Travel Guides and Stories

During Easter, I joined a 5-day Tasmania tour with a travel agency. Though advertised as 5 days, the last day was merely returning to Melbourne, and the first day was spent entirely on the boat. So strictly speaking, it was just a 3-day tour.
We traveled on the Spirit of Tasmania both ways - Ship 1 for the outbound journey and Ship 2 for the return. They looked pretty similar. The "luxury cruise" advertised by the Chinese travel agency was just a basic but well-equipped ferry. It was decent enough.

Taken before departure

Sat in the front row facing the sea. It was quite enjoyable reading with nice weather

Genuinely windswept! Was the deck always this windy and cold? Why did Titanic look so calm in comparison...

We ended up playing Monopoly in the dining area to kill time...
We arrived at Devonport around 7 PM due to the morning delay. There's a rumor that you can't bring any food items into Tasmania, but there seems to be a loophole... The sniffer dogs check before you collect your checked luggage, so anything in checked bags goes unnoticed. Not sure about self-driving visitors though - the checks might be stricter.
The next day we visited Cradle Mountain. The weather seemed fine at first, but it started raining when we reached the mountain area. Our guide mentioned it had even snowed in the past couple of days. Well, I guess we'll take black and white photos then. Though I must say, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in cloudy weather is far more impressive than Cradle Mountain...

After descending, we stopped for lunch at a small town called Sheffield. This town is famous for its realistic murals and holds an annual painting competition. I heard Eason Chan even left a painting there. Due to our short stay and long lunch, we didn't get to explore much. A couple of friends who finished eating quickly managed to take some interesting photos of very realistic, three-dimensional murals.

There's a well-known old man in town who often walks around with his magical beast. The creature's fur is incredibly soft and warm - I just wanted to bury my face in it!

All these shots were taken from the bus

In the afternoon, we arrived in Launceston and visited Cataract Gorge

Rode what they claim is the world's longest single-span chairlift. The gentle breeze and warm sunlight made it absolutely delightful~

Found these two in a small garden at the end point

Pretending to be innocent...

In the evening, we took a boat ride on the Tamar River from the other side of the gorge. The twilight scenery was stunning, reminiscent of a European riverside town.

Got to take those artistic shots!

Suddenly a flock of seabirds flew by - quite impressive!

They say this looks like a samurai's face

After settling into our Launceston hotel, we went out to find food as the sun was setting. One great thing about places with little pollution is the beautiful starry sky, especially the Milky Way. Though looking at it too long gives me goosebumps...

We tried the guide's highly recommended Jailhouse Steak House, but it was just okay, not as exciting as expected.

Taking photos of food is just my instinct...
Early next morning, we continued south towards Hobart

Doesn't this look like a Windows default wallpaper...

The famous bridge in Richmond - not just Tasmania's but Australia's oldest bridge.

Perfect spot for outdoor photography

I always look so awkward in photos...

Classic tourist trap #1: The Blowhole

Classic tourist trap #2: Tasman Arch

Classic tourist trap #3: Devil's Kitchen. Apparently, due to the geological formation, the water below bubbles but can't surge up, making people think it's like a devil cooking something - hence the name...

In the afternoon, we visited the famous Port Arthur historic site, which was actually a former prison. When I went in, I was amazed - it's so beautiful! Those prisoners were quite fortunate...

We took a 30-minute commentary cruise to see two mountains. I forgot one's name, but the other is called the Isle of the Dead, where all those who died at Port Arthur were buried. They had a prisoner guard this island, who would grow vegetables and fruits in his spare time but never ate them.

That evening we reached Hobart, Tasmania's capital city. We were too tired and it was too cold to see the night view, so we just ordered takeaway.
On the fourth day, we had a nice sleep-in since we didn't need to wake up early, and the weather was beautiful . We went up Mount Nelson for a panoramic view of Hobart.

Then we visited the Royal Botanical Gardens. I must say, Melbourne's gardens are rubbish in comparison...

A beautifully maintained Japanese garden

A little strawberry by the path~ but the photo came out blurry... T_T

So that's how they achieve that Japanese minimalist style - shooting in bright sunlight without a lens hood!

Reminds me of the Glow Worm Cave at Gold Coast...

Oh~ Getting Monet vibes~

One section of the road was built later, as it was originally separated by water(?). So we were lucky to experience this beautiful view, like driving over the sea. My mom particularly loves the feeling of being surrounded by water on both sides... There were flocks of black swans on both sides

At noon we arrived at a small town called Ross. It happened to be ANZAC Day, so there were lots of flowers placed at the base of the stone monument in the town center.

They say Hayao Miyazaki visited this shop and it served as inspiration for Kiki's Delivery Service. Their vanilla slice is supposedly the world's best, and it was indeed quite good
In the afternoon we visited three gift shops/factories

The cheese factory, famous for its painted cows~

The cow in military uniform looks quite stylish!

I think my mom misunderstood that I accidentally caught that cloud... Actually, while the concept was interesting, it was hard to find the right single cloud at the time, and there were too many people around, so I quickly took the photo and edited it later

Then we visited the Cherry Shed - these are their dining tables, filled with cherry pits, quite creative. They had so many cherry-themed items, I couldn't resist buying lots...
Later we passed by a small chocolate factory, but I didn't go in. Heard it was just okay. We were supposed to visit Cadbury's, but they were on holiday too...
Some of my shopping haul:

The bear on the left is from the Ross souvenir shop, filled with lavender. The 'B' on its foot stands for Bridestowe Lavender Farm, one of the world's largest lavender product exporters. It's definitely worth visiting, though we missed it this time as it wasn't the right season... Next time! The bottle on the right is raspberry wine from the Cherry Shed. I was actually busy shopping for other things and didn't taste the wines, but everyone said this was better than the cherry wine so I followed their recommendation... It wasn't cherry harvest season either, so no cherry picking...

The item on the left is also from the Cherry Shed. Know what it is!? Ta-da~ It's a cherry pitter... (Voice-over: What!? You need a special tool to pit cherries!?) Well, it's actually quite useless, but I thought it was so interesting I couldn't resist. On the right is Leatherwood honey from the cheese factory. It's not exclusive to that shop, but it's pretty much only found in Tasmania because Leatherwood trees reportedly only grow in Tasmania, producing very pure honey.

Also from the cheese factory - the mustard flavor is delicious! Not too strong, just adds a nice taste, it's great! The lavender one was bought by a friend; I don't remember if we could try it, but she said it seemed interesting so she bought it...
Finally, we returned to Devonport and boarded our return ship, bidding farewell to Tasmania, this beautiful backyard of Australia.
This was just a scouting trip - such a beautiful place deserves to be explored properly by driving ourselves and enjoying the journey at our own pace.