After 5 months of living off rice/pasta and showering in the not so cleanest of places, we were more than happy to be making our way to Tasmania and the comforting arms of family. Mike's uncle and aunt, Rob and Lyn and his cousin Nicola were to provide us with bed and board for the next 6 weeks. Hurrah! Neither of us had seen them all for about 3 years so there was lots of catching up to do which mainly included lots of very good food and lots and lots of red wine. We were given the pool room to sleep in which was bigger than our whole house was in Thornhill and had a great big pool in it - obviously (!) It was there that we both just crashed out completely. After all that moving around we couldn't believe our luck at receiving regular meals and baths!
Unfortunately, Nana wasn't there to meet us but we went to her house and to the cemetery which brought back loads of good memories for Mikey of when he was there when he was 6 years old.
Whilst there we became intiated into the Hash House Harriers where the main aim is to do a run and then get bladdered by downing drinks for various misdemeanours you may or may not have carried out. We soon learned that we have a very weak constitution compared to the hardened drinkers of Australia who could down half an off-license and still get up with the sunrise the next day. I think we earned ourselves a reputation, but not one to brag about! Attending a party thrown by HHH member 'Giggles' set the precedent of us being hard drinkers but absolutely rubbish at handling the after effects. Much dancing occured with me apparantly slapping lots of bottoms (innocent until proven guilty) and teaching random dance moves to strangers whilst Mike and Rob polished off a WHOLE bottle of Jack Daniels. Luckily we were invited back so we cant have been all that bad.
To top it all off, Rob and Lyn offered to buy us a campervan to tour around Tas and the mainland in, which was the best thing to happen to us so far. After all my meticulous financial planning, for some reason - called a slight diversion to New Zealand - we were broke. So began the hunt for a camper resulting in the purchase of Bernie, a much swankier and cleaner version of Dick. Thank you!
With Bernie we were able to travel around Tas and set off for a trial run before the mainland to make sure that everything worked. Tasmania is beautiful and we were so glad that we could explore it even more. Our favourite spot was called Bakers Beach as there were wombats, wallabies and possums all hanging around outside our van all night. It's a shame they dont export wombats to the UK because we would so buy one. They are built like the proverbial poop house and could probably write off your car if you hit one, but so loveable. We also visited a Tasmanian Devil conservation park where as well as watching these strange creatures attacking each other, we saw and hand fed kangaroos for the very first time. FAB. Wineglass Bay was another stop which was beautiful and has one of the top ten beaches in the world. Unfortunately it was autumn so the water was freezing to the point of turning our feet blue so a swim was out of the question. We also went to a national park that had the second biggest trees in the world and walked across the immense Gordon dam, which was several hours down a one way road in the middle of nowhere. The abundance of wildlife - excluding roadkill! - was probably the main highlight.
Another interesting stop was a visit to Mike's Nana's old house/shop where she grew up, a bit of family history for Mikey to discover.
Once back from our trip, the alcohol and food began flowing again and we resumed our seats at the kitchen table where the red wine miraculously appeared every night before Mike and Rob retired to the sofa to watch AFL and sort out all the world's problems. We also managed to ruin our reputation one more time by attending the HHH Annual General P*ss Up and creating drunken dance floor havoc before crashing out back home and being unable to speak to anyone for the next day. I dont think Ros and Grizzle (Hashers) will ever think of us the same again.
Knowing all this, Rob and Lyn still put on a pool party the night before we left with much drinking and gladiator style fighting on a pole suspended over the pool.
Tasmania, above all was the chance to get closer to Rob, Lyn and Nic and they made us feel so comfortable and at home with them. Nic will forever be in my heart for making me tea and toast after a very heavy night! Cleo the cat also won us over and made us want a cat when we get home. Really??!!, I hear you cry.
After a very very sad farewell to them we boarded Bernie and got the ferry to the mainland. Thanks Giggles for getting us a cabin.
Rob, Lyn and Nic - thanks sooooooo much, please come to Wales so we can repay everything you did for us. You might have to wait about 10 years though as we have no house....no car....no money etc etc!!
On on......
