Launceston, Tasmania – 8 March 2011 at 10:02pm
Kansas City, USA – March 8, 2011 at 6:02am
Oh Launceston, you will forever be remembered in my heart as the place where I had to start wearing men’s deodorant because you were out of women’s.
Kansas City, USA – March 8, 2011 at 6:02am
Oh Launceston, you will forever be remembered in my heart as the place where I had to start wearing men’s deodorant because you were out of women’s.
Launceston is actually a pretty large town, I think the second largest in Tasmania but for some reason, Coles, one of the largest supermarket chains in Australia was out of women’s deodorant…classic. Here’s to smelling manly…which apparently I will need men’s strength protection for tomorrow’s hike up to Mt. Cradle, so who knows, this misstep might just work out in my favor.
Anywho, today we left Bicheno at dawn and made our way to the Bay of Fires another spectacular beach. It was beautiful…and apparently has or had a shark in the area…the story is that a few years back a young girl was surfing and lost a leg or an arm, I can’t remember all the details…but either way she lost one of those body parts anyway…so I’m steering clear of the water…not that there was really time for a swim or a place to clean up afterwards since we were only there for an hour and it was fairly early in the morning so the water was chilly. I decided to cop a squat on a big rock and read my book while listening to the wave’s crash on the shore…it was peaceful and relaxing to say the least.
This tour is good but they definitely keep you on the move to see everything that is Tasmania, in seven short days. I was expecting more adventure (i.e. adrenaline rush experiences) as well but I think this is going to be a pretty tame tour…hmmmm.
After our morning at the beach we all loaded up in the white little 15 passenger van that included a little matching trailer that contained all of our worldly possessions (for the moment anyway) and made our way to St. Columba Falls….one word: magnificent! According to Steve, our tour guide for the week, recently the weather has been quite odd in Tasmania, go figure. For the past six weeks they have had snow every other week, including last week and the annual rain fall is down so he wasn’t sure the falls would have water on them…lucky for us, we’ve had blue skies with a beaming sun all week minus the one afternoon on our hike back from Wineglass Bay…and yes, the falls were full of water. We are lucky travelers once again. On that note I just realized I only encountered rain one day out of the 28 days I was in New Zealand…how is that for good fortune!?!?!?!
After we spent a few moments taking it all in at the falls, basking in all its glory we again loaded up in the van and made our way to the previously mentioned town of Launceston. Despite the deodorant issue the town is pretty charming. Steve took us on a brief tour of the city via the van and then we went to the park which is actually a gorge that drains into a lake and there is a public swimming pool…the layout is quite interesting…they even have gondola rides over part of the lake…so you can take your pick…lake or pool.
After our short afternoon at the park, we check into our accommodations for the night…a local backpackers hostel and I went for a run… I needed to clear my head and continue my triathlon training…
We just finished up a group dinner at the local Irish Pub…laughing, eating and getting to know each other…there are several really awesome people on this tour…two of my favorites: Marina & Carolyn…aka: Team France.
I’m exhausted and heading to bed…it’s a good feeling.
Additional Photos: Bay of Fires to Launceston
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