On Hallowe'en, we left Hobart and headed to the Freycinet Peninsula, home of Wineglass Bay, apparently one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We wound our way through the mountains, looking out at hills which have been cleared over time to make room for grazing cattle and sheep. Tasmania has been affected by the drought as much as mainland Australia, and though it had been raining persistently, the lack of forestation prevents the water from being held in the ground. (There have been ridiculous sales on livestock of late, as the water required to keep them has become too precious.) However, a great deal of Tassie is now protected forest, though not necessarily old growth, as forestry is a major industry here.

Joining us was Sean (UK), who would be with us the next couple of days. This guy is totally colourblind (I'm just red-green), so we compared notes on our respective colours of sky, handling of horizontal traffic lights, and wardrobe choices. The tour took a pit stop in the little village of Ross, a quiet place consisting of two streets lined with little stone houses. The main (only) intersection of town is known for representing the four aspects of the human condition: Recreation (town hall/community centre), Temptation (the pub), Salvation (the church), and Redemption (the omnipresent jail). Also, a little bakery was the inspiration for a Japanese anime creator to develop the charactor of Kiki, who I'd never heard of, but had Miho and Rikya rushing to snap some pics.

When we arrived at the park, it was drizzle and fog, not the best beach weather. There were a few grumbles in the group, but I'd expected this sort of thing, and wasn't disappointed. Besides, the fog created a moody atmosphere in which to explore the granite outcrops and coastal scrub. We climbed up and over a ridge, quickly stripping off our insulating layers once the heat of the climb kicked in. Upon arrival at Wineglass, I took a brief stroll on the beach, but was more enraptured by the orange lichen on the rocks and the misty mountain backdrop.

Later on, we ended up in Bicheno, a small town known for its surfing. This was now far from my mind, since my "beanie" (toque) was now a standard part of my wardrobe. We checked out Natureworld, a wildlife park where one can wander with kangaroos, peacocks, and pelicans, as well as check out wombats, echidnas, Tasmanian Devils. There was also a huge aviary, containing some of the most vibrantly coloured birds I've ever seen - cockatoos, parrots, and my lil budgies. While here, John came running up claiming that one of the parrots had attacked him unprovoked. Of course, this picqued my interest, so I wandered along the path through the aviary, and sure enough, I was soon being dive-bombed by a blue-orange-green psychotic blur. We enquired about it, and the ranger laughed, saying that they'd had problems with that little fella before, but the staff were too scared to try to catch him.

After setting up in our hostel, and having some greasy yet damn good pizza, we went down to check out the penguins coming ashore, and called it a night. It was then I discovered that in my sensory-awakened state, I'd left my towel in Hobart, and would spend the next few days drying myself with a stolen tea towel.

The next day, we were off to explore the Bay of Fires, a series of nice beaches and ocean-drilled caves. Some trash talking the previous evening had resulted in three of us heading into the water for some Polar Bear swimming, which wasn't so bad once your body went numb. Of course, the other two lads (John and Steve) had big luxurious towels to return to, while I had to make the most of what I could with a tea towel and get myself into Annie Percy's beanie as quickly as possible.

We then headed into a rainforest district and checked out the St Columbo Falls, not to mention Pricilla the Beer Drinking Pig. The fern trees grow big here, and due to my distraction by the scents of sassafraz and eucalyptus, I was gaining a reputation as being the last dude back on the bus.

That night, we arrived in Launceston (Lonny), the second largest city in Tasmania. This was guide Steve's home town, so before heading off to his brother's he showed us one of his favourite spots, Cataract Gorge.
Our little group was splitting up the next day (the tour is modular - you can do three-day legs, or as part of a longer tour, head up into the northwest part of the state for more rainforest and coastal scenery), we sat down for a group-made meal of fajitas. It was nice, as this was the first time we really overcame some of the language differences which divided us, and got to know each other a bit better. Later, John, Kat, Milja, and I checked out some bands at a local pub, and watched the locals gittin' on down. I like haircuts that see the whole head shaved except for the back, and am considering it for myself.