Tasmania

Hello all! I am writing this from a public library (yay free internet!!) in the beautiful and magical town of Hobart, Tasmania. I am currently staying at quite possibly the coolest hostel that i've been in so far. Its called Central City Backpackers and I highly recommend it. Hobart reminds me a lot of home. Its smaller and less crowded than the urban sprawl that is Sydney. The town is right on the coast (pretty much everything is; Tasmania is a rather small island) with a vibrant shipping/boating/fish n' chips/wharf atmosphere. The temperature is much cooler too (about 55 degrees F). It's the first place where I can walk around and not feel sweaty. In short, Tasmania is a perfect annecdote to the little bout of homesickness that I was feeling last week in Sydney. Original plan was to fly down here with my buddy Rheanne and do a 6 day hiking trip. That plan fell through after a colorful 5 hour sydney King's Cross Hospital emergency room visit/wait after which she was confirmed to have Mono. So the poor thing is on a plane back home early to Canadia to rest while Mono takes its course. Meanwhile, I endured an arduous morning of public transportation through Syd and managed somehow by the grace of God to not miss my plane out of Sydney to Hobart. Travel advice for everyone: don't sleep through your first alarm on the day of plane travel, allow yourself and the slow public busses plenty of time to travel during peak rush hour, and PACK THE NIGHT BEFORE! But I digress...

So I arrive in hobart just a little sleep deprived and nervous cuz once again I don't know anyone and my plans have been completely dashed to the rocks. Once again the good Lord places a random person in my path that completely solves my issues. As I explained my sob story to the hostel front desk (and consequently got sympathetically rewarded with a free room upgrade and linnen), a random girl asked me about the hike. We started chatting and, long story short, made plans to rent a campervan and drive around Tasmania this week! Turns out she is from Canada also, just graduated with a Biology degree, and had absolutely no plans for her 2 weeks here in tas. Also turns out that she hates talking on the phone and making reservations and driving and is shy (pretty much the opposite of me), yet somehow she started talking to me. Thats the plan. We have spent the day collecting heaps of travel brochures and figure that we can do all the same stuff that the guided tours do....just at a fraction of the cost. Brilliant!

I only have 3 mintues left of my free 'net, so here are my highlights from last week:

1. swimming at the sydney olympic pool aquatic center place
2. Laying on the beach
3. Going to the Hunter Valley wineries and getting completely smashed on free wine tastings all day
4. homecooked meals courtesy of Fred and Sarah
5. Making it up to 40 minutes on a run! yay!
6. Going to the movies by myself (i actually kinda like it and nobody steals your popcorn!)
7. Taking a ferry on a gorgeous sunny day and playing photographer for the multitude of tourists that wanted a picture with them and the harbor bridge in the background. (i'm pretty much a local now...)
okay love you all, until next time!!
-Holldawg