Van Diemen's Land

Fact:

Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to explore Tasmania. He named the island Anthoonij van Diemenslandt in honor of Anthony van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies who had sent Tasman on his voyage of discovery in 1642.

In 1803, the island was colonized by the British as a penal colony with the name Van Diemen's Land.

My Trip:

It's been a few weeks since I have been back, but I have to tell you all about my trip to Tasmania aka Tassie.

My friend M from home and I headed down in his camper van. We took the 10 hour ferry from Melbourne to Devonport (to my surprise the boat ride down wasn't so bad). The only thing that happened in Devonport was that we had an old lady at the info centre tell us there was 'no way' we could see all of Tassie in 5 days. Oh, yeah!? We headed out on our mission to prove her wrong.

From Devonport we headed west to Stanley (voted the tidiest town in Australia in 2002) and 'The Nut'. Once we reached 'The Nut' (a hilltop with views) we took the chair lift up (the best $9 I ever spent!) and walked around the hilltop. The view from above were of the Tasmanian coastline and across the town of Stanley to more ocean views.

Cradle Mountain was next. It was beautiful and silent. A bushy landscape, full of browns, reds and greens. We did the short version (2 hours) of The Overland Track (a 6 day hike). You never realise how out of shape you are until you walk uphill for a half an hour, but, we made it!!

We stayed the night in freezing Cradle Mountain and headed for Hobart, the largest town in Tasmania. It reminded me of Victoria as it is quaint a centers around a harbour. I'll visit Hobart again.

Not far from Hobart is Port Arthur. In 1996 Port Arthur was the site of one of the world largest mass murder sprees in history - 35 people were killed. It is also the site of an old prison which is it's major tourist attraction. We opted to do the nightly ghost tour! Mwa haha! Unfortunately I didn't spot any ghosts but the stories and buildings, and sleeping in a caravan park, would be enough for anyone!

We drove up the east coast and due to the rain (my excuse) didn't end up doing the 2 hour uphill hike to Wineglass Bay. We did some short walks instead and headed off.

My favorite part of the trip was visiting the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park just outside of Port Arthur. They are very cute little guys, though they are mean and feisty (and sound exactly like the cartoon!) Rawr! M and I observed them tearing apart a cut up rabbit; they eat bone, fur and anything they can get their teeth into.

The Tassie Devils only live to be about 5 years old, and even less now that they are suffering from a rare Tasmanian Devil Facial Cancer. It is contagious only among the devils and parks such as this one are trying to save them . They die within 6-8 mos of contracting the disease. If you want to help save a devil visit this link: http://www.tasmaniandevilpark.com/.

I'd like to warn anyone going to Tasmania that they have the worst coffee ever!! At one cafe the girl actually ran water through the grinds a second time to make our second coffee. Barf.

The ferry trip home was horrific. It's a miracle but I actually appreciate BC Ferries now. Yup, it was THAT bad.

All-in-all I loved Tasmania and I hope to visit again soon!