Tasmania Episode I - Off we go!

the past weekend was a phenomenal experience!! we made a trip down to tasmania, the southern most of australia... closest to antartica which means it's super super cold!! haha!

Jetstar flight
our domestic flight was at 6.45, so which means we had to check in at abt 5... coz they had this system abt giving out blue passes to early birds so they can board the plane first n get good seats (free seating mah...). we woke up at like 3 plus to prepare and booked a cab down to the airport! xiong right... like army lydat... what to do... fengyi our commander organized the tasmania trip! haha!

First Step in Tasmania
haha... the hobart airport very lok kok... they dun haf the passageway for passengers to walk... so we hafta like go down the stairs onto the runway and walk into the airport. and when we took our first step, all our first words were "AHHH!!! COLD!!!!" hahaha!! coz it was 9 degrees!! and the wind was wailing away...

we already planned our trip nicely so that we'll cover as much as possible... so we intended to drive along a few tourist trails - the Convict Trail, the Rivers Run and the Huon Trail. one on each day... so it means setting off before dawn everyday and finishing the attractions by dusk and driving back in the dark. this way, we wun waste precious bright times on travelling.

The Convict Trail
the convict trail is so named coz at the end of the trail, we'll arrive at Port Arthur... which is a historic site... it used to house many convicts in there. Unfortunately, the entrance fee and ghost tour combined cost 64 bucks, so we gave it a miss and were quite contented with just taking photos of it from a lookout. It looks really nice... definitely not like a jailhouse... more like holiday chalet. haha!

in this trail, i must say the Sorell Fruit Farm was the highlight! we were given baskets and let loose into rows n rows of strawberry plants, apple trees, raspberry shrubs and pear trees! we can pluck as many as we want... and then pay for them by kg... apples were going for only $1 per kg and strawberries $4 per kg! liling n i were shrieking and squealing with excitement at the thought of picking strawberries and apples! soon we were all squatting down looking for nice big red strawberries and filling our baskets with lots n lots of them!

It was also our first time seeing apple trees!! rows of my favourite Fuji apples, Red Delicious (yup... tt's e name) apples and Matsu green apples! we scouted all over the farm for good ones... liling n ken din even spare the ones on top of the trees... ken carried liling up so she could reach them! haha!! then fengyi couldn't resist trying the apples, so he rubbed a Matsu green apple and took a bite! hahha! u should've seen his face... his eyes grew wide opened... and said "this is F#$&ing good!" (haha... from this trip, i've come to realize tt some guys' vulgar vocab's more extensive than their eng vocab.) we each stole a bite from his apple and totally agreed! n tt geared us up even more to pick n pick n pick!! haha!!

before we knew it, our baskets were full of apples, strawberries and raspberries! and we only paid 16 bucks for them! they prob can last us for more than 1 week... n tt's if we eat them every meal. and we did... we had strawberries for dinner, supper, bedtime snack... haha! so enjoyable to squat in a circle to munch on strawberries the whole evening! and they're like never-ending... coz we had 2 BIG bags full of them! haha!! never eaten so much strawberries in my life... sweet and juicy ones somemore!

then we made our way to a few other attractions along the convict trail... the Old Hobart Model Village, Australia's Oldest Bridge in Richmond town... also caught some amazing rock formations (again...) at the Tasman National Park. saw the Tasman Arch, Devil's Kitchen and the Remarkable Cave. that's e thing with nature... no two rocks look exactly the same... it's like they haf their own set of DNA or something... n i can't seem to get enough of them!! i love all these wonderful carvings of nature!

Pickled Frog Backpackers' Hostel
cheap cheap hostel... which also means a bit dodgy, scary bathrooms with unpredictable hot water supply and dirty kitchen... ok la... give some saving grace... liveable if u dun hiam too much... haha!

we booked a twin bedroom which means the girls get to sleep on a queen-sized bed and e poor guys gotto sleep on the carpetted floor. but it also means it cost us only 138 bucks for 3 nites... with free parking, breakfast provided... pretty good deal...