Day 6 : Tasmania

Slept past midnight. Woke up at 3.00 a.m. We needed to head to the airport at 4.00 a.m. We had at plane to catch at 6.10 a.m. We were going to fly Jetstar to Hobart, Tasmania.

At Melbourne Airport, Tullamarine, we were dropped off at the Jetstar terminal. There, we checked in by ourselves at the kiosk, printed our own boarding passes and bag tags. Then we attached our tags to our bags and dropped them at the counter. That settled, we went into the departure hall. It was customary to get our bags scanned, so I guess I still had the terrorist in me when I was stopped. My bag pack was removed from the scanner and I was asked to go out of the hall.

A serious-looking customs officer, a lady probably in her 50's, felt the bottom of my bag pack.

"You have something in your bag, you need to take it out by yourself," the lady said sternly.

I was dumbfounded. I took out my bottle of water from my bag pack and waved it at her.

"No, she said. "It's sharp and about this long," she said, gesturing with her hands an object that might be about 20cm long.

Geez. Was there something in there that I did not know of? I emptied everything from my bag pack into a plastic tray, and out came my blue plastic comb, the weapon of mass destruction.

"Come along now, we'd put everything through and see," the lady said.

And I came out clean. Hmph!

We flew on Jetstar, Australia's very own budget airline. Airbus A321-231 flew us from Tullamarine, Melbourne to Hobart, Tasmania in an hour and fifteen minutes. I was asleep throughout most of the flight so to me, it was one smooth flight, I suppose.

When we landed, we collected our car, a Hyundai Elantra. It fitted the four of us and our bags snugly. Off we drove, with the guide of our GPS, in search of breakfast.

Rental car

McDonald's or Macca as the Aussies call it, was the easiest choice. I had the Barcelona Omelette.
In celebration of the forthcoming London Olympics 2012, Macca has included an Olympic-themed menu, where special items will be named after former Olympics host cities.

The Barcelona Omelette Meal

 What could go wrong with egg, bacon and cheese?

Anyway, I liked the breakfast treat. It has got a spicy chorizo omelette, bacon, cheese and a tangy tomato relish. Yum. Add that with a hot cup of latte, and I was sated and happy.

Our first destination was Mount Wellington. At 1270m, it is frequently covered in snow. That ought to prepare us about how cold this place was. That day, there was no snow, but there was ice covering the surface of the rocks.

As soon as I opened the car door and stepped outside, I felt the very strong wind gushing at me. It threatened to sweep me off my feet. I felt being pushed all the time. Really, I felt that I could fly anytime!

Well, I was wrapped up from my neck down, but my face was exposed and my ears turned red with cold. Brrrr ..... freezing ...

The panoramic view of Hobart from Mount Wellington

Another view
  We were pretty fortunate that the sky was clear and we could get quite a good view of Tasmania, for this place was often shrouded in the clouds and one could hardly see a thing.



 Ice on the rocks

We stayed outside for as long as we could endure and hurriedly ran for the car, and fired up the heater. Phew, we needed a good thaw.

The next destination was the Hobart Waterfront.

 

Beautiful waters 

Boats everywhere!

For lunch, I had an ice-cream. The Deep is located inside Mures Lower Deck. It sold 24 flavours of ice-cream.

A double scoop of ice-cream on a waffle cone, AUD$4.50

I had Stairway to Heaven and a Lemon Gelato on top. The lemon gelato tasted tart and was very refreshing. It zested me up in no time. On the other hand, Stairway to Heaven was indeed heavenly. It had condensed milk, caramel and chocolate flakes. I enjoyed the rich flavour and the chocolate bits in there. I made it a point to return the next day for another ice-cream!! For this was one of the bestest ice-cream that I have ever eaten!

We were supposed to drive out to Port Arthur but was advised against it for it would be closed by the time we got there. So we did a bit of re-planning of our schedule and headed out to Barilla Bay instead. We wanted to go for the oyster farm tour but unfortunately it was closed for winter.

Barilla Bay

 Lots of oyster shells lining the ground

After Barilla Bay, we headed to Cascade, a neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Wellington. There's a brewery there, the oldest in Tasmania. Also, we were not in time for the tour.

Cascade Brewery

So, we went to the Cascades Female Factory, historically a female convict reformation institution. It was in operation from 1828 to 1856. It is a World Heritage site.

The sign
The high sandstone walls were a grim reminder of its role as a female prison

A structure in Yard 1

It was kind of eerie to be there at dusk, though.

We had dinner at Mures Upper Deck. I think dinner deserved a separate post. Lol. So I'd talk about that later.

We put up in Hobart Accommodation and Hostel at Barrack Street. PW and I shared a room. It was a small room with a double decker bed. It was clean but it was also very cold as the small fin heater did not heat up the room well enough. Bathrooms and toilet were directly opposite, across the corridor for guests to share. But I was really happy for the free wi-fi! Yippee.