Tasmania I reckon; ya olde Van Diemen's Land mate! I reckon the name was changed because the former name would be a pretty ominous name to a hitchhiker; I wouldn't want to get into a van with a demon. A couple of days ago I stepped off the plane absolutely bleary-eyed at Launceston's tiny airport. A sniffer dog took a piss on someone's luggage. Fruit and vegetables even from the mainland are not allowed to be brought into Tasmania. Carrying over my recommended weight of gear I was picked up by a lovely lady named Julie. The first car I stuck my thumb out for, and she picked me up and dropped me straight at Jared's doorstep. Jared is my latest CS host. Forget AirBnB; I'm determined to keep the dream and spirit of CouchSurfing alive. Hosting someone should be about a cultural rather than a monetary exchange.
Flights to "Tassie" are so cheap it's remarkable the Spirit of Tasmania still operates; $64 for a 1-hour flight versus $158 for a 12-hour ferry ride. Gazing at Launceston from Jared's balcony you could be forgiven for thinking you're in a small city in Bavaria or somewhere along the Rhine. Launceston has perhaps Australia's best collection of preserved historic buildings and is situated on the Tamar River, Tassie's longest estruary. Yesterday I went in a photo safari Launceston's collection of buildings.
Yesterday the weather was absolutely gorgeous but, as they reckon in Tassie, the weather can foul very quickly. Today was typical Tassie weather: cold, wet, and dreary. Jared said "you should get boots for the Overland Track; I wouldn't trek in thongs at this time of year." Since I'm heading back to NZ in just a few weeks I knew they'd be a good investment. I forgot to mention that I've now been to every state and territory in Australia. If you get technical, I still haven't been to some of the smaller territories (Christmas Island, Australian Antarctic Territory, etc). In search of lunch, I wondered why fish & chips are so expensive here. A dedicated fish & chip restaurant (not simply a shack) on the waterfront charges $24 for basic fish & chips. In the end I called in for a pizza at Sails by the River. The pretty lass behind the bar isn't all that interested in travel but we had some good chats as I observed yachts in the harbour.
Tonight I was invited by a CouchSurfer named Ebony to a comedy show where I got to strut my stuff. Ebony is white and calls herself a "walking contradiction" and as she's bi-polar, one of my jokes during the evening is that the world is bi-polar. The best was how I met this lady in Hobart who works as a tour guide by day and a prostitute by night, therefore she provides two types of maps of Tassie ("Mappa Tassie" is a slang term for vagina). After the rigours of the streets of Melbourne, Tassie comes as a nice change. For now I'm on a walkabout. In a few days I'm walking the Overland Track, and Tassie shall be an undetermined length of bliss.
