Hi!
I write this as someone who has now been to Tasmania. Sounds pretty exotic, doesn't it? Six months ago if you would have asked Past Ben where Tasmania is, I'm almost certain that he would have said something other than Australia. Past Ben is wrong. Tassie is one of the six states in 'straya (I live in Victoria). It's an island off the southern coast and just an hour flight from Melbourne. It seems to have this reputation as a place full of bogans (look at me picking up on the Aussie terms!) which I think causes mainlanders to shy away from it. In fact, I've met a few locals who have spent their entire lives in Melbourne and have never been to Tassie. This is a bummer for them because my first encounter with the state was lovely.
Before I tell you about Tassie, allow me to explain what lead to this trip. There I was, 10 days before Anzac day weekend (a three day weekend) without any plans. This is unacceptable. I feel a very strong need to take advantage of opportunities to go on adventures, and it seemed as though I was going to waste this opportunity. I had FOMO (to the non-millennials out there this stands for Fear Of Missing Out) even though there wasn't anything specific that I was going to miss out on. I had heard good things about Tassie from several folks and I attempted to organise a trip. However, everybody I asked to join me already had plans. I even toyed with the idea of jetting to Tasmania alone, but I was too chicken to pull the trigger due to the extrovert's nightmare that ran through my mind.
“What if I am alone for the whole trip? Who am I going to talk to? I need human interaction and how can I possibly get it if I travel ALONE??”
I understand that these concerns aren't reason to not go on a trip. I do hope to travel alone at some point because it's something that I've never done before, but that's a topic for another time. Anyway, I was stuck planless for ANZAC day when, 4 days before the weekend, my saviour came in the form of George. He works at Royal Children's Hospital and we had met a couple of times in passing. He heard through the grapevine that I was interested in going to Tassie over Anzac Day weekend which is exactly what he had plans to do. He invited me to join him and a couple of his friends for a long weekend of hiking and wine drinking in and around Freycinet National Park. And what do you do when someone you've met a few times invites you on a trip with him and a few strangers? You accept the offer, of course!
The trip ended up being lovely. We flew into Launceston and spontaneously stopped at a small winery for lunch, wine and live music on our way to the park - a great start to the trip! Once we got settled in our rental house in Coles Bay, we spent our days hiking in Freycinet National Park and our nights drinking wine and playing Settlers of Catan and Bananagrams (for the uninitiated, these are board games). That's a difficult combination of activities to beat, especially since Freycinet National Park lies at a gorgeous intersection of beaches and mountains. On our only full day in Tassie, we hiked a big loop around the park, which included a stop at Wineglass Bay. The water was very cold, but that didn't stop us from taking a refreshing dip in the crystal clear saltwater.
The next day, we decided to summit Mount Amos. This ended up being a challenging endeavour due to the fact that we were doing more scrambling across rocks and rock faces than hiking. I loved it! When hiking, I often go out of my way to do some scrambling (Devil's Lake near Madison is a great spot for this) so I was thrilled that this was required to get to the top. The work to get to the top was definitely worth it when we saw the view from the top. Pictures don't do it justice, but here's what we saw from the top. The strip of beach is Wineglass Bay, which is where we were the day before.
Here's the face of someone who's told to jump for a picture and doesn't realise how small his landing space is until he's already in the air.
And here's the face of someone who just met his first wallaby. I had no idea what a wallaby looked like before I met this little guy but I don't think I could've imagined a more adorable creature.
My first trip to Tasmania left me wanting more. I have my eyes on Hobart as my next destination in Tassie. My next trip is happening in June: I'll be going to Hamilton Island, which is off the northeastern coast of Australia, for a long weekend with a couple of friends.
Speaking of friends, I think I have been doing a good job meeting people. My co-workers are a good group so I see them outside of work pretty often. Most of them have been here for about 18 months (and will be leaving soon unfortunately) but they have introduced me to their Aussie friends. It's nice to be able to take advantage of the fact that my coworkers have been here for a while. I joined a basketball team right when I got here and we occasionally grab a beer after our weekly game. With the NBA finals coming up, I will be seeing them more often because we have gamewatches planned (if you are wondering, yes the NBA is big here. Very big. I see a lot of Warriors and Bulls gear). I have also been using Meetup quite a bit to go to activities and meet people. So far, I've used Meetup to join people at trivia night, to go on a tour of Melbourne's old arcades and laneways, to play super nerdy board games over beers and go for a run. Some of these events have lead to exchanging contact details with somebody and some haven't, but Meetup has been a great resource so far. Finally, I have been set up on a couple of 'man dates' with a friend of a friend. There is no better way to describe these interactions than 'man date.' I have a lot of the same silly thoughts before and after these interactions as I have if it were a romantic date with a pretty lady.
“I think that went well. We had a nice time getting drinks. We did have a nice time, right? I was pretty charming, after all. I think I’ll see him again. Should I text him or wait for him to text me? ”
For those of you who have seen 'I Love You, Man,' I very much feel like Paul Rudd when I'm on 'man dates' and exchanging phone numbers with a dude at a Meetup event. While the whole process may feel kind of goofy, I'm glad I'm getting out there and meeting people!
As I publish this, Good Beer Week is coming to a close. For a beer geek like me, it's a great week to live in Melbourne because there are hundreds of events going on across the city over 10 days. Last weekend, I enjoyed some local beers at my local pub (The Cherry Tree Hotel) courtesy of their regional Victoria tap takeover. I also got to sample beers and chat with the head brewer from Bell's Brewery out of Michigan, makers of Two Hearted, one of my all-time favorite beers. Most recently, I attended an event called 'Victoria vs. the world' in which we sampled beers from Victoria breweries and breweries from other countries, voted on our favourites and the winners moved on in the bracket until the 'Grand Final,' which pitted a Victoria brewery against a New Zealand-based brewery. New Zealand won to the dismay of the Aussies in attendance.
Until next time,
Ben