19/09/2005
After a calm trip over the Bass Strait we arrive in rainy Devonport at 7am. Instead of first going towards Cradle Mountain as originally planned (since the weather is so bad) we decide to head towards Launceston instead. We start the morning with chocolate at the Anvers House of Belgian Chocolate and continue with cheese further along the road at the Ashmore Chesse Factory. In Launceston we try to find a motel or backpackers that is reasonable clean and cheap but that seems to be impossible so we go for the safe option - the caravan park. After exhaustingly (tired as we didn't sleep much on the ferry) strolling around the streets of Launceston and checking out Cataract Gorge we go to the caravan park to have a nap - when we wake up it's dark - we get up and brush our teeth and go back to sleep.
20/09/2005
Waking up to a better looking day - no rain. We decide to be a bit luxurious and go and visit the Aquarius Roman Baths - a modern version of a traditional Roman-looking bath with white pillars and Greek statues etc. The bath house has all kind of different warm and hot rooms - steaming 
rooms and saunas - and all different kinds of baths - warm and hot and jet steams etc. It's wonderful relaxing in the luxury for a while and it's wonderful feeling really clean...but after a few hours of steaming air and hot baths we feel a bit dizzy and have to get out into the fresh air.
After lunch we start travelling towards the east coast. Plenty of winding road and sharp bends. Beautiful scenery and plenty of forest. We find a great camp spot north of St Helens at Binalong Bay and spend the night by the fire sipping wine. We are really happy that we can camp - we didn't really expect it as everyone warned us that Tasmania would be so cold. We must be lucky because the weather is great!
21/09/2005
Waking up to another nice day. We have a look at the southern beaches of the Bay of Fires. Amazing white beaches and turqoise water. On our southbound drive we go on some more winding roads (there doesn't seem to be any straight stretches of roads in Tasmania by the way). Green rolling 
hills. Forests. Sheep. Sea. Beaches. In Bicheno we stop at a small aquarium (recommended by friends Matt and Cheryl) and get to see some amazing creatures - big crabs, sea horses, sharks etc.
We then go into the famous Freycinet National Park and go for a walk to have a look at Wineglass Bay. Amazing views. Beautiful coastline. Different-looking mountains. It feels like we are running out of adjectives here - and that we are 
getting a bit repetitive. Everything is beautiful and amazing and magnificent and gorgeous...if you come up with any new or different words please let us know.
We spend the night at a roadside rest area and get ready for tomorrow's tours.
22/09/2005
Up with the birds and towards Hobart. We have booked in for a tour at the Cascade Brewery at 9.30am. The old brewery is beautifully situated just beneath Mount Wellington. We get to know everything about beer-making and get to taste a few samples of beers and ciders. Nice! After the beer it's time for some chocolate - we have booked in for a tour at the Cadbury Chocolate Factory at 12.30. Yum! The tour is great and the whole factory smells of chocolate. We get to see how they make 
cherry ripe, frogs, turkish delight, the rose chocolates and we get to taste it. Can't get any better than that. After the tour we stock up on plenty of goodies from the factory store. A new favourite is the triple decker mint chocolate. Look out for that!
After all that drinking and eating we go into the city to have a look around. Hobart is a beautiful city with great, old stone buildings. After a short stroll we see the Larks Distillery by the wharf and we just have to go in and taste some of the local whiskeys and spirits...then we stroll along the wharf and Salamanca.
We then check into a caravan park and cook and eat and do the laundry etc...
23/09/2005
Port Arthur, the old convict site, is apparently a must on all tourists' lists so we decide to go there and have a look. The 90 km drive from Hobart is winding and bending up and down. We are pleasantly suprised how much there is to see at Port Arthur. You really get value for your money ($24 
entry fee per person) - you get to go on a harbour cruise and see the Dead Man Island (the cemetery) and the Point Puer Island where boy prisoners were kept (some of them only nine years old!) and we get an introductory tour to all the sites and buildings on the mainland. The old stone buildings are well-kept and the architecture is very impressive and the stories about the past are really interesting. Port Arthus is a really beautiful place - green and lush - and it looks idyllic but the place still has a bit of an eerie feeling - both because of its old convict history but also beacuse of the horrible massacre that took place here in 1996.
After about four hours at Port Arthur we drive back to Hobart. We find a prefect street on a hill just above Salamanca where we decide to stay for the night. We go and have a few beers in Salamanca, in a traditional stone building of a pub. We then go for dinner at Fish Frenzy on the Wharf - we have been told that the seafood in Tasmania is "the best" so we have to try it. We order a seafood platter for two and get everything from mussels, oysters and salmon to calamari, octopus and normal fish. It's beautiful and so fresh. Even D, who usually doesn't like seafood, likes the mussles and the octopus. The wine is nice too. After a filling night we stagger back to our car.
24/09/2005
D wakes up early busting to go to the loo and he doesn't feel like watering the gardens of the residents on the hill so he wakes H up and fools her that it's past 8 - but it's only 6.30 - so she gets up and off they go to find a toilet. After a bit of searching and a great relief for D it's time for brekkie. We 
have brekkie at Salamanca Square. People have started to put up market stalls in Salamanca as the Saturday markets are soon to open. After trying to cure the hangover (that is H) with breakfast we walk the markets and when it starts to rain we decide to get out of Hobart and drive towards the westcoast. The weather is not so great and we are a bit tired so after a few hours of driving we stop and have a nap by the roadside and then hit the road again. We drive through the old mining town Queenstown and some really, really steep and winding roads and we drive through picturesque Strahan and then towards Ocean Beach where we set up camp for the night. It's windy and chilly by the beach so we climb into the car early.
25/09/2005
Breakfast on the beach. Then we steer towards Cradle Mountain where we are planning to go for a walk around Dove Lake. It's pretty cold at Cradle Mountain, around 10 degrees. The walk is refreshing and we really need it - after all that chocolate and drinking and eating. Cradle Mountain, 
Dove Lake and its surroundings are beautiful. So different from anything else that we have seen on the trip. There's still a little bit of snow on some of the peaks. I guess we have to get ready for this cooler kind of climate since we are going back to Sweden soon. After the two-hour walk we drive towards Devonport where we are catching the ferry back to Melbourne. Bye Bye Tasmania.
26/09/2005Arrive safely in Melbourne at 7am, after another calm trip across the Bass Strait. We are not really ready to make our way to Sydney yet so we decide to stay around Melbourne for a day or two and we had such a great time with the crazy bunch from our Cape York trip so we decide to go and see them again.
28/08/2005
Another day in Alice - it's actually a pretty boring place but since it's a "biggish" town we decide to stick around for a while and upload our new travel blog, do the shopping etc. While we are in town we check out the Royal Flying Doctor Service Museum and a few other bits and pieces. We fall in love with an expensive Aboriginal painting and decide to stay in town another night - to sleep on whether we want the painting or not. We spend another night in the paddock.
29/08/2005
Before we head out of town it's time to check up on the car and the funny noises. As we check the rear tyres a couple of men come over and help us have a look and check the tyres and breaks...as we can't find anything we drive to Toyota to get it checked. The guy at Toyota can't really find anything either and says that it might be the tyres (getting a bit worn out) making the sound...We decide to head out of Alice (without the painting; too many doubts).
We check out Simpsons Gap and Standley Chasm. Nothing compared to the stuff we have seen in the Kimberleys. We drive out to Finke Gorge National Park and spend the night there. At nighttime the wild horses (and a newly born foul) visit the campsite.
30/08/2005
Not only the horses visited the campsite during the night - the dingos also came for a visit, we can find patterns of their paws in the sand! We drive into Palm Valley - a very rough ride in the creek bed and over shoulders of rocks - and go for a walk once we get there. It's nice but nothing like some of the valleys and gorges we have seen furhter up north. Daniel gets a really bad allergy reaction against something and his medicine doesn't seem to be working, so we have to get out of the valley as quicly as possible...In the late afternoon, after plenty of corrugation, we hit Kings Canyon Resort.
31/08/2005
After D has popped a few pills we are fit to do the 6km walk on the rim of Kings Canyon. Lovely scenery. Lovely cliffs. Some of the rocks are a little bit similar to the ones in the Bungle Bungles. After the walk we head for Yulara Resort, and get there in the late afternoon. Daniel's allergic reaction only gets worse and worse and he is sniffing himself through the night.
01/09/2005
Royal Flying Doctor Service the first thing this morning (for REAL this time). D has to check whether he can actually take as many pills as he has been doing in the last couple of days. The doctor says that Central Australia is notorious for big allergy reactions (because of the dry air, dust and 
pollen) and that he can pop a few pills extra a day and that he should get rid of the allergy as soon as he leaves the area... So instead of going for the long walk around Uluru we go for a few short walks around certain sections around the big rock. Uluru is truly an amazing place - it feels unreal to see such a big rock in the middle of nowhere! D thinks it looks like a space ship. He now really believes in aliens!!! It's a cloudy day but the white clouds seem to add an extra dimension to the landscape and to our photos. We also have a look at Kata Tjuta, another spectacular rock formation - but not half as impressive as Uluru. Before sunset we, and another couple of hundred other tourists gather to watch the sunset. We can see some shades of change in colour on Uluru but unfortunately it's a little bit cloudy and the colours on the rock don't seem to change as much...Anyway we are happy to have experienced a few of the big features in the red centre in a short time so we fall aslepp exhausted...
02/09/2005
Time to leave the allergy area and be able to breathe properly again. Long stretches of straight roads. On the way we (D) stop to do an oil change on the car. Brutus is happy again. We stop at Cadney Park and camp pretty much for free (only $2pp for the use of water) and we treat ourselves to steak and beer at the roadhouse. We are woken up in the middle of the night by a thunder storm that lights up the whole camp.
03/09/2005
The weather is pritty shitty as we wake up so we are not sure whether to take the road through the Painted Desert to Oodnadatta or not...We call the SA road service number and their line hasn't been updated for 3 weeks so we call the Pink Roadhouse in Ooodnadatta to check on the conditions (roads and weather). The man at the roadhouse tells us that the road is pretty bad but that it's okay...he also tells us to have little pressure in our tyres (20 in the front and 26 in the back)...we take some pressure out but not as much as he has suggested and off we go...
The road is pretty fine and we are cruising along and talking about how lucky we have been not to have a puncture yet and pooooffff....one tyre is gone...Luckily we're carrying two extra tyres!!! D thinks it's pretty exciting to change a tyre in the middle of nowhere...you can guess what H thinks...
When we get to the famous but pretty run-down and ugly pink roadhouse at Oodnadatta we talk to the man that gave us the road and weather advice earlier in the day...we are trying to buy a spare tyre of him...but he only seems to be pissed off with us for not listening to him in the first place and not having the correct pressure in the tyre...not our type of man - we leave the pink roadhouse and continue towards William Creek - a much nicer and friendlier place. The pub has got all kinds of stuff hanging on the walls and from the ceiling, bras, knicker and t-shirts...we have a few drinks and talk to some other tourists who tell funny stories about their past...
04/09/2005
Driving, driving, driving. The Oodnadatta track is a pretty good road - just like your average gravel road. We stop and have a look at a few bits and pieces along the track - southern Lake Eyre, the Bubbler (a cool little bubbling water in the middle of nowhere) etc...As the road conditions are better than we thought we get further than expected - so we get all the way to Arkaroola in the Northern Flinders Ranges. The drive to Arkaroola is pretty scenic. The landscape is quite bare but the mountains are pretty impressive.The camping ground at Arkaroola is pretty rundown and way past its many medals its received for tourism awards...The air is cold so we go to sleep early.
05/09/2005
Instead of doing the well-known ridge-top tour with a guide (it's $85 pp) we decide to go for the cheaper option ($30 per car) and do a tour of the Arkaroola mountains ourselves. It's said to be an extreme 4WD tour and to start of with it's pretty smoth but as we go further it's getting rougher and 
rougher. Some slopes are realllyyyy steeep, and some bits are reallyyy roccckkyyyy. It's a pretty different landscape of Australia to what we have seen so far. It reminds of places like Canada or Afghanistan even though we haven't been there...
After the rought 4WD tour we travel through Blinman and Angorichina and find a lovely green spot to camp on. It's on the river, surrounded by great gum trees, in between the mountain ranges. It's a lovely and peaceful place. We have a quite night by the fire!
06/09/2005
We drive further south the Flinders Ranges and the landscape is getting greener and greener. We check into the camp ground at Wilpena Pound - a lush, spacious camp. We go for a very, very tough walk up Mount Olssen Bagge (6,4 km return - 3,2 km of puffing uphill!!!) to get a good look at the pound. There are plenty of strange-looking lizards around and on the walk down we come across a very strange-looking and acting snake (it's small but very hyper and we get scared). After that tough walk and the laundry we are ready to pass out.
07/09/2005
The camp at Wilpena Pound is lovely, especially with the friendly kangaroos jumping around here and there, but we decide to leave and head towards the valleys of vinyards...As we get to Clare Valley in the afternoon we stop at a few of the wineries and fall in love with their rich red wines. Yum! Soon after that we are asleep in the caravan park...
08/09/2005
We check out a few more nice wineries in Clare Valley (this time it's H driving and D tasting; yesterday it was the opposite). We make a few stops, at Mintaro, at Martindale Hall (where parts of Picnic at Hanging Rock was filmed), at Auburn, and at Kapunda. All the places are filled with history and old stone buildings... probably similar to what the English country side looks like. We get to Barossa Valley rather late in the afternoon and only have time for one vineyard but it's a good one (Wolfblass) so we are pleased. We check into the caravan park in Tanunda and are happily surprised of how green and clean the caravan park is.
09/09/2005
Third day of winetasting. It can't get any better than this can it. It's H turn to taste again and D turn to drive. Plenty of wineries to go through. Yalumba. Saltram. Two Hands. Chateau Tanunda. Rockford Wines. St Hallett. All of them pretty good but some of them better than others. We have a great lunch at Tanunda Hotel. We taste cheese at the factory in Angaston. Margaret River relived all over again - the only difference is that we like the wines better here!!!
10/09/2005
Time to leave the Barossa and to go to Adelaide where we have booked ourselves into a pretty nice hotel for a couple of nights. We are lucky and can check into the hotel early in the morning instead of waiting until 2pm...once settled in the comfort we hit the streets of Adelaide (pretty and nice architecture) but after a few hours wandering around we go back to the hotel and snuggle up. H has a bit of a cold and needs a rest.
11/09/2005
Waking up in comfort. How nice! We go out for breakfast and then go for a walk through the beautiful botanical gardens. Afternoon relaxing at the hotel (and H dying her hair; that's why she looks a little different) and then out for thai at night - we get to try one of our rieslings with the food and it's superb!
19/09/2005
20/09/2005
rooms and saunas - and all different kinds of baths - warm and hot and jet steams etc. It's wonderful relaxing in the luxury for a while and it's wonderful feeling really clean...but after a few hours of steaming air and hot baths we feel a bit dizzy and have to get out into the fresh air.
21/09/2005
hills. Forests. Sheep. Sea. Beaches. In Bicheno we stop at a small aquarium (recommended by friends Matt and Cheryl) and get to see some amazing creatures - big crabs, sea horses, sharks etc.
getting a bit repetitive. Everything is beautiful and amazing and magnificent and gorgeous...if you come up with any new or different words please let us know.
22/09/2005
cherry ripe, frogs, turkish delight, the rose chocolates and we get to taste it. Can't get any better than that. After the tour we stock up on plenty of goodies from the factory store. A new favourite is the triple decker mint chocolate. Look out for that!
23/09/2005
entry fee per person) - you get to go on a harbour cruise and see the Dead Man Island (the cemetery) and the Point Puer Island where boy prisoners were kept (some of them only nine years old!) and we get an introductory tour to all the sites and buildings on the mainland. The old stone buildings are well-kept and the architecture is very impressive and the stories about the past are really interesting. Port Arthus is a really beautiful place - green and lush - and it looks idyllic but the place still has a bit of an eerie feeling - both because of its old convict history but also beacuse of the horrible massacre that took place here in 1996.
After about four hours at Port Arthur we drive back to Hobart. We find a prefect street on a hill just above Salamanca where we decide to stay for the night. We go and have a few beers in Salamanca, in a traditional stone building of a pub. We then go for dinner at Fish Frenzy on the Wharf - we have been told that the seafood in Tasmania is "the best" so we have to try it. We order a seafood platter for two and get everything from mussels, oysters and salmon to calamari, octopus and normal fish. It's beautiful and so fresh. Even D, who usually doesn't like seafood, likes the mussles and the octopus. The wine is nice too. After a filling night we stagger back to our car.
24/09/2005
have brekkie at Salamanca Square. People have started to put up market stalls in Salamanca as the Saturday markets are soon to open. After trying to cure the hangover (that is H) with breakfast we walk the markets and when it starts to rain we decide to get out of Hobart and drive towards the westcoast. The weather is not so great and we are a bit tired so after a few hours of driving we stop and have a nap by the roadside and then hit the road again. We drive through the old mining town Queenstown and some really, really steep and winding roads and we drive through picturesque Strahan and then towards Ocean Beach where we set up camp for the night. It's windy and chilly by the beach so we climb into the car early.
25/09/2005
Dove Lake and its surroundings are beautiful. So different from anything else that we have seen on the trip. There's still a little bit of snow on some of the peaks. I guess we have to get ready for this cooler kind of climate since we are going back to Sweden soon. After the two-hour walk we drive towards Devonport where we are catching the ferry back to Melbourne. Bye Bye Tasmania.
