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Hello Everyone
Hope eveyrbody is well and you are all enjoying the festive season! We have had a really great time in Tasmania. It is very English and at sometimes quite cold, although we were apparently we were very lucky with the weather for the time of year. We even managed to put on the swim wear for a couple of days, but stayed clear of the water as that was just a bit too chilly. It's amazing how you can fly for two hours and be in such a different climate.
We landed in Hobart and spent our first night in a small village called Cambridge to give you some idea of the size it had a campsite, a garage/shop, 1 pub and a primary school. It was a nice place and we were enthusiastically greeted by a lady who insisted on taking our bags to our cabin with her wheelbarrow. Oh no we thought is Tasmania going to be a bit strange?
It actually turned out to be a really lovely place with some of the nicest scenery we had seen and the people on the whole were very friendly. After picking up our camper (named Burt) we decided to travel up the east coast and our first port of call was a place called Coles Bay where the Freycinet National Park sits. We went to see Wineglass Bay which is in the park and took in the beautiful views. It took a 45min uphill walk to get there but was well worth it and also at the top met a very friendly wallaby.
For those of you with a map we travelled on from here we went via Bicheno, St Helens, Perth, and stopped off in Launceston to look at the Cataract Gorge. We then drove to the north of the island staying at Ulverstone and visited the town called Penguin, yes they do get penguins here but we did not get to see any. We did visit a wildlife sanctuary where we got to meet some Tasmanian Devils. Tasmanian Devils are quite cute in a funny way. We found one called Alfred who was a little bit odd and spent his whole day running around in big circles, but no spinning. We started to travel back down to Hobart through the centre of Tasmania stopping at a Chocolate Factory called Alvers (near Sheffield?), Katie had seen a TV programme here and they had said they sell the best hot chocolate in the world and had to go and have a try! It was pretty amazing and Matt sampled some chocolate cheesecake, which was rated quite highy too. After gorging on the free chocs and watching the chocolate be made, we travelled on feeling fairly sick. Although we didn't stop there and also visited the Cadburys Factory near Hobart (not on the same day) and answered our question on 'Why does Cadburys chocolate taste different here? Apparently it's becuase the sugar is sugar cane rathr than the sugar beet used at home and also the milk is different here. The coca beans are the same all over the world, so there's something to think about when you are stuffing your Roses in your mouth on Christmas Day!
On returning back South we drove to the Tasman Penninsula and stayed in the best campsite so far, in Port Arthur. You could build your own fire, it was needed as was quite a bit colder here and spent an entertaining walk back from the pub (The Fox & Hounds very English) looking for firewood. It was very outdoors of us, until we got back into the camper as we were cold!
At Port Arthur you can visit the ruins of an old convct settlement. Some of you may remember this place from the news as there was a tragedy here in 1996 when a gunman mudered a lot of people in a cafe on the tourist site, killing a lot of staff & tourists. It was a very terrible event and it really affected the whole of Australia. It really is such a shame, although the history of Port Arthur is based around us British bringing all of our convicts here to trap them in a massive prison, it's very interesting and we had a great time looking around and hearing about life in the prison which was built in the 1830's. We heard lot's of stories and in the evening Katie dragged Matt off on a ghost tour. Matt wont admit it obviously but he was quite scared and Katie is convinced she had her hair pulled! We have some very spooky stories to tell when we get home, I think you will see from the photos how good it was.
After leaving Port Arthur we returned to Cambridge to spend a few days around Hobart and had great fun driving to the top of Mt Wellington to take in the views of Hobart, we wanderd around the City and visited the Salamanca Market which was is a huge market held every Saturday with some lush food stalls and nic nacs to look at. We also travelled to Richmond which really was like a little English village, we went to the pub had a roast and then headed for the old fashioned sweet shop - excellent!
Tasmania really was great fun and I think the photos will be better than me babbling on. Although it is an Australian state it does seem much different to the places we have seen so far, a lot less commercialised and in some places a lot like home. It had great food (mainly choc), nice people and some really breathtaking scenery. It has the Smith seal of approval!
So it's now back to work and getting ready for Christmas, we also have the excitement of Matts cousins ready to give birth to some babies. One is due in less than a week and the other on Christmas Day!! So we could be in for an interesting few weeks.
We miss you lots and will be in touch again soon.
Lots of Love Matt & Katie
P.S: Happy Birthday to Estelle (nearly), we will speak to you soon Bear!
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