Hwee! This is overdue but here it is!

To one half of the evil twin, Jing : Tassie is short for Tasmania =D

Day 1:

Before we left

Day was awesomely awesome. We brought our winter coats cause Tassie is going to be cold. But in Melbourne… the day was warm. No need to wear coat =D. And I went out with my new shirt which Sarah wants but couldn’t get =P.

On Tiger Airways, Melbourne to Hobart, at 3pm

Like I said, on TIGER … so delayeddddddd for 1 hour =(. Oh well… as long as I get to my destination.

We reached about 5.30pm and reached our hotel (Wrest Point) at 6+pm. The boys were quite hungry by that time so Queenie, our Tassie ‘guide’ and friend swung by in a taxi to pick us up for dinner at Cargo, Salamanca.

Cargo probably serves some of the most interesting pizzas or rather known as gourmet pizzas.

We ordered 5 pizzas to be shared among the 6 of us. There was smoked salmon pizza, portabella mushroom, seafood, hoisin duck and pork and apple pizza.

My favs were the smoked salmon and seafood =D awesome. A bit sceptical about the hoisin duck – too sweet for my liking.

After that we had ice cream – peanut butter fudge! That tasted so good. Thumbs up!

Our first night there ended with free hot drinks from the casino.

Day 2:

Our day started with free drinks from the casino =D

Haha. Funneh… Well, the free drinks did make an appearance in our morning. But that’s not how we started our day. We started by busying ourselves with searching for cars to rent. The cars in Tasmania were expensive particularly cause their surcharges for underage people were so high and it was compulsory. But… regardless, we managed to find a reasonably priced one in the city.

Nissan Tiida

Anyway, due to the late start to the day, we had to swap our plans around. Hence, Port Arthur ‘today’ Wineglass Bay ‘tomorrow’.

On our way to Port Arthur, we stopped by a few places. Barilla Bay, Blowhole and erm… another version of Blowhole?

Photo on the bottom left was some sort of ‘man vs. wild’ thing that Joey was attempting.

Port Arthur

The settlement started as a timber station in 1830, but it is best known for being a penal colony.

From 1833, until the 1850s, it was the destination for the hardest of convicted British and Irish criminals, those who were secondary offenders having re-offended after their arrival in Australia. Rebellious personalities from other convict stations were also sent here, a quite undesirable punishment. In addition Port Arthur had some of the strictest security measures of the British penal system.

Drive: 1.5 Hours

Entrance Fee: $25 for bronze level.

We were each given a card, 7 spades, for example. Each card represents a single prisoner. Hence, we would be able to trace the stories of each of our prisoners by using the card as a guide.

I think that when you walk through the place and read each of their stories, for some reason, you will feel extremely sad.

Yes, they were convicts.

But, humans too, no? Most, I read, were transported for life. FOR LIFE. I don’t know, but I probably wouldn’t be able to bear that sort of punishment. And they had this set of cuffs for you to try on. They were heavy. And that is what the convicts had to put around their legs. Ouch.

Yes, they were convicts.

Anyway, after we got out of the place, we went touring around the place as we had some time before the cruise.

We went into a church where Gene attempted to read the bible.

Me: This is Chapter 5, Verse 1. What book is this?

Gene: Err…. the bible?

LOL! Such noobness.

Nyway, after all that touring, it was time for the cruise. There will be a running commentary about the island and stuff. Well, didn’t really listen to it, sad to say, cause there were 2 noisy kids playing around.

After the cruise, rain started pouring!!! Argh! Bad weather. Cold, to say the least. Seriously, it is like going from hot in Melbourne to winter in Hobart. Brr… Cause it was so cold, I didn’t feel like taking pictures anymore. My hands belong in the pockets where it is warm =D.

We head back to Hobart before it got too dark. There are hardly any lamp posts on the road back, only reflectors. Hence, dangerous to drive back when it dark which totally works for me as it means… NO GHOST TOUR!!! (Port Arthur has a few ghost tours scheduled in the evening through to the night).

Went back to Hobart to Fish Frenzy where we were joined by Queenie and Sui Ching. We had their standard fish and chips which were erm… okay. Too fried for my liking. But the scallops were delish =D

Sui Ching told us what to expect at Wineglass bay having been there just a few days ago. Apparently it will be really really cold and windy. Me and Sarah were really worried about it being too cold. So, Sui Ching and Quin offered to lend us their wind breaker =D.

After dinner, we headed to UTAS to collect the jackets. And the boys found their heaven. We spent probably about one hour at the game room waiting for the boys to finish their game of snooker/table tennis.

Meanwhile,

all the signboards stolen by the Uni’s students. Interesting, yes?

Alrighty Folks! PART 1 UP TILL HERE! Only because I can’t bring myself to update anymore than this. Part 2 soon? I hope =D Cross fingers

ps: I omitted some parts of the trip. Cheeeerrrrrssssss