I recently had to go to Tasmania for a couple of days work in Bell Bay (northern Tasmania).

I was born in Launceston, and my parents moved away from Launceston when I was four years old. I've always wanted to go back to Tasmania, so I decided to make the most of this opportunity, and took a week's leave once my work was complete. My wife joined me, and we spent a week driving around Tasmania, clocking up 1755km in 7 days.

Due to the limited time, we planned our trip, to ensure we were making effective use of the time we had. We started in Launceston, then drove east to St Marys, and sampled the fantastic pancakes at Mount Elephant Pancakes, before continuing down the east coast. In Freycinet National Park, we did the Wine Glass Bay lookout walk, and then continued down to Hobart.

One day was spent visiting Eaglehawk Neck and Port Arthur, and we headed back to Launceston for the weekend, before going south again, to Lake St Clair, and then upto Cradle Mountain for a few nights.

We had a great time, and loved the Tasmanian scenery. Although the weather was overcast and drizzling some of the time, we didn't let that stop us, and still did plenty of sight-seeing.

Tasmania was appealing for several reasons. Firstly, it's the place of my birth, and I haven't been back since I was four years old. Secondly, there's a lot of Australian history in Tasmania, particularly in places such as Port Arthur. While the Port Arthur history may not always be exotic (a convict's life was pretty miserable and harsh), it's still Aussie history. Thirdly, I have heard plenty of stories from people about how green the country side is, and the natural beauty of places such as Tasman's Arch, the waterfalls, the rainforest, etc.

I took lots of photos during the week in Tasmania, and will be posting some of them on this blog over the coming weeks, along with some more stories and commentary.


Edit: here's some of my photos from Tasmania (click a thumbnail to go to the corresponding blog entry):