The adventure begins - Part 1. Tasmania

Sorry its been a while since I've blogged. I've had a busy month turning 28 and planning our 6 week adventure. Yeah.

As lots of you may know our original plan was to travel around Australia in a caravan. As it came closer to our planned departure it became clear that this was most definitely not a good idea due to my increased movement challenges.

So plan B. Travel where we want, when we want. First stop Tasmania.

We headed off to Tasmania on February 13th with our good friends Jennine and Harry. Harry is an old frisbee friend of Mikes and as I told Harry when he said his girlfriend Jennine was coming over from Canada "we are going to be best friends", I was right.

Thankfully Harry organised the entire trip for us including car hire, excellent bed and breakfast style accommodation and the occasional tourist activity.

Highlights of the trip included: The delicious meal we had at the Grand Chancellor in Hobart. Sea food extravaganza including "monster crayfish". This was followed shortly after by a wharf side proposal by Harry to Jennine.

We had a nice drive up to Launceston, where we met Harrys uncle Jack, Aunt Becky and family. We had an excellent lunch with the Tasmanian branch of the Birrell family including our first bottle of French Champagne to celebrate Jennine joining the family.

The jewel in Launceston's crown is cataract gorge which sits right on the west side of town.

The next 3 days were spent in a sleepy little town in the middle of Tassie. We stayed at the charming Tin Dragon cottages which featured an outdoor spa bath to watch the milky way go by, a delicious organic BBQ basket and exceptional service. I did however get spit on by a disgruntled alpaca.

We also spent some time at Bicheno on the Bay. The highlight of my trip was the delicious fresh oysters for dinner and the penguin walk night tour which was full of penguin action.

Final stop on the trip was Port Arthur convict settlement. This was a nice look into Australia's brutal history and although we didn't go on the night ghost tour I was on the look out as we toured the grounds.

We spent our final night in a old restored convict era building called Convict Station. This building had an air of the spooky about it which was enhanced by my bed being positioned directly under the man hole to the attic. The convict attic.

All up our trip to Tasmania was an absolute pleasure. I stuffed myself with seafood, had fantastic company, beautiful scenery and a rockin' good time. Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible through their kind contributions.

Next stop Vanuatu, hoot. I'll leave you with a few pictures from the Tassie trip. Enjoy!