Tasman Highway

First off, can't upload pictures from here, so we'll probably upload some tonight in Launceston.

Yesterday we picked up a Toyota Corolla at the airport, and started heading north out of Hobart on the Tasman Highway (which is best described as "roadkill en masse"). It felt a bit weird driving on the wrong side of the road, but after a while of driving it was not so bad, although you still have to think about it all the time. Luckily there are not so many cars on the road. Joakim is also frantically reminding Sophie to drive on the left side, so we should be ok. Unless he dozes off...

After a couple of hours of driving, and a lunch stop at Swansea, we entered Freycinet National Park and hiked up yet another mountain for the lookout over Wineglass Bay. Luckily this hike was a lot less strenous than the hike from the day before.

Walked down from the mountain, got back in the car, and headed for St. Helens where we would spend the night. Cooked up a nice dinner of lamb, first one this trip, and drank some local Tasmanian beer before sleeping.

Woke up in the middle of the night, to what sounded like a big truck engine outside our window. Turns out its not a truck, but it's raining heavily. Too bad, we thought, since we would spend the following day on Binalong beach. However, as we woke up, it had cleared up and it was a great day.

Checked out of the hostel and headed for Binalong beach, which was really nice. We had originally planned on taking a swim in the water, but the water was cold beyond description. So instead we just lay down on the beach and relaxed for a while. The sun here is remarkably strong. You don't really feel it when its in the clouds (although it probably burns quite a bit anyway), but once it clears up you can really feel the heat on your skin.

We're back in St Helens now, getting ready for lunch, and after that we will head for Launceston for a two night stay. We gotten some tips about a place where we can see wombats and platypuses in the wild, near Launceston, so we are going to try and find those spots.

Unfortunately, Santa Claus was visiting at the supermarket (called Chickenfeed...) in St Helens while we were away at Binalong beach, so we missed him :(

Oh, and once again, we were beaten to the Hostel by a damn Gideon again. They're everwhere and nowhere at the same time... spooky. We think they might be the same people who writes the Lonely Planet - books, because

a) They both travel a lot

b) They also both visit hotel and hostel rooms alot.

c) You never, ever, come across one (writer or Gideon) when travelling

And like all great theories, this one is, in reality, of course completely unsubstantiated. Lets all just worship together.