Tassie, Tassie, Tassie!

Two weeks ago I made my first trip within Australia. Destination: Tasmania! It was one of the best trips I have ever made. I'll tell you a little bit about it.

I had booked a tour for 3.5 days to the West Coast of Tasmania. This part of the island is known for its cold climate rainforest and untouched wilderness.

My adventure began at the airport. To me, flying equals passport; whenever I go somewhere by plane, the one thing I check a thousand times is whether I have my passport with me. Also this time I made sure I brought it with me. When I arrived at check-in, I showed my ticket and passport to the stewardess. I noticed that she didn't even glance at my passport. "Oh well..." I thought. Then I went through customs. I had my boarding pass and passport ready to show, like I am used to. Again, not even a glance towards my passport. I know I look like a very sweet, innocent girl, but I thought this was a little bit too much 'judging a book by its cover'. When I was in line for boarding I looked whether other passengers had their passport ready. No one had. And then it hit me: “of course there was no need to show my passport! I am traveling within the same country. No one is checking my passport when I travel from Den Bosch to Amsterdam. This is the same, just a greater distance”. That moment I realized just how big this country is.

And then my passport and I arrived in beautiful Tasmania. The tour I went with, was absolutely amazing! I met some nice people and had an awesome time. There were some highlights for me: Mount Field, Sarah Island, Cradle Mountain and Bonorong wildlife sanctuary.
Mount Field was the first hike of the trip. It was my first time in a rainforest and it was amazing. We were the first people there. Besides some birds and waterfalls in the distance, it was completely silent – unbelievable.
On the second day I went to Sarah Island; an important place in Tasmania’s convict history. Second time offenders were sent to that island between 1822 and 1833. The convicts were worked to death, tortured and starved. There were some ruins left on the island. The sky was dark, the weather rainy and foggy; the stories of the guide bizarre and inhumane. You could really picture what life was like on this island, and it wasn’t a pretty picture.
The next day was much happier. We went to Cradle Mountain (see picture) and had perfect blue skies, which hardly ever happens apparently. We were so lucky! This national park was absolutely stunning. We went for a four hour hike to the top of a mountain. We passed waterfalls, open fields, fairy tale like forests, small streams and great lakes. And miles and miles without other people, just a few wombats (yay! My first Australian wildlife).
At the very end of my trip, I went to Bonorong wildlife sanctuary. What an amazing place! They take care of injured or orphaned wildlife and look after those animals that cannot be released. They had all sorts of native animals. I was so excited to see a (living) Tasmanian Devil and to see my first koala's, kangaroos and echidna. Kangaroos were hopping around the park and I got a little bag of feed when I entered. The baby kangaroos were very curious and were definitely in for a cuddle. The older kangaroos were just sunbathing and could not be bothered by me sitting with them. It was the perfect end of my trip.

On hindsight I cannot believe that I did not really want to go to Tasmania when I was planning my internship in Australia. What an amazing place!