Personal Journals: The Great Trip to Tasmania

Pre-departure

Tasmania (well-known as Tassie) is an island state of Australia (Wikipedia, 2018). It was my dream to visit this land since I came to Melbourne. Tasmania is promoted as the land of nature and its capital city is Hobart, so I put this place on my top of the wanted destination trips which I must visited list. Fortunately, one of my friends, Sandra invited me to join in the trip to Tasmania along with Ryska. Basically, we had never planned a girl trip, but somehow, we ended up being only-girl-travelling mates.

Departure

              Since the flight would depart at 10.30 am from Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne I went to Southern Cross Station to catch a sky bus, a public transport to airport with reasonable price (the ticket is only $19.50 anyway). If you have an early flight between 6 – 8 am, it is better to hail Uber Taxi to Southern Cross Station then go to the airport with sky bus. This will reduce the cost of using taxi because in total I just spend at least $48 from my place to airport.

During the trips

The trip would be 4 days 3 nights, from November 24^th 2017 to November 27^th 2017. Precisely, this trip was three days journey since we departed on Friday morning to Tasmania and arrived in Melbourne on Monday evening. Sandra arranged itinerary for trip and I just followed her lead because I had no idea about travelling to other places in foreign country. I was amazed about how she could make our schedule became exciting and trilling at the same time. I enjoyed the last trip with her beforehand when we got into Wilsons Promontory tour in Melbourne. I could not wait to the next wonderful trip in Tasmania.

port in Hobart, Tasmania (source: private documentation)

On the arrival date in Hobart, we went to Shoot Tower Taroona in the afternoon. The flight from Melbourne to Tasmania might be tiring but it did not be killjoy for our plan. Of course, when you arrive in Tasmania, the first thing to do is finding the information center in the city so you will have any information about Tasmania and all the things must to do there. You also need a public transport card if you do not drive a car. Honestly, it is better if you bring your own car or rent a car to travel in Tasmania. None of us can drive a car so we use public transport to back and forth from our accommodation to the destinations.

In the journey to Shoot Tower Tarrona, I remember my friends and I got a funny experience. We were heading to our destination, however we missed the bus stop near that tower since we immersed in our excited chatting. After realized it, we were dropped in the next bus stop. Sadly, but funnily the distance between the bus stop is so far more than we imagined so we were walking almost half an hour. We even laughed for our silly mistake. Despite this unexpected thing, we still enjoyed our time in Shoot Tower Tarrona. We saw wonderful view of Hobart from the top, a small city surrounded by nature. To commemorate our trip, we took pictures as many as we could. We even watched the brief explanation about the history of tower.

The Shoot Tower from bottom (source: private documentation)

The sticker for being successfully climbed to the top of tower

We spent the rest of the first day with look around city and had a dinner near bay before returned to the guest house for sleeping.

The second day, we applied for the Port Arthur, Richmond and Tasman Peninsula Tour. For this, we paid $125 per person. Mini bus pick us up from the guest house early in the morning, then we were driven to the stunning Tasman Peninsula, home to Australia’s highest  sea cliffs (according to www.expedia.com.au). We could enjoy panoramic views of the area from Pirates Bay Lookout before went to Port Arthur Historic Site where we could spend 4 hours to explore this historical place. Port Arthur is a village and historic site in southern Tasmania, Australia. Based on tour guide explanation, this port is well-known as a 19th-century penal settlement where prisoners spent their time to do harbor activities such as planting seeds, harvesting, sewing, etc to improve any skill. Funny fact, even though some of them tried to escape there would no way out of that place since its location in a naturally secure site which was being surrounded by water and was guarded by soldiers, man traps, and half-starved dogs. The tour guide even made jokes about it that many prisoners tried their luck to meet total failure in the end. Although they got food, shelter, and some skill training for free, they still thought freedom outside in mainland was the best thing they expect for.

Port Arthur, Tasmania from the front (source: private documentation)

Garden in Port Arthur Colonial Site

In Port Arthur we will find many ruin buildings with the unique beauty. The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO inscribed the Port Arthur Historic Site onto the World Heritage Register on 31 July 2010, as part of the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage property (as cited in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur,_Tasmania). I especially amazed with the architecture of buildings in which bring nostalgic feeling about 19^th century.

During four hours of exploring, we went to some buildings which attracted my attention like the prison, the church, study centre, main building, etc. We took photos almost in every building. We had an hour tour with a humorous lady as our tour guide to look around the main attraction before got our own time for exploration. By the time we spent, the afternoon approached the day. The trip was continuing to the next spot, historical township of Richmond, where you have a bit of time to walk around and cross Australia’s oldest bridge still in use—a convict-built sandstone bridge reported to be haunted.

wonderful sandstone bridge in Tasmania

The last destination, we stopped for a view of the city from a local lookout point. Even though, the weather was gloom and this made the view less attractive, we still enjoyed our trip by taking more pictures especially selfie one. In the end of the day, we were exhausted but satisfied. It was worthwhile trip.

The third day, we cancelled our trip since the weather was not good for sightseeing outside city. We decided to spend time around the city. On Sunday Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart was closed, we went to MOMA (Museum of Old and New Art). This is an art museum located within the Moorilla winery on the Berriedale peninsula in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia and become the largest privately funded museum in the Southern Hemisphere (as cited in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Old_and_New_Art). It was very tough journey since we had to walk from main entrance after dropped in the bus stop. Driving a car is the best option to go around city in Hobart because spending money for public transport is not main problem but we always ended up with walking too much.

one of my favorite paintings in MOMA

a shaped animal object from recycled materials

Before entered the museum, we paid $25 per person. You can get concession as a student if bring the student ID. The ticket cost varies between $25–$28 (adult) and $20–$25 (concession) depending on the time of year. At that moment, we saw the art exhibition and I really liked the way the paintings, sculptures, and any other objects of arts were arranged. If we want to take pictures or videos, we are not allowed using flash light. This museum is open Wednesday–Monday, at 10am–6pm. Then we caught a bus to go to the lookout in one of peak mountains. I forgot the name of that place, but we could see the view of Hobart from the top of hill.

a view from the top of Mount Wellington 

Our adventure moved to go around the city such as visiting the parliament house and took photoshoot there using umbrella as a prop. Since afternoon, we face the day with drizzles, so it was impossible to book any tour. Even though Hobart is a small city, every corner of this shows interesting views and historical buildings. We even visited small shops along the street in front of parliament house. The highlight of the day was the beauty of city.

one of small shops which sells souvenirs

In the last day before departure, we joined in a Mount Wellington Tour for two and half hours with price $95 per person (this tour has two destinations). I was impressed with the sky view from the top of the mountain. The tour stopped in the certain spot where you can stand up and breath in peaceful mind. At that moment, I could forget any worry and felt relaxed. This tour finished at 12 noon then we had lunch before we went to Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.

one of glass house in RTBG

flowered gate with full of white roses

 The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG) are dedicated to educating people about plants and the environment and also part of the Growing our Future, Growing the NBN partnership (as cited in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Tasmanian_Botanical_Gardens). To reach this, it is better to drive a car than use public transport since we had to walk almost 30 minutes from the nearest bus stop. Inside we found many wonderful flowers and plants. We even felt excited and almost out of control when we were taking selfies with flowers and gardens as the background. My favorite spot was the flowered gate with full of white roses.

middle gate in RTBG

One memorable thing happened there was unexpected guests approaching us when we were taking pictures on the grass. There were two cute ducks and this made us laughing all the time. Weirdly, these ducks followed me wherever I snapped the photoshoot of my friends (Sandra and Ryska) who tried different poses. Finally, we finished our selfies and we lost these lovely ducks. We spent two hours there before wrapped up our trip and went to the airport.

We departed from Hobart International Airpot and this flight was only an hour to reach Melbourne Tullamarine Airpot. Honestly, I still wanted to spend more days in Tasmania since there were many places which we have not visited yet or even have never seen before. However, I really enjoyed the warm and comfortable vibe of Tasmania. I also like how quiet Hobart was even though my friends and I got scared a bit when the evening was coming. This was because only a very few people might spend their time go around. Anyway, my holiday in Tasmania was meaningful and memorable trip.

Highlighted

1. We had our proper meals in the evening since in the morning and noon we spent our time enjoying tours or journeys. I remember on Sunday evening, we had steak as our main dish in dinnertime and seriously that was the most delicious steak I have ever had in my experience in Australia.
2. Taking many pictures was an exciting experience especially Tasmania offers so many wonderful spots for background.
3. There are many tour packages which we can choose, depending how many days we will spend in Tasmania. It is better to bring a car or rent a car to discover the wonderful Tasmania. Otherwise, we can buy the public transport package if we will spend at least a week since this is cheaper than using a single trip a day. If less than that, the best option is using cash to pay public transport, particularly if we are student then we will get concession from the drivers (just show student ID and pay cash as exact amount).
4. After arrival, it is better to visit the information center in Hobart to gather many information or advice from people there just in case we are not familiar with Tasmania.