Stanley was a nice place to take a day
off. We got there by bus from Devonport, a 2 hour ride. Halfway we
had to change into a smaller bus and the bikes didn't fit in the
cargo hold below. No problem, they did fit in the aisle of the bus. The bus driver turned into the
caravan park where we wanted to stay and dropped us off right in
front of the office. How customer friendly can a bus company be?
We decided to take a room in the
backpackers' hostel; it was raining, cold, there was a strong wind
and the forecasts for the next day were even worse. We are definitely
dealing with a Dutch-like climate here. But the forecast was wrong,
the next day was glorious. Stanley is a small village (they will say
town here) that sits behind a vulcanic rock, the Nut, and is
surrounded by the sea. Now the sun was there and a gentle sea breeze,
pristine! We made a walk on the Nut, had a beer in the pub and went
out dining in a cute restaurant. A nice and quiet bikeless day.
Then we rode, with the conceived
tailwind, back east. We stopped after a beautiful coastal trip with
some rain in Burnie. There we were received by John and Prue, our
Warmshowers hosts. To get there we had to climb a very steep
hill, but the reward was a room (a complete house) with a grand view
over the sea, here called Bass Strait. We were spoiled again and the
next day we continued via some bike trails that we never would have
found ourselves. Via Latrobe and beautiful Deloraine and through
lovely rolling countryside we now have arrived in Launceston. The
second biggest city in Tasmania (103.000 inh.) Here again we are the
guests of a Warmshowers couple: Caro and Chris, who also have Amina,
a 17-year old German school girl, as an exchange student in their
house. As usual the reception is friendly and there is hardly any ice
to be broken before we feel very at home here. The next day Caro,
Chris and Amina leave the house in order to visit a four day festival
in Hobart. But we can stay as long as we like, which we gladly do.
The city has a number of things to see, we can take it at ease for a
couple of days. We still haven't get used to this kind of
hospitality, Warmshowers works miracles.
After having read our books, seen the
musea, had a haircut, arranged our return flights home and a long
walk in the Cataract Gorge (funny name, doctor) we will leave
tomorrow morning for Scottsdale and further east to the coast there.
They say that it is stunningly beautiful there, amazing, lovely and
all that. They sure know how to sell their assests over here. We'll
find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment