear life while taking my photograph on the summit! Decided to take the same trail down and not do the ridge walk due to high winds!
On the way down I was lucky enough to see 2 of Tasmania?s 3 snakes ? the copperhead (brown) and the white-lipped whip snake (green). (The other one is the tiger snake which is black in color). All 3 are poisonous so you don?t want to be messing around with them! The 2 I saw were sunning themselves on the trail and happily slithered away into the bush when they heard me coming. Cool!!
After my brush with nature, I was back into the downtown of Hobart in a 20-minute bus ride flash. I then packed up my stuff and walked the 15 minutes up to Tracey?s place. It was good to see a familiar face, even though we only met for one night in Airlie Beach! Having cycled up the same stretch of coast creates an instant friendship bond I think.
So I?ve been staying here for the last few days. Her roommate works in one of the parks so I?ve been staying in his room. We?ve had 2 days of rainy weather, and I used that time to organize and repair all my gear ? namely my stove which had 3 things needing fixing, my trekking poles which were completely corroded probably from the salty beach hikes in New Zealand, and various other small bits and pieces.
Yesterday afternoon I walked over to the Royal Botanical Gardens and checked out the various gardens and old stone buildings. Found a neat description from the Japanese Garden:
Stones are used to create feelings of security, permanence, and age. Evergreen trees represent constancy, while deciduous trees highlight changing seasons. The cycles of nature are embodied in the waterwheel. Waterfalls represent freedom and movement, while ponds symbolize tranquility.
Interesting to stop and think about that, especially if you are spending time hiking in the woods, hey?
The views of Hobart
A perfect day to go up Mt Wellington
The Royal Botanical Gardens
March 7th, 2004
Feels great to be back in Thailand! Yesterday I crossed over the border at Hat Lek and rode 16 km north to the next town, Khlong Yai, where I stayed for the night. The road was EXCELLENT with a wide shoulder – ahhh, it felt SO good after Vietnam and Cambodia! It was the perfect temperature too – at 5pm the sun was beginning to set and it was nice and cool – what a great welcome back!
The road I took to Trat today is kind-of like the Pacific Coast Highway of Thailand…a bit windy and hilly, following the coastline up from Cambodia. Really beautiful ride. I did the 79 km to get here in under 3 hours. I arrived here in Trat at 12pm and was going to take the boat to Ko Mak at 3pm but then decided to stay the night here because I wanted to spend some time on email (too expensive on the island) and I also wanted to work on my bike a bit and get it ready for the ride back to Bangkok. Lucky for me I found a GREAT bicycle shop in town where they cleaned my chain and tightened my brakes – all for just over $1! It’s much more civilized to eat a bag of Doritos and watch someone else work on my bike than it is to try to do it all myself…I was thrilled! For that alone it was worth it to stay in Trat (second reason is the pedicure which I am getting as I currently write – haven’t had a proper pedicure in almost 2 months!).
Tonight I’ll decide if I will go to Ko Mak for a few days or just head straight to Bangkok. My friend Brent is going to be up in the north for at least a week so there’s no hurry to get anywhere. God, it just feels so good to be here – even Brent said, it’s like coming home! I can already speak enough Thai to get what I need, I know what food I like and how much things are supposed to cost, and the Thai people are just so great that it makes it such an easy place to be. Last night I went to the internet cafe in town and mind you I was the only farang (foreigner) in town, but as always in Thailand, I was surrounded by 12-15 year old Thai boys playing their computer game, with headphones on and screaming to each other, completely unaware and not bothered at all by the farang girl in there AT ALL! In fact, I think they were happy when I left because someone jumped on my computer to start playing right away. No stares, no crowds surrounding me, none of that! (Although I have to admit that today I did kind-of miss all of the Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello’s that I constantly got while cycling in Cambodia). And here the drivers are totally cool and really give you a lot of room on the road and they don’t blare their horn on you like in Vietnam. Oh, and I was so happy to have the little bus-stop houses back – at least one every kilometer – the perfect place to get out of the sun and sit in the shade for a peaceful break on the road. Cycling heaven! Well, except for the heat, but today I finished cycling before it got hot and even then it wasn’t that bad, although I expect that it will get hotter as I get away from the coast and back towards Bangkok.
On the boat yesterday, I ran into these 2 guys that I had met back in Vietnam on my first day of cycling (they were on motorbikes). It was crazy to run into them again! Then, today, when I got back to my guesthouse, there were 3 other guys who had been on the boat as well…they couldn’t BELIEVE that I actually cycled from the border. It was pretty funny. Now…should I get my hair trimmed while I am here as well? Yeah, I’m happy to be here.
~~~TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: Sorry for the delay on updates as of late – I have been busy going through my pictures from the last 8 weeks but am happy to say that EVERYTHING is now updated! You can now view all of my pictures from 1.14.02 to 3.9.02. Thanks for being patient – photo updates were impossible in Vietnam and Cambodia. If you click on the JOURNAL button above, you can scroll through the entries and any one that has a photo icon next to it has photos for you to view. Enjoy!
Look at this BEAUTIFUL road!
A little friend I made on a break by the road
March 9th, 2002