all roads lead to where you stand

over a week has gone by since i have last written and it feels like my mind is spinning with all the things i have seen and done in that time. its hard to even know where to begin. as it is, anika and i have made it into the state of tasmania, which is an island south of melbourne. currently i am writing from an internet cafe in the small town of strahan along the western coastline.

even though the clouds hang low and threaten to dump rain on us for the remainder of the day, the town itself is quite cute in it's charm. all the colonial-style buildings give it historical character and set the pace of life to barely moving forward. it is almost as though the whole town has decided to sleep all day as even though it is saturday, it appears as though the only people out and about are visitors not local to the quaint strahan.

last night we set up camp on the sandy dunes of ocean beach (just outside of strahan) where we watched the sunset over the waves from inside our cozy campervan. that moment marked the end of our first week together in our journey and we both agreed it hasn't nearly felt that long. hard to imagine that we still have 4 more weeks to go.

a week ago we had met up in sydney, as anika picked ariana and i up from the airport and we continued on to ariana's house. full of excitement to continue the journey and reflection on the journey i had just had with ariana, i sat in my new "home" and contemplated where anika and i would go in our wicked campervan. after dropping off ariana at her place anika and i geared up to get out of sydney asap. we had been there for the past 5 months and that was more than enough - we were ready to set our sights on something different. so south we went.

the first night was spent at stanwell park, about an hour or so outside of sydney where the park was full of people launching themselves off the cliff edge in hang gliders and landing gracefully on the beach below. evening fishermen tested the waters for a catch to have for dinner and anika and i organized ourselves for the next few days ahead.

that sunday (march 14) and monday (march 15) flew by as we set our sights on mebourne. anika and i had decided early on that we didn't want to waste time getting to tasmania and figured we would bust our buts to get there as quickly as we could considering we could only drive after dawn (7am) and before dusk (7pm). this is due to the many wildlife that our out on the roads outside of these times and the fact that wicked campers does not cover us in case of an accident should we be driving when we're not supposed to. as it were - we made it there in no time and still were able to take in a few of the sights along the way.

we managed to find our way into the town of eden on the sunday, near the southern border of new south wales and went for a swim in the tourquise waters before continuing on our drive. later that evening we found a perfect spot to park for the night. it was dubbed a "rest area," but turned out to be more of a campground as it was set off the highway in the forest with bathrooms, picnic tables and water access. aside from the blood-thirsty mosquitoes, we were in heaven. by late monday afternoon we had made our way into melbourne, which is about 1000 km from sydney. we attempted to get on the ferry to tasmania for that night, but they were all booked up so we bought tickets for the following night.

it all worked in our favor as we were able to score a million-dollar view for that night as we found a parking lot overlooking the ocean and we watched our very first australian sunset from the shore. hard to imagine that people had probably paid millions of dollars to live in their fancy houses right behind where we parked when we were getting the same view for free.

march 16 we woke up and went for a run along the beach and then set out to explore melbourne in what it had to offer. anika and i both fell in love quickly with the big city - so different and yet so similar to sydney. it reminded us of europe, of classic australia, of south america and of home all in one. everywhere we looked there was artistic and historical elements to the city which made our walk down the streets more enjoyable than had we spent money on a show or something extravagent. on our way back we took the local tram (melbourne is said to have the 2nd largest tram system in the world) to our campervan and spent our last few hours of the afternoon on the beach. it was bliss.

by the time it we were supposed to check in for the ferry - we were ready. checking in was a process in itself. no fruits or veggies were allowed to be brough over the watery states lines. our canisters of gas for cooking also had to be put aside. fortunately we were able to pick those up once we reached our destination of devonport. once we got that all settled, they marked us with a blue "X" on our winshield (to this date we still have not gotten it cleaned off) and were sent into the tight line-up.

and there we waited. at least we had remembered to bring some good music to entertain us. finally, we started inching forward. with grins plastered on our faces (you'd have thought we had never been ANYWHERE before) we drove up the ramp which was actually a mini-bridge and parked where told to inside.

now, i have never been on a boat of this magnitude before in my life. and this was only a ferry boat. not even a cruise ship - and yet it felt as such just the same. complete with a gift shop, multiple bars, restaurants and cafes, a cinema, games room, kids playplace and 10 decks to roam - we were set for the night. as i walked my way towards my room, i felt as though i might be on something resembling the famous titanic ship with its tight coriders and swaying motions. i tried to take it all in. memorize it.

the only minor problem for the night was that they had booked anika and i in 2 separate rooms. not a major deal considering we are both experienced independent travellers, but we decided to see what we could do about it just the same.

so after watching another glorious sunset from the top deck, we set sail and anika and i headed to the reception desk. before we knew it we had been upgraded to a 4-bed porthole room (aka: includes a window) and we would be the only 2 people in that room! we were incredibly stoked as this was far more than what we were hoping for and more than happily obliged in settling in to our new quarters for the night. i only hoped the 10 hour trip would be longer for us to have more time to enjoy it.

the rest of the evening went by rather quickly as we had showers (our first hot on in at least 4 days) and then set off to watch the movie at the theatre. as it happened, i stepped into the washroom just prior to the film as anika grabbed us seats. when i was done, i didn't realize the stall doors automatically swing closed and it caught the back of my ankle on my way out. in one swift motion the door removed me of a chunk of skin covering my achilles tendon and i had to think quick on how to stop the bleeding (had no idea an ankle could bleed that much). after about 5 minutes of dabbing it with toilet paper nothing happened. i had to step up my game.

i managed to fashion myself a makeshift bandage that wrapped around my foot with toilet paper. all i had to do then was walk the 20ft to the reception desk to get first aide. i was wearing flip flops. i can attest that this was no easy task - the last thing i wanted to do was come out of the bathroom trailing stained toilet paper and a blood trail to match.

fortunately i made it to the front desk and got bandaged up. unfortuately when i went to bed later that night i remembered all the linens were white. my wound was still bleeding pretty good at that point. my only solution was to stick my foot in a motion sickness bag, elevate it on a stack of pillows and fall into a deep sleep.

march 17 flew by as we drove off the ferry, through devonport, along the northern coastline and then south towards the small town of warratah. we managed to find a place near the local lake and set up for the night. dinner was a tasty mixture of cooked pumpkin, corn and onions alongside tomato and cheese toasted sandwiches. YUM!

after warratah we drove into cradle valley national park - our sights set on cradle mountain. we got all geared up for our hike, ignoring the mild attempts of the visitor centre to have us buy into extra gear and maps and such. we were off on our first official hike and it felt great.

a few hours later we made it back to our van and drove on to rosebury where we stocked up on food and set up camp at a nearby reststop. yesterday was much of the same as we awoke to set off on a mild hike around rosebery and then went on over to the montezuma falls (at 104m tall, these are the highest in tasmania). i managed to walk my way across a bridge that's limited to 2 people at a time and with good reason - it is only wide enough for one foot to go infront of the other and the whole thing swayed in the powerful breeze of the waterfall, making me wonder if my "must have" picture of the falls would be the last i ever took. fortunately i survived the feat.

back at the van we quickly realized that w had left the lights on and when we attempted to start the van, it did not work. we grabbed sandwiches and walked our way to the carpark at the start of the trail to see if anyone had jumper cables. they didn't. so we went to the washroom and walked back to the van to stay warm. it started - emergency everted. from there we took tasmania's windy roads to queenstown where we stopped off at a caravan park for hot showers and then continued our way to strahan.

overall - tasmania has continued to amaze me in it's diversity. the majestic mountains. the thick rainforests. the ever-changing weather. the vibrant colors. the endless array of farmland. the rugged coastline. it's wild. it's untouched. it's amazing and i can't wait to see what's next.

as far as pictures go - we haven't been able to find appropriate USB connections at any of the computers, so it could be a bit before i can update everyone with the things we have done and seen... can't wait to share more!!