Sunday, January 9, 2005

Day 13 - Day of Tasmanian Public Transport Enlightenment

Location: Hobart and Freycinet ( Tasmania)
Weather: Don’t know … we were on a bus all day :( 

I slept great last night (now that I could fit my feet on the bed)! We grabbed breakfast to go and walked to the bus station. When our bus got there, we happily boarded for our day tour of Freycinet.
Once we were on the bus, the doors shut with a looming “thud” and the lights seemed to dim, suggesting our impending doom. The driver stood up and let us know that we were three hours away from Freycinet. “But wait!” we thought, “That means that we’ll be traveling three hours by bus to do a three hour tour and then drive three hours back!” The reason it was going to take so long was because we weren’t on a tour bus … we were on public transportation TO our tour bus. This means that it did not travel directly to Freycinet, but rather, it meandered all around, making frequent stops. There were also no seat belts, no shocks, and no seats on the bus. Okay, just kidding about the “no seats” part. But the other pieces of info were accurate. The ride made us both so sick, that when we got to our tour, we were grateful to be on solid ground.
So now our tour would start, right? Well, sort of. We got on the tour bus and found out that we would have a choice. Take one one-hour walk, or stay on the bus and take a guided bus tour. We opted for the walk. The guide asked if we brought lunch. We did not...because we thought it would be included in the cost of the $72 per person tickets. We thought wrong. The tour guide then proceeds to drive us to the nearest café (15 minutes by bus) and we buy our own lunch to take with us.
We walk in the bakery and ask if they have any sandwiches. They inform us that they do not. We reply, “Oh? Then what are those two pieces of bread with lunch meat, lettuce, tomato and cheese called?”
“Oh! Those are salad rolls!”
“We’ll take two.”
We hopped on the bus two minutes later, then waited ten minutes while our driver tracked down the passengers who thought we were eating lunch at the café. I don’t blame them, though. They couldn’t hear because the tour bus’s PA system was broken. So, the “tour bus” was more of a “bus.”
So then we got to go on our walk … after another half hour on the bus! After we got to our location, the guide informs us that we have to be back in an hour and it takes twenty to thirty minutes to walk to the Wineglass Bay Lookout, “depending on fitness.” “Oh! And one more thing. If you come across any snakes, stay away. They’re all poisonous.”
“Surely they can’t ALL be poisonous!”
“They are. They’re some of the deadliest in the world, in fact,” informed the guide.
So, we got a move-on! We walked as fast as we could without our guide along the path. Luckily, we didn’t see any deadly snakes. Accompanying us were a 77-year-old Norwegian man, who we could barely keep up with! The other was a young woman from the Netherlands. We chatted as we walked up the steep walkway. When we got to the top, we were surprised to see how many people were up there! We took some pictures and felt really happy that we completed the walk without stopping. The air was clear and the beaches below were beautiful. We were really happy we chose the walk.
We only had ten minutes to eat our lunch (we made it up to the top in 25 minutes), so we scarfed down our sandwiches … or rather … salad rolls (ughhhhh) and gulped down enough water and then started back down again. On the way down, we saw what we must have looked like coming up! There were many pretty views on the way down!
After we reached the bottom, we hopped back on the (shudder ) … bus … and stopped off at the Friendly Beaches to see some of the beautiful coastline and amazingly soft sand (quartz). It was a nice time. The sand was like powder and pure white, which made the water a bright blue reflection of the sky.
There were huge kelp exposed (because of the low tide). We saw kelp that must have been taller than me!
The seascape was truly a peaceful sight after a hectic and nauseous day. We were seeing, smelling, and listening to some of the cleanest sea water in the world.
Our driver then rounded us up and informed us that we just missed seeing a wallaby! So we got back on the (shudder ) … bus … and started our journey home, which involved passing the conveniently located stop and went twelve kilometers out of the way to drop us off at a stop further away.
There, we picked up our public transport (shudder ) … bus … passed back over our path again twelve kilometers more and then began our three and a half hour journey back to the bus station. We were back after 6:00 PM. We traveled more today than we did yesterday! We were very upset with the touring company for leaving out key details, so we later got in touch Tassie Link and got our money back, so they seem to be a pretty reputable company.
We finished our evening (still sick from the bus) by eating at the Drunken Admiral. It was the kind of place that makes you goARRRRRRR . We enjoyed our seafood, ate ice cream and went on the internet. After that, we slept off our nausea. Lesson learned, stay away from the Tassie Link Freycinet Day Tour from Hobart.

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