Devil Land

Location:

Tour of Tasmania

After deciding last minute to book a tour that cost a considerable amount of money, let's hope it's worth it. I'm really excited about it. Tassie is such a beautiful part of the world and so different to the mainland. I reckon the next five days will be very enjoyable. As our tour guide, Julian or 'Julzes' as he likes to be called was rather late, I was beginning to think he wasn't going to show at all. Then, at the corner of my eye I could see him pull up in front of us. Getting on to the bus, we were warmly greeted by all the other guests on the trip.

It's always good when you have a nice group of people to travel with. We certainly had a good mixture. From the funny pilot to the intellect to the more laid back backpackers. There was a personality to suit everyone. Of course, all of us got on really well, which is a bonus as a lot of the time was spent in the bus driving from place to place.

If there is one thing that I can truly say about Tasmania, it reminds me of home. From its lush green landscape to its cooler, wet temperate to its friendly people (Of course, not as friendly as us Irish!). It really does make you feel as if your back home. When I imagined what the region would be like, it's exactly as I thought!

While it rained for most of the tour, I wasn't going to let it put a dampener on things. After all, a landscape as lush as this looks even nicer with droplets of water falling through. The first time we got properly wet, Jason comes back on the bus, takes his wet shoes off and in his thickest Dublin accent, 'Sorry mate, can ya turn the heatin up cause me shoes are wet!' Everyone found it very funny. And ever since that moment, Jules would make sure to ask how Jason's shoes are. We couldn't leave unless we knew his shoes were ok! Everyone knew that his shoes were the most important thing on the bus!

The first few nights were probably my favourite as the whole group stayed in the one house, which we had all to ourselves. It was really nice getting to know each other at 'Braeside Guest House' and having a laugh as well! Myself and Jason both really enjoyed our card games with those that could resist the temptation of the call from a nice warm bed. By the third night, the group split up with the poor among us choosing to stay at the 'Arthouse Backpacker Hostel.' On the fourth night, we were living it up in a former house for the firemen of Port Arthur. Definitely strange staying next to a fire station!

While initially when deciding what to write for this blog, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you about all the places we visited! You will be glad to know that I have since put that idea to bed! I'm sure you don't want to be reading a 'And then we did this, and then we went here...' If you do then read my original blogs from when we first set off!

One of the main highlights of the trip was our day out to the famous 'Cradle Mountain.' Getting out of the bus with 'Siberia' like conditions didn't really make us feel ecstatic and while the clouds mainly stayed in place at least the weather calmed down if even for a little bit. While I can understand some of the others, particularly the older gang choosing the warmth and cosiness of the nearby log cabin and it's big fire over braving the elements. Others who wanted to do the walk and the last minute chickened out, grow a set of balls and man up! Regardless of the poor weather, it was still a stunning walk around the lake with picturesque views of Cradle lake. Ok, I would have preferred nicer weather and bluer sky's but in life you can't have everything your way. If we visit again during better weather then great, but to not ever see it, well that is simply disappointing!

One of my favourite things about the tour is the amazing lunch and the artisan style sandwiches we got to enjoy. And the best part of all, there was food in abundance for everyone to munch into. Back on the bus, the two young girls at the front of the bus were given DJ duties with strict instructions of choosing every second song for 'The Oldies.' It's only right everyone is kept happy!

Lucky enough the one thing we needed good weather for was 'Wine Glass Bay' which we were rewarded with in abundance. While the area consisted of a nice walk and nice views of the whole bay, my favourite part was definitely the beach. After a bit of a climb down I finally stopped on the sand to get a nice picture only for a massive wave to come in and drench my shoes. With no other brave souls, swim shorts or towel, I quickly stripped down to my underwear and ran into the water catching each wave as it came near. Even though people told us the water would be freezing, they have clearly never swam in 'The Irish Sea! Come summer or winter, it really makes no difference. It was a perfect day for a swim. The water was so refreshing. Definitely a highlight of the tour. I just can't believe no one else joined me. Anyway, their loss!

Don't worry, I'm only going through the top three places in no particular order! Finally, not a place that one should get excited about but an important place that one should visit as a way of remembering the past and how an empire changed the shape of the land forever. When the Brits took over the land, they set up a huge prison in an area known as 'Port Arthur.' As we all know, the Brits, including us Irish would send us over by boat and what a long journey it was, particularly if you were unfortunate to survive. Conditions were not exactly easy even for the guards who were promised big things and then dumped at Port Arthur. Even if they put a foot wrong, they would quickly find themselves on the wrong side of a cell door. Of course it wasn't all bad. If you put your head down and stayed out of trouble, it was a far cry from the dirty, diseased streets of industrial improvised England. For a start, the air was fresher and the water was cleaner than most would be used to. Those that misbehaved were sent to a more extreme part of the prison where any form of noise, even talking to oneself was not permitted as the solitary confinement was pushed on them for lengths of time that are simply inhumane! It's definitely a touching, interesting place to visit. The story of Port Arthur and it's victims should never be forgotten no matter how hard and tragic the past might be. Don't turn them into the forgotten soles the empire wanted us all to forget about!

To think we were this close to pulling out of visiting Tasmania. I owed it to my inner child and his favourite cartoon character 'Taz' to go in search of this endangered creature that gave him hours upon hours of laughter and joy. What more could a man want than to remember a time of innocence when the only thing to worry over was when his favourite show would be on, other than what would be served during meal time. Not only were we lucky enough to visit some truly stunning places, we were also privileged to share it with some truly great characters and a tour guide that kept us well and truly entertained! Tasmania, it's been great. We can't wait to see you again!

By Andrew

#Tasmania #tour #PortArthur