Freedom: Welcome to Tasmania

The day of my next adventure had arrived; I was very excited and nervous. But as most of you know, there are no adventures if everything works out smoothly and as planned. We will see how this will go. I am sure I will keep track of it again every day, because just now I realize the reason why I write so much when I travel and not so much when I am at places for longer: I don’t have internet. So I kind of put all my thoughts into this blog. Obviously not too personal ;)

I took the tram to the Port Melbourne. Of course they had track renewals on the route so I had to exchange twice to a bus until I finally arrived at the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry. I can tell you that after several weeks without running around with my backpack it was a very heavy feeling, but I have to admit I missed it. It feels nice and easy, no strings attached, being free is awesome. I can’t describe it differently.

I entered the terminal and only waited a few minutes until I checked in and dropped my bag off. The ship is stunning and huge. I haven’t been on a ferry since I was very young. First I did a tour through the ship; they have everything, from restaurant to cinema and casino. Well, in a very small version, but they had it.

My last day in Melbourne was great with a lot of sun and great people around me, which I will miss a lot. I dropped a few tears when I saw the lights of Melbourne fading away.

Melbourne is now behind me and I can see the skyline getting smaller by the minute. I miss it already.

I have a long night ahead of me, probably with a lot of thinking involved. I might do as well some reading after I finished writing this blog entry. Or just listen to music and dream away.

I have friends and a great family and cannot be thankful enough. I am happy that these people exist in my life, because without them it wouldn’t be the same. I love you all and miss you a lot. I know I am going to miss out on some great events in their life but will have at the same time my own adventure. So at this point I raise my waterglass and toast to being alive and living my dream.

Read you soon again.

The next morning
I had the most amazing trip on the ferry. Because I couldn’t sleep properly I got out on the deck around midnight and I have never seen so many stars shining so bright. It was beautiful and just that alone was worth the shaky trip on the Ferry.

The seats were quite comfy and luckily I only had one seat neighbour, so I could spread out my feet’s and legs for some rest. But I am happy I booked a flight to Sydney, I couldn’t bare the thought of another night trip with rough sleep.

I arrived safely in Tasmania –Devonport at 6am, unfortunately way too early to check in into my accommodation. Luckily I found a nice directly next to the Terminal. Of course I couldn’t resist to login to the internet (well only for 15 minutes/$2,50 -n Dockside café).

Around 11 am and quiet a few coffees later I arrived at my hostel. I was still a little bit pissed off with the tour operator. They haven’t told me that they could not pick me up at my booked hotel. I decided a few days ago that I deserved some luxury and actually booked a nice hotel room just for myself with a big comfy bed and ensuit bathroom. Only yesterday they told me that it wasn’t possible, so I had to rearrange my booking. Because of the cancellation policy of the hotel I was not able to get my money back for the room I booked. However, they owned a hostel in the area that the tour operator accepted. Well, I pay now a little bit more than the usual price, but have a room to myself anyway. Apparently the hostel has free wireless internet, but it isn’t working for me somehow. I will try it again later (YEAH it is working as you can see with this update).

After checking into the Gingerbread Hostel (http://www.gingerbreadhousehostel.com) and having a nice hot shower with refreshing cold shots in between I made myself on the way to the Devonport “City”. I had to take a little Ferry over to the other site which was only $2,50 one way. I arrived in the “City” and had to giggle a little bit. It was such a small town and nothing really to see. They even had a visitor centre, however the information received were not really useful and I just walked around for four hours and returned. I have to say the town doesn’t offer a lot but the view around the town is amazing. Everything is very clean and natural. I had as well luck with the weather and enjoyed another coffee in the sun.