Devonport to Melbourne: End of an era

Friday

We were up at 6 as we needed to get showered, eat breakfast and take everything back down to the car before leaving. We just about managed to do all of this  by our deadline of 7 but then we had a panic. We'd looked for our ticket for the ferry on our emails but we couldn't find it anywhere. The only one we could find, was the one we had used to come from Melbourne. This was a little bit of a worry. We were convinced we had booked it but the emails wouldn't lie, there wasn't a ticket there. We even went through the companies website to try and retrieve the booking and  it was only the outbound journey, not the return one. We attempted to book it online before leaving the hostel but we couldn't find any available sailing until Sunday. That wouldn't do, as we had tickets to go and watch the Aussie Rules Football on Sunday and we wouldn't be back until Momday morning if we took that sailing. We were a little bit stuck. We decided to leave for now as we needed to get the car back to Devonport for 8 o'clock and fill it up with petrol beforehand. The roads were pretty busy but we made good time from Penguin and we were parked up outside the car rental place before 8. We emptied our belongings out of the car, with the lady behind the desk saying we could store them in the office until it was time to go. I asked to use their phone in attempt to find out about our ferry issue and she put me through. It turned out we didn't have a booking, which was weird, as we could remember booking a return trip but we had no choice but to try and book it once again. The lady on the phone originally said nothing was available at first as she assumed we had a car. There wasn't space for a car for another month! Fortunately, we were just foot passengers and only needed a seat rather than a cabin. There were seats still available and we managed to book a couple for a cheaper price than we had paid for the trip out. With that sorted, we could relax for the rest of the day. We walked down to the riverside and enjoyed a coffe at the Harbour Master Cafe. After that, we also managed to pick up a pin badge from the information centre. It was still only 10 o'clock, so we decided to pass some time by sitting in the library and using the free wifi that was on offer. In our time there, we managed to catch up on some blog writing and get some photos up. For the rest of the day we were in and out of the library and visiting the supermarket to buy some supplies for lunch and dinner. We went with the old favourite of wraps, with ham and cheese that we could make last though to dinner in the ferry as well. When the time came, we picked up our bags from the rental office and thanked them for all their help and then walked down to the riverside to catch the ferry across the Mersey (I knew we'd get there eventually!). Unfortunately, the song wasn't playing when we crossed. There was actually a button you can use to call the ferry if he is on the opposite side of the river and I reckon they should play that song when you press it but I'm not giving them that idea. Anyway, we paid our fare and we were dropped to the side of the river we were after. The walk round to the ferry terminal was excruciatingly long and was made worse by the cool bag of food we were carrying seeming to be full of lead. We struggled across the line and collapsed in a heap on some seats and waited until boarding was called. We were sat in the same room as when we went out but we were further back this time. This meant we didn't have a fire exit sign illuminating us while we were trying to get a good nights sleep. We found our seats and sat in them and didn't move for the rest of the crossing. We had some food but didn't bother with the wraps as we were still pretty full from the ones we had eaten earlier. Before trying to sleeps, I wrote up some blogs but Charlotte was out like a light. We had been dreading this part of the journey. The trip out was incredibly, with 8 metre swells in the Bass Straight. It was so far so good for this trip though, it seemed quite calm out there. We had seen on the weather the day before that they were only forecasting 0.5 metre swells, so that may have come true and made the crossing so smooth. Sleep was a struggle, despite the darkness in the seats.

Saturday

The lights came on well before the announcement was made that we arrived in Melbourne. We still had an hour before we could depart, so we stayed in our chairs underneath our blankets until it was time to depart. We retrieved our checked bags and then lugged ourselves to the tram stop. We were incredibly annoyed with ourselves that we had hardly eaten anything and the cool bags still weighed an absolute ton. The tram pulled up and as it was the end of the line, it was empty and we managed to get a seat. We rummaged for our transport cards we had purchased on our brief visit a few weeks before and paid our fares. This is when we found the fault with the Melbourne tram system. They don't announce most of the stations they are stopping at. I'm sure that's fine for locals who are used to them but for tourists who haven't got a clue it makes life a little bit awkward. We eventually got off one stop too late and had to walk back to the stop we were after and pick up a different tram to get along to our hostel. It was right outside Flinders Street station, so it was well placed and easy to find. We walked through the door at about half 7 in the morning, so we understood when the receptionist told us we wouldn't be able to check in yet. To pass the time, we found a quiet seat in a lounge in the basement and sat around there until the time came. We were surprised when we walked into a 4 bed dorm as we had been expecting a 6 bed but we'd take it. Our first port of call was the showers, as we stunk to high heaven and were in need of a fresh set of clothes. Afterwards, we walked to the supermarket a few doors down and picked up some lunch and dinner for the day. We were exhausted after an almost sleepless ferry crossing, so we treated ourselves to an afternoon nap, got ourselves some dinner and then went back to bed for a proper night sleep.

Sunday

We were really looking forward to Sunday. We had booked a couple of tickets to see Hawthorn v West Coast Eagles in the AFL (Australian Football League) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. That wasn't until the afternoon though and we still needed to get through the morning. We didn't rush out of bed, instead letting ourselves wake up naturally. We had some breakfast in the kitchen and then got ready for the day. At first we walked to the MCG just to have a look around. It was about 25 minutes away and we got to walk along the Yarra River on the way. We passed what looked like a huge graffitied giraffe on the banks of the river but as it had 2 heads, we weren't sure. Again, we took this for modern art and moved on. The MCG was as big as we had expected it to be. For the annual Boxing Day test, they regularly cram 100,000 spectators in to watch the Aussies get a whipping. The AFL Grand Final (Aussie Rules Football) is the highest attended grand final of any sport in the world, which is absolutely incredible, bearing in mind the sport is only played professionally in Australia. We needed to pick up some tickets but when I looked at the email, it said the kickoff wasn't until 3:20 (lack of 24 hour clock again!!). It was only about midday, so we still had plenty of time to spare. We walked back into town and got some lunch and then picked up some more food and drink from the supermarket to take into the game with us. By the time we had walked back to the ground the gates were open and people were heading in. I wasn't sure if I was more excited about seeing an Aussie Rules match or just going to the MCG. We found the reserved ticket booth and picked them up. We had struggled when booking them to know whether or not where we were would be a good seat but we eventually gave up and just booked the best available. We needn't have worried as our seats were spectacular. From where we were sitting, it looked like there wouldn't be a bad seat in the house but there must be one somewhere. The ground is so big there's a pretty hefty nosebleed section, so the pitch might be pretty hard to see from up there, particularly cricket. We were pretty happy with what we had been given. The seats were padded leather, which was a nice touch for stadium seats (although, I think that tends to be the trend with modern stadiums) and we were sat behind and at a slight angle to one set of goalposts. The jumbotron opposite us told us we still had 1 hour and 40 minutes until kick off, so we kept ourselves busy by taking photos of the tickets and watching the players warm up. It flew by and before long the players were coming out on to the pitch ready for kickoff. Hawthorn Football Club had been AFL champions for the previous 3 seasons and West Coast had lost to Hawthorn in the previous years Grand Final and from what we could gather from pundits they were expecting good things for the away team this season, so we expected it to be quite a close game. Not that we'd know if it was close, as we had absolutely no idea of the rules of the game we were about to watch. We reckoned the best way to learn would be to watch but it quickly became apparent that that wouldn't work. 6 points would be added to the scoreboard and the crowd would go mental and then 1 point would be added and the crowd would barely register that it had happened. To help ourselves out a bit, we looked up the game on Wikipedia and read through the basic rules:

• 6 points for a goal between the 2 central posts

• 1 point for hitting the post, a goal between the outer posts or the ball crossing the goal line having been touched along the way, this is known as a “behind”.

• If a pass is made of more than 15 metres, then the catcher can take a kick at goal or play on to use the advantage

Once we'd got that, it was fairly easy to follow. The pundits had been wrong (when aren't they?) and Hawthorn were all over West Coast like a cheap suit. West Coast didn't manage to get a goal on the board within the first 20 minute quarter. Another rule, is that only the referee knows the exact game time due to stoppages in play. The time put up within the stadium and on tv is a guess and the siren to end the half could go off anytime. We seemed to be surrounded by West Coast fans who weren't too happy with their teams performance but it was quite funny to watch them get so frustrated. By half time, West Coast had regained a little bit of pride but Hawthorn were well on their way to winning the game without really breaking a sweat. The men sitting next to me were West Coast fans and they moaned from the start of the game all the way through to the final whistle. I did agree with some of the things they were saying though and there were a few questionable refereeing decision made. Just before the game finished the attendance flashed up on the screen and showed the only downside of playing games at the MCG. Greater Melbourne has about 9 Aussie Rules teams. Many play their “home” games at the MCG. The attendance was just over 40,000 in a stadium that holds 100,000. If 2 Melbourne clubs were playing then the attendance might hit that and the Grand Final gets it year in year out but when a Melbourne club are playing one from Sydney/Perth/Adelaide etc it doesn’t get that full. This effects the atmosphere a little bit, which was good, the fans were very passionate and loud but in a half empty stadium, their cheers fell a little bit flat. Games such as the one we attended would be better played at a smaller ground of 40-50,000, where the atmosphere would be fantastic. I will say that playing in such a large stadium, makes it very easy to get tickets if you aren't a member of the club or cricket club. It was still great entertainment that lasted for almost 3 hours, so it was well worth the entry fee. In the end, the West Coast fans had a long flight home to Perth, with their team having lost 99-53. The stadium emptied rapidly and we were amongst a large crowd heading back towards the city. We crossed a bridge that had speakers installed in the walls that played creepy music. Every speaker was playing something different over the one next to it. It was all in various languages and was a little bit eerie. As we left the bridge, there was a number of rickshaws lined up ready to peddle the fans to nearby stations and beyond. They seemed to be doing a good trade and there were a few coming back for more revellers. As we were walking up to Federation Square, there was a slight incline. One of the cyclists was really struggling to get up the slope with 2 people in the back. Rather than encourage her, the 2 were shouting at her and moaning that there were people walking faster than they were cycling. If they had a problem with that, I don't know why they didn't get out walk, the poor lady was trying really hard. Some of the passers by and other cyclists were giving her the encouragement she needed though and she made it to the top of the slope and sped off into the distance. We just hoped that the lazy slobs in the back gave her a good tip when they arrived, no doubt they didn't though. The game had lasted longer than we thought and by the time we got back to the hostel it was getting dark and we were pretty hungry. We cooked ourselves some dinner in the kitchen and tried to catch up with a bit of blog writing. I'd done so much catching up recently, that I was almost up to date with writing but we never seemed to get good enough wifi to upload the photos.

Monday

Our ultimate goal of New Zealand was edging ever closer now and we spent most of our day preparing for that. We hunted down the library to use the wifi that was on offer. We managed to get a few job applications sent off as well as writing up a CV for myself. We found one job on a Macadamia Farm that was after a couple and came with accommodation and pay. We wanted that one desperately but weren't convinced we'd get it. We sent an email anyway and kept our fingers crossed. That was our day, a thrilling one spent at the library but we needed to start getting things ready.

Tuesday

This was our final day in Melbourne, our final day in Australia after over 2 months of sunshine and sweating. It had been excellent, with Uluru and Tasmania easily sticking out as the best things we had done or seen while in the country. On the other hand Darwin had been the biggest disappointment. After the sweatbox that was South East Asia, we were relieved when we hit Perth and it wasn't so humid but when we got up to Darwin, it started all over again. Anyway, rather than loaf around for the day we decided to see a little bit of Melbourne. After breakfast we headed out and about. We walked along Flinders street towards Southern Cross station, where we could buy our bus tickets for the journey to the airport the following day. We managed to pay for that with the last $38 we had remaining on our Thomas cook Australian dollar cash card. After that, we only had $20 to our name that we would have to make last for the rest of the day. From the station, we walked across a bridge that went over the station and led us down past Melbourne’s Etihad stadium to the docklands area. It was like any other docklands areas big cities, modernised and made up of posh apartment blocks. We walked along an abandoned tramline and then took a right up to a park called Flagstaff Gardens. In the past Flagstaff Gardens had a very similar job to that of Mount Nelson in Hobart. On top of the hill is a flagpole that was used to send messages between the dock area of the city and the city centre. Where the flagpole stands is a small memorial about the history of the hill. Next to the Garden is Victoria Market, which is a huge, covered market selling anything anyone could ever need. Fruit and veg, meat and fish, souvenirs, clothing, watches and more. We took some time to wander around, keeping an eye out for a pin badge but well aware there were numerous souvenir places in the centre of the city. Along the way we were offered a free sample of a caramel covered macadamia. We thought we might as well try one seeing we'd applied for a job picking them (I shouldn't tempt fate like that!). It was really tasty but not good enough to draw us back to buy some (Macadamias are expensive after all!). We left the market and attempted to head towards the MCG but we got hopelessly lost. We were after a road without a tramline down it but wherever we went there were tramlines. We decided to just go for it but when we couldn't find ourselves on our map we took a left to try and find somewhere that was on there. We were standing on a pavement when a man walked by and offered us some help. We'd been heading in the opposite direction to what we wanted, which made us feel a little bit stupid but it has been caused by not knowing where we came out of Victoria Market. Rather than go the fancy way round, we cut a line right through the centre of the city until we hit the Yarra river and then followed that along, we couldn't miss it now. We'd seen a couple of statues at the ground when we had been to the football the Sunday before, so we decided to walk right around the stadium to see who they all were. Cricketing greats Dennis Lillee and Shane Warne were closest to where we approached from. There was also a statue that commemorated the invention of Australian Rules Football (turns out an Englishman invented it). There were various other statues, none of which we had heard of. They were mostly notable Aussie Rules players and a few Olympic athletes. We did find one of Don Bradman tucked around the back but the gate he was in front of was called the Don Bradman gate, so it seemed a pretty fitting place to plant a statue. We continued round, ending up back at the statue of Bill Ponsford, whose stand we had watched the football in a few days before. That was us pretty much done for Melbourne. We did have one final visit to make on the walk back to our hostel though. When we'd arrived in the city, the receptionist had told us there was a graffiti event taking place along a few backstreets. We hadn't made it out to see it that day but we stopped by one particular road that was on our way. It just happened to be a road named after the Hosie's too, which made it extra special. The graffiti covered every wall available and was quite impressive. The toxic fumes of the paint made it quite a struggle to walk down the road without your head spinning. We were surprised to see lots of children down there. We didn't stay long and were really more interested in getting a photograph with the sign. Now that was Melbourne genuinely finished. We headed back to our hostel, got cleaned up and packed our things away ready for the big off to New Zealand. Unfortunately, we don't really feel as though we did Melbourne justice. After what was a big last hurrah in Tasmania, we had little energy to do anything. We loved the footie and saw a little bit of the city, so we're fairly happy with our achievements. Going to sleep the day before our flight to New Zealand was like going to sleep on Christmas Eve, we just couldn't wait.

James and Charlotte 

Launceston to Devonport via Hobart and Penguin: We've travelled each and every highway

UThursday

That was the grand plan. We hadn't seen much of Hobart and it had also been the first European/Australian city that we hadn't got a pin badge from. On our last day with the car, we were going to drive the 200km south across Tasmania to Hobart and then drive the 300km back north past Launceston, past Devonport, to the small village of Penguin, that we had passed through on our first day in Tassie. We had only picked Penguin because that was the most suitable and cheapest accommodation there was. We couldn't escape the locked hostel car park in Launceston until 8 o'clock, so we got our things together and had breakfast before in order to be ready when they opened. Before leaving town, we had to top the thirsty Hyundai up with a full tank before hitting the highway. The road we were driving on was highway number 1, so we were expecting good quality the whole way. We headed up hill when we got out of town and then stayed there for pretty much the entire drive. For most of the way, we drove through thick fog that was quite hard to see through. The fully laden logging lorries crept on us through the fog from nowhere. We made good time until all the way down until we hit the outskirts of Hobart. It was only 10 o'clock in the morning and the traffic was crawling along at a snails pace. We slowly made it to the centre of the city and than hunted down a car park from memory. We'd taken a risk coming back down for the badge. There was the chance that the shop we wanted to go to would be closed for more than just the Easter weekend. We were pretty sure it wouldn't be but they could also not have a pin badge with Hobart on it. We thought it would be funny in the end if there wasn't one though. We parked up and headed straight for the souvenir shop. We got slightly lost as we exited the car park a different way than we thought but we soon got back on track and found the shop. It was a huge relief when we found more than one badge to choose from. We picked one up, pretty happy that the 140 mile trip down had been well worth it. To make the trip more worth it, we walked over to the Salamanca Market area. Salamanca Market takes place every Saturday and sells pretty much everything you could ever want. Unfortunately, we weren't there on a Saturday. It was a Thursday morning and it was fairly quiet. We picked up some fruit from the markets onsite supermarket and then wandered round Salamanca Square. There wasn't a huge amount to see but it seemed like a nice relaxed sort of place. There was a fountain in the middle, with a few odd shops dotted around the place. We decided pretty quickly we had seen enough and started to walk back towards the car in search of food. We drove out to North Hobart, which is where we had been on the Good Friday. This time the burger shop was open but rather than have a normal burger for sale, they were all a little bit weird. We changed our minds in the burger place and walked down to a fish and chip shop but found it to be well out of our price range. We only had 15 minutes parking and were running short on time. We gave up and decided we'd eat the remainder of the snacks we had knocking around the car on the drive north. On the way out of town a sign for miniature golf caught my eye. On an impulse, I said “let's go there!”, in an attempt to lighten the mood after the stressful food situation. We played a round outside in a place that claimed it was “the worlds best mini golf”. It was good but it certainly wasn't great. There was no windmill for starters! I started well but the water hazards eventually got the better of me and Charlotte streaked away with the win. There were a couple of nifty pipes that moved the ball around with air but that was about it. At one point I almost lost my ball in a cheeky pond that almost looked as if it was set up to catch them. We had paid a deposit for the balls, so we wouldn't have been impressed. After balancing on a rock and straining to reach it with the club, I did manage to retrieve it without falling in myself. We returned our clubs, a little cheerier than when we had started and then hit the road north. It was a pretty simple drive that took us around 3 hours. The sun was just setting as we pulled into our accommodation car park. The building didn't look dissimilar from the Bush Inn, which was the haunted one we had stayed in in New Norfolk. It was as much pub as it was hostel/hotel. On the drive up, I'd felt myself come down with a cold like Charlotte still had, so we decided to have an early night to try and recuperate a little bit. Before this, we emptied the car completely in an attempt to try and get everything sorted and repacked during the evening, rather than have to worry about it the following morning. I skipped dinner but Charlotte had some toast.

                                 

 

James and Charlotte

St.Helens to Launceston: Welcome to the Bay of Asians

Tuesday

After a short lie in we rustled up ourselves some beans on toast for breakfast. We'd reignited the spark at our hotel in Eaglehawk Neck and really fancied some. It went down a treat and set us up for the day. Just up the road from St.Helens is a place called the Bay of Fires. It has been voted Lonely Planet’s must see place in the world so we were expecting good things from it. It was about a half an hour drive from our accommodation and we got there fairly early. As we were now near the end of our time in Tasmania, we had noticed that we were getting out and about later and later. Having said that, it was long gone 10 when we reached Binalong Bay, which is a town at the southern end of the Bay of Fires. After an initial problem of trying to find a car park, we parked up and set off. There are spots along the bay that are littered with huge rocks covered in red lichen. This is the reason Charlotte and I guessed it was called the Bay of Fires but it didn't take us long to find out that was wrong. Not far up from where we parked there was a viewing platform. On this platform there was an info board that enlightened us. Apparently it got named by the original explorer that found it Captain Tobias Furneaux due to the fires the Aboriginal people had set up along the beach. We walked down from the platform and decided to give the waters a bit of a test. Some of the larger rocks had formed a small lagoon, which was protected from the large surf crashing against the outer rocks. Unsurprising, the water was pretty chilly but we wandered out to a rocky island and sat for half an hour enjoying the sights. Compared to Wineglass Bay, this was more our thing. We sat on our rock and watched the father of a family, that sounded like they came from Yorkshire, decide to take the plunge in the freezing cold water. He tried to keep a brave face on it but he couldn't hide the pain from his voice. When our peace was spoiled by 2 young children clambering all over our rock, we decided to head back to the car. There was a car park back along from us that provided access to a long, sandy beach, so we went for a walk on that. The sand was so fine, it squeaked as our bare feet rubbed against it as we walked, which provided us with far too much amusement. We walked along where the water was reaching and got caught off guard more than once by a rogue wave. We were watching a storm out in the sea and had no idea what direction it was heading in. By the time we had got to the opposite end of the beach, we were pretty sure we were going to get a soaking, so we picked up the pace on the return leg. We needn't have bothered. We sat in the car and watched it go further north and avoid us all together. The sit in the car did mean we could eat some lunch though. We sat there eating and pondering and came to the conclusion we had seen all Binalong Bay had had to offer us. We consulted our road map of Tassie and found a dead end road out to a place called The Gardens and thought we'd check that out for something to do. It would have been a quick drive but for a car that was going at a snails pace most of the way. We guessed on the drivers ethnicity well before the road mercifully straightened out and we could safely overtake. They were Asian, in case you hadn't guessed. I realise I don't speak highly of Asians and they are lovely but some of them are just nutters. A number of times we had had to be wary of Asian drivers on the road as they were very erratic, slow moving and rather indecisive. We also believe that a reason for this may be that they are renting cars with one named driver and then swapping drivers for some of the quieter stretches of road. This may be a load of rubbish though. Also, (sorry to bleat on) we have been warned by 2 completely different people on opposite sides of the state to watch out for Asians on the road. One told us there had been a very near miss when a group had stopped in the middle of the road and decided to photograph a dead wombat. The other told us one had been killed when lying in the middle of the road taking a photo of a dead Echidna. We did take these with a pinch a salt but then again, it wouldn't surprise us one iota if it were true. Anyway, we made it safely past the erratic driver and down the wonderful road to The Gardens. After continuing with our lunch for a short while we got out of the car to have a look around, unsurprised there was no sign of the car we had passed. Despite a large group of Asians, there was nobody around. We headed in the opposite direction, knowing that when we'd found a nice spot they'd come over and stand by us anyway. There was a viewing platform up on a very small hill that gave panoramic views of even more lichen covered rocks and Asians taking selfies (sorry, I'll stop now). We left the platform behind to do some more scrambling over rocks, which was a little bit awkward in worn out flip flops. We found a quiet spot and sat just short of where the waves were crashing against the rocks. Again, this was what we enjoyed. Witnessing the power of the sea. Our prediction was correct however, it didn't take long to hear the patter of Asian feet behind us, which was quickly drowned out by their shouting at each other from 2 feet away. We tolerated it for a few minutes but eventually gave up and walked back to the car. Tucked next to our car was the erratically driven one and I think we were both pleased to see it had arrived safely. That pretty much finished up our day in the Bay of Fires. We stopped off at St.Helens visitor information along the way and picked up a pin badge, stopped off at the supermarket for a few dinner things and then headed home. Charlotte had started working me like a slave to get caught up with blog writing. I'd started off writing day by day in Tasmania but somehow got out the habit. I was also struggling to catch up with the deficit that had been caused by Dengue Fever way back in Singapore. Under the whip though, I'd been catching up pretty well. That's how I spent my evening , while Charlotte done some tidying in the car. For the first time in a while, we had picked up some meat for dinner. Previous places we'd stayed didn't have adequate cooking facilities for it. One place we had stayed even charged us $1 for 15 minutes of hob time and we didn't fancy using all of that cooking up some chicken. Anyway, after so long without, the chicken and white sauce was delicious. It was just a shame the carrots had started to go a bit soft.

Wednesday

Getting up and motivated was quickly becoming a nuisance. We'd agree on a time to get up the night before and then press snooze on the alarm so many times it got silly. We were using up our time in the cabin though, as we could check out at 10. After tidying the car up once again, by the time everything had returned to it, it looked slightly worse for wear. We also knew we'd just have to get everything sorted once and for all in a final stop, wherever that would be. We were struggling to find a place to stay in Devonport for the final night, so weren't really sure what was happening. This was exacerbated by the fact we had an incredibly wacky plan for our final full day with the car but we deemed it necessary. Back in St.Helens though, we were eating our toast and just looking to make it to Tasmania’s second city of Launceston. Now, clearly when the British settled in Tasmania, they thought it looked slightly similar to home and decided to name almost every town after ones back in the UK. St.Helens, Launceston, Brighton, Derby, Richmond, Cornwall, to name a few. I don't have a problem with this but I do have a problem with how Australian pronounce Launceston. It's not quite as ridiculous as my parents disagreement on how to say Bosham but I still think it's weird. I wouldn't have even known about it had our tour guide for Uluru, Matt, not come from the town. I'm pretty sure we pronounce our town of Launceston, Cornwall as Lanws-ton. The locals here call theirs Lawn-ces-ton. We hadn't even started driving there yet and we were angry with it. It was a fairly long drive up from St.Helens, so we broke it up with a stop in the small town of Scottsdale. We popped into the visitor information just for the sake of it really. We told the lady behind the desk we were just passing through and she gave us a voucher for a free hot drink down at the local bakery. It would have been rude not too, so we headed down to pick them up. It would have also been rude to just go in for the free coffee, so we picked up a couple of sausage rolls to keep us going. We ate them back in the car and carried on through to Launceston. Despite being the second biggest city in Tassie, it wasn't huge. It has a population of 106,000, which i believe is pretty similar to Worthing’s. Hitting a complicated one way system again, we eventually found our hostel. We checked in and made our beds. While we were making them an English lady came in and we went through the pleasantries. When we said we came from near Brighton, she asked us “not Worthing?”. We were slightly taken aback as even British people tend not to know where it is. She was Mancunian but she has a cousin who lives in Worthing. We wanted to head out so we said our see you laters hit the streets. We didn't really know what to do in Launceston (having looked back, there are a few things we missed but hopefully we’ll come back) and decided to just wander the town and see what we might find. Not much unfortunately! We found the visitor info centre and popped in for a pin badge but there wasn't any to find. We asked the lady if there was any gift shops around town to have a look in. She told of us of one, which we decided to find a visit to Launceston library. We still needed to sort out some accommodation and plans for the next day and we'd found libraries the best place to access free wifi. Our hostel offered it but we refused to pay $1 for an hours worth of Internet. We spent a couple of hours here as I had not filled my blog quota for the previous day and Charlotte hunted down some accommodation. We eventually found somewhere in the small town of Penguin, that we had driven through on our first day in Tasmania. It was cheap and not too far from Devonport, so it seemed perfect. We left the library and hunted down the gift shop. We needn't have bothered. Not a Launceston badge in sight. I even asked her if we might find one elsewhere but she couldn't really help. It had annoyed us that the 2 biggest cities in Tassie were the 2 places we had failed to get a badge. We'd even got one from Strahan, with its hefty population of just over 600. We gave up for the day, seemingly now in wind down mode for the trip back to the mainland in a few days time. You guessed it! Blogs were written, dinners were cooked and beds were slept in. After all, we had a very busy day planned and we needed our rest.

James and Charlotte