Tasmania!

Well, I know some of you have been anxiously awaiting this blog update. Sorry it has taken so long; I have been a slacker. I am going to do this as one massive update, divided into days.

Day 1: March 19th

The morning didn't start off too well. I got out of the house with everything I needed, on time, but took a bus that took me too far and ended up having to walk a few blocks and missed my bus by literally 10 seconds. But I was ok, because as usual, I was paranoid and left extra early, so catching the next bus 15 minutes later didn't mess me up. But I did have to stand on the street with all my baggage for 15 extra minutes of fun.
Plane rides were pretty uneventful. I did sit next to a gorgeous Aussie on my flight to Melbourne. He had long eyelashes, a perfect smile, and just the right amount of beard stubble. He was also friendly and I wanted to take him with me, but I didn't think I would be able to cram him into my carry on.
Some guy took my window seat from Melbourne to Hobart, and instead of making him switch, I just sat on the aisle. I regretted it later because it was a really clear day and he got some great pictures from his window seat of the mountains on the approach to Hobart.
I landed, took the shuttle, checked in. The girl behind the desk asked me if I was from the south, completely skipping if I was American, because I could tell from her accent that she was also American. I was surprised, as I don't really think I have a true Southern accent. I told her I was from North Carolina, and then she said she was too. My first North Carolinian I have ever encountered in Australia. She was from outside of Wilson and went to App State. She had lived a year in New Zealand and made me regret once again not working an NZ trip into my time down here. I will do it in the future, though. I did some light grocery shopping for lunch and snacks for the week, then grabbed dinner, and pretty much went to bed. I had a top bunk, and could tell the fitted mattress had not been changed because it had someone else's head hair on it. It was too late to get a change as reception had closed, and I was only here until 6am, so I deal. I sleep with my earplugs, but despite this, I am in a room with 2 violent snorers (I can hear then loudly with the earplugs!) and one of the snorers is a sleep talker/ shouter. He kept shouting in his sleep! Thank goodness I was only here one night.

Day 2: March 20th

I got up before my alarm went off because I couldn't sleep with the chorus of snores/screams. I got ready, dropped the key in the early check out box, then walked to St. David's Cathedral. I ended up waiting 30 minutes because the guy was late, but I met 3 girls from Taiwan who were also waiting for the same tour. Finally he came, we met up with another van, and we were off. Most of the day was driving; we had to go all the way up the coast. Tassie is so beautiful. I wanted to take lots of pictures from the van as we went along. Every location seemed like it could be a postcard. Our destination for the day was the Bay of Fires. It was gorgeous. We spend 2 hours there, and I took almost a million pictures. Here are a few:

It is called the Bay of Fires for 2 reasons: 1) when the white people pulled up in their ships, they saw the Aboriginal people in the area had set fire to the forest as a method of hunting kangaroos and 2) even when the forest isn't on fire, the rocks around the bay have orange lichen on them, looking like fire.
After the Bay of Fires, we went to a waterfall nearby called St. Columba Falls. It was also very cool, and the walk down to the falls was through an amazing little section of rainforest. I love the rainforests here, with the huge taller than a man ferns that make me think I am in the dinosaur era. We also saw an echidna on the way- my first monotreme in the wild. Pictures below.

We checked into a backpackers in Bicheno for the night. This place has great wooden, sturdy bunk beds and a curtain you could pull across for privacy. I loved it and slept well that night.

Day 3: March 21st

I woke at 6am, got ready, ate free breakfast provided on the tour (just cereal, toasts, spreads). We went to a "blow hole"- a cool place where the water from the ocean crashes into rocks in a way that shoots the water up into the air. Picture below:

Today was Wineglass Bay. I was excited, but it was going to be an ugly, rainy day, and I knew Wineglass Bay would be a place best observed on nice days. We had a looooong walk up to the lookout, then a loooong, uneven walk to the beach (on rocks), then a long walk up, then back down to the car park. I feel like on a nice day, the beach would be nice, but on this day, it didn't feel worth it. It rained all the way back to the car park, so the rocks were dangerous and slippery and it took longer, about an hour and a half, to get back. I wore my poncho to shield my electronics in my bag, which just made me madder, because no one looks cool in a poncho.My camera decided to be full on the way up, and my camera for some reason didn't like my other chip I was trying to use, so I deleted some of the blurrier pictures from the day before to make room for Wineglass Bay. The few nice pictures I got from today:

 This was when I had finally conquered all the uphill, slippery rocks. I was a little happy. And angry.

These wallabies were like squirrels- not afraid of humans, just chilling on the walkways and coming right up to us.

We stopped in a small town (really, just a gas station and a restaurant) for lunch, and I decided because of my soggy walk, I would get a bacon and egg sandwich for lunch instead of eating peanut butter. We then drove to Ross, population estimated to be about 3. We walked around a little, then drove to a wildlife park. We saw a Tasmanian devil be fed, and took a picture with a koala, and fed some kangaroos. Here is a few pictures:

We then drove back to Hobart and checked into the YHA near the harbour. I walked to the harbour to refresh my memory, then walked back up to a restaurant near the hostel. I saw it was happy hour, so I had a couple of beers, but they didn't serve food, so I left to find dinner. Some people from my tour invited me to eat with them. We went to a hotel that had $5 steaks with fries, and I added a side salad for $2.5. I found out later after seeing a sign on the wall that on Thursdays this meal is free if you mention the sign. That was a little upsetting, but it was a great $5 steak.

Day 4: March 22

We left the YHA and drove to Richmond, where we saw the oldest bridge in Australia, built by convicts. It makes a nice picture, especially with the ducks:

We then drove to the peninsula and a national park. He somehow tricked us again into walking in the rain, but I did get some good coastal pictures along the way:

We drove through an area called "Doo" Town because everyone has the word "Doo" in their house names, like beach houses- "Doo-gooder", "Doo-Wop", etc. I saw a less impressive blow hole, and got an amazing berry sundae at a little food stand- have to give you the picture:

We next went to Port Arthur. The tour guide for the walking tour was awful, trying to put on a show instead of giving information, but I stuck with him for more than 30 minutes before setting out on my own. The grounds are beautiful, and pretty well reserved. Port Arthur was a prison for repeat offenders, and had a reputation for being hard. It is set in the middle of no where, with a port. It is a gorgeous setting, but prisoners trying to escape would most likely die in the bush as they were miles and miles away from civilization, and many couldn't swim at the time, so the port route wouldn't be an option either. They worked the prisoners hard, but for prisons of the time, Port Arthur had one of the lowest mortality rates. They had a very nice hospital, and focused on keeping prisoners healthy, as to have more people they could put to work. Most prisoners died of respiratory illnesses like pneumonia rather than anything work related. We also got to go on a cruise around the Isle of the Dead, a tiny island in the port where they buried the dead prisoners. They told us a story of a groundskeeper that once sent smoke signals to the main land and demanded to be removed from the island because he saw demonic spirits. He didn't even return for his belongings and refused to ever set foot on the island again. Overall, I enjoyed Port Arthur. A few pictures:

We rode back to Hobart and said bye to one another. I checked back into my hostel from a few days earlier, but this time I wasn't in the room with the snorers and screamers. I really enjoyed my time in Tasmania. It is a really beautiful place, and reminds me a lot of the Appalachian mountains. I also love Hobart. I hope to see the west coast of Tassie someday.

Of Purple Potatoes and Green Lights

Trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my feet and ankles from standing for 13 hours, I shifted my weight as I continued, head down, eyes twitching from potato to potato. By my fool-proof calculations, I was supposed to be out of there between 5 pm and 6pm. But I had not factored in the machine breaking down 5 times, each time for about 10 minutes, leaving us standing around and waiting, occasionally tossing a potato into a trash bin to "clean up" and look busy. I had worked out a mathematical equation to figure out how long the potato torture would last; divide the tons of potatoes for the day by .4 to figure out the number of minutes of work, then divide that by 60 for figure out the total hours. As I said, it is usually pretty accurate, but today, as it was my last day, the machine was guaranteed to break down multiple times, which I had not factored in. At least we were grading purple potatoes, something I had never done in the month I had worked here. They were really beautiful, and I had snagged a few to make a gourmet meal back in Adelaide. The machine had started up again, and I was at the front, sorting the majority of the rotten, arms moving furiously to turn the potatoes off the table. Working, singing the same song in my head for the 6th time today, I heard someone cry "green light!" I looked up, and sure enough, the green light was flashing, signalling the last of the potatoes had been put into the washer and would be making their way to us in less than 10 minutes, and signalling the end of my potato grading career. I felt my head fill with jubilation, but I forced myself to continue, glancing up occasionally just to make sure it was real. Within minutes, the potatoes slowed to a crawl, then stopped. The belts stopped, and we spent a couple minutes sweeping and picking up scattered potatoes. Then someone said, "you're done," and I forced myself not to jump and skip as I went to clock out.

Today I move back to Adelaide. I am happy!

Last Days in Tanunda

Today was my day off this week from the potato factory. I used today to have lunch at one of my favorite Tanunda cafes, to run a couple of errands, and to book my trip to Tasmania that I am taking next week.

I was originally looking at making a full circle, but I ended up making the cheaper choice of focusing on the east coast. I booked a 3 day tour with Adventure Tours, which will pick me up and drop me off in Hobart (I loved Hobart last time I was in Tassie). I am flying this time, instead of spending a sleepless night being tossed around the Bass Strait on the Spirit of Tasmania (which will also cut out being hit on my the locals who ride the ship to corner lone travelers, as readers of my 2010 Aussie blog will remember). Here is the itinerary:

March 19th: Fly to Hobart, check in overnight to Central Backpackers

March 20th: Check out of backpackers, pickup from St. Davis Cathedral at 7:30 am
Tour Begins:
Day 1 – Hobart to Bicheno
Our journey begins this morning as we make tracks to the East Coast and the beautiful Bay of Fires. Here we can stretch our legs with some quality time to enjoy this highly recommended coastal region (Lonely Planet's must see for 2009). The beaches are gleaming and the water inviting. Enjoy a swim (conditions permitting) before we embark on Tasmania's most scenic coastal drive from St Helen's to Bicheno, where we stay overnight. This evening you can join a guided viewing of the Little Penguins (optional in season) as they return to their rookeries on the edges of this seaside village.

March 21
Day 2 – Freycinet National Park to Hobart
An early start means we are the first to the lookout, beating the crowds and the heat for that postcard photo of Wineglass Bay. Relax on the secluded beach of or choose the more challenging Mt Amos or Hazzards Beach walk for your mornings Freycinet experience. This afternoon we take a break at the picturesque historical village of Ross. Sample the local Ross Bakery fare or check out the convict built bridge. Come face to face with the iconic Tassie Devil as we make a stop at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary to meet these now endangered native animals, as well as some others unique to Tasmania. A short drive returns us to Hobart where we stay overnight.

March 22

Day 3 – Pt Arthur historic site

Start the day with a quick look at Australia's best preserved colonial village of Richmond before heading south for magnificent views of the Tasman Peninsula and the Tasman National Park. Explore Tasmania's ruthless convict past today at the World Heritage Listed - Port Arthur Historic Site (guided walk and harbour cruise included). Rich in visual history, here we learn of the chilling realities of life as a convict amid the restored sandstone prison buildings and preserved ruins.
Drop off at St. Davis, check back into backpackers

March 23rd: Check out, Fly back to Adelaide


I have booked the tour, flights, and hostel. I hate clicking that mouse and watching the money disappear from my account, but this is the reason I have been sorting potatoes for a month. I will soon book the Perth flights as well. I should have plenty of money not to have to touch my American accounts while I am over here. I am actually starting to miss home. I find myself thinking more and more of the US, which usually means it is almost time to go home.

I am so excited about moving back to Adelaide. I will miss the friends I have made here in Tanunda, but as far as the hostel and the work, there isn't much I will miss. I have bonded with the friends I have made through our mutual suffering- we sing and throw potatoes at each other to boost spirits while sweating through 13 hours shifts in a factory where we know we are not cared about. We have dealt with the minimalist conditions of the hostel with perseverance, going out on long journeys into the civilized world to find fans in order to sleep at night in the abysmally hot rooms. Tanunda is a lovely little town, but the hostel leaves a lot to be desired. I still haven't been paid for picking grapes on February 13th; I doubt I will ever see that money. The woman has disconnected or blocked her number, so I have no way of reaching her. I am going to ask reception for her home address. If they cannot or won't provide it, I am going to leave her a nice little note at reception when I check out, something to read if she ever shows her face at the backpackers again. Sarah is coming to pick me up on Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing Adelaide friends again, spending some more time at the beach, and playing volleyball again!