East Coast Tasmania

We trucked up the east coast to finish up our trip around Tasmania with some pretty epic stops along the way. The highlights include eating our way through Bruny Island where we had some of the tastiest cheese at Bruny Island Cheese Co., fresh oysters, and met our wallaby friend, Ray (we thought he was blind at first). Then, we checked out the adorable wombats and (equally? less.) adorable Tasmanian Devils at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.

Then, we hiked to see Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park. The name could've come from the shape of the bay or the fact that there's wineries surrounding the area, but no. It's name actually derived from the the color of bay being red due to all the whaling. Thankfully, that is the case no more and it's now a beautiful sight. Afterwards, we camped near the Bay of Fires which was literally on fire thanks to prescribed burning. It made for a cool yet apocalyptic-like backdrop while fishing.

An unexpected stop was in the town of Derby, which greets those passing through with a giant rock painted to look like a trout. It now solely exists because of its awesome mountain biking trails since the mines are no more.

We spent an adrenaline filled afternoon biking and teaching Tori not to fall or crash on berms, and by the end, Tori's skills had improved such that a Red Bull athlete would be envious. We caught millimeters of air and milliseconds of hang time on jumps. Sweet.

We then traveled to the Central Highlands near the center of the island where we met the president of the Australian Fly Fishing Club. After "hiring" (renting) a drift boat from him he kindly offered to us all of the fly fishing equipment for free. We were so excited to go fishing the next day that we didn't really mind camping in the -1 degree celsius weather. The morning was crisp and we started our day with high hopes that slowly dwindled down as the hours went by. We didn't have a single strike all day and while we were retying one of the flies the tip of the fly rod snapped off like a broken toothpick. If it was any consolation, all of the other local folks fly fishing were also skunked. Later that evening, we met back up with Jason, the president, and had to inform him that not only did we not catch anything, but we also broke his fly rod. Funny enough, he was more upset that we didn't catch anything than he was about his rod. He was genuinely the nicest guy and we hope he comes to visit us in Wyoming if he is out fishing in the States.

Launceston was our last big stop in Tassie. We walked through town, alongside the gorgeous Tamar River and explored Cataract Gorge. One funny thing we've noticed in Australia is that they love cable cars/chairlifts. Anytime there is a tall mountain there's a good chance there's a lift that can take you up it and this was the case for Cataract Gorge. It boasts being the longest, unsupported chairlift. We're not sure thats accurate but we decided to take it anyways since it looked really old and fun. We enjoyed the ride over the gorge and adjacent lake.

One night in town we opted to get some Lebanese food since we had never tried it, plus the place we looked up had excellent reviews. Once there, we became doubtful of our choice since the owner was the only one working the place. It wasn't a huge place, but there were 3 other couples dining in. However. this man was a pro. He took each tables' order back to back, without a notepad, cooked all our food, then delivered to each table the apps, dinner, then teas. It was amazing to watch this single man work so hard and make some truly yummy, delicious, super-terrific food all without becoming flustered. He was just so happy to be cooking us his homeland's cuisine. It's fun to watch people do what they do best with passion.

All in all, Tasmania is a wonderful place to visit. We didn't always have the best weather with it being rainy, cold, and windy many days but our adventures made up for it. It offers so much for being so small: gourmet food and drink, beautiful beaches, spooky ghost towns, seriously cute animals, amazing fishing, luxurious wineries and breathtaking hikes.