Ineka and John

The couple that the Japanese girl, Yayoi, was staying with before she came to work with me at the farm was Ineka and John. They had dropped her off and upon leaving said if we needed anything not to hestiate and call them, although at the time I thanked them and didn't think I would see them again.
Minutes after the phone call with the guy telling me that he thought I should leave, Ineka had rung Yayoi to see how things were. I spoke to her and within seconds she had offered to pick me and Yayoi up in Launceston asap.

John are migrant from 'Landan' and Ineka a dutch migrant from Amsterdam, and were two of the loveliest people I could have ever hoped to meet.

They offered their home to me and told me I could stay as long as necessary and asked nothing in return.

They had a beautiful home in a place north west of Launceston, in a place called Beauty Point, which they had renovated themselves. John was a builder by trade and Ineka worked in the local hospital as a nurse.

I stayed three nights with them altogether and I really appreciated their kindness as it gave me an opportunity to figure out what I was going to do next without any pressure.

We went for walks along Greens Beach with their dog Benny, watched DVDs and spent evenings chilling out watching TV and chatting; they really made me feel welcome and I couldn't have thank them enough.

On the Thursday morning I caught the bus back to Launceston, (armed with a packed lunch made by Ineka!) from which I would go to Devonport. Ineka and Yayoi walked me to the bus stop and we said our good byes and just as I had sat down on the bus John rushed and got on the bus to come and say goodbye too. It almost brought tears to by eyes saying goodbye as they had been so kind.

From the bottom of my heart  I would like to thank them both for making me feel so welcolme in their home when I needed it. It really makes the difference when you meet people like that when travelling and makes the whole thing worth while :)

My Complete History of Tree Plating

From the craziness of living and working with Yvonne, my next desination was a farm where I was going to work planting trees to earn some much needed cash.

The guy that owned the place had offered to come pick me up at Yyvonnes, which he did and we headed to his farm.

I had a feeling of apprehension when I first met this guy, rightful cautiousness about my own safety, unsure if he would be another weirdo or a genuine guy.

But there was only one way to find out. He seemed ok. Yyvonne had known people who'd worked for him before and he  checked out ok, so my doubt had obsided but a little was bound to linger.

There was something about him that I just wasn't sure about. I can't put my finger on it. When he talked he always addressed me part way through his sentences which I found odd. He always seemed to turn to look at me when talking while he was driving. I don't know why but I found this strange too. Everything he said though, that was fine. He was a mild mannered man, ensured me that he wanted me to feel completely comfortable in his home and happy. He was very much into history and talked about both Tasmania and Britain with great knowledge. I began to relax a bit and chatted to him and my experiences of Tasmania and what i'd enjoyed about it.

We arrived back at his home not too far out of Launceston in the countryside. He had a small be adequate house that he shared with his two dogs. A bit messy, but for an older gentlemen living alone, it was pretty much what I expected.

His manner, still made me feel a little on edge but I figured I was just being stupid and that everything was ok, which it was.

 I felt like I may have been over reacting about him when he asks me if I would be interested in waitressing. Hestiating, I remembered about a guy who had rung me a few days before asking if I wanted to waitress in lingerie, then he says don't worry I don't think its not your thing and I politely decline. FFS.

I hope I'm wrong and that its not the same job proposition the guy rang me was talking about before.  The phase 'not your thing' is questionable. Waitressing, is a standard profession, so therefore can be most peoples 'thing.' He didn't explain his comments. I thought it best to leave it. I would have been interested in getting some extra work but at the risk of finding out that it was work of the unsavory kind, I didn't ask any more.

While eating lunch not long after I had arrived too, he started talking about feelings he had about a lost love. The more he talked it was revealed that it was quite some time ago, a lot longer than I first imagined. He said that he felt better over the last year. As it turns out its was over six years previously and he never actually had a relationship with this women but a 'deep spiritual connection,' and she was a lot younger than he. Not the kind of thing you start talking about when you first meet someone, but then again after meeting Yvonne who basically told me her life story within the first ten minutes of meeting her, it was less of a shock nowadays. I turned the conversation away to some time he spent in Brazil and thanked god that another person was coming the next day.

The following day he left me pretty much on my own at the house all day while we went to some meetings he'd arranged with work collegues and friends. He'd left me with a few tasks to do so I got on with them once he'd left. He returned later in the afternoon, not long after the Japanese girl who was also going to work for him had been dropped off my the couple she was staying with. He acted a little odd, but not any more than he had done previously and invited Yoyoi to go with him to buy vegetables but not me which we both found strange. Not more than ten minutes later after he'd could have left he rang me again for the millionth time that day. This time though, I wanted to leave as soon as I hung up the phone.

He called to tell me that he didn't think I was happy and that I should leave.

I found it all rather biazaar. I hadn't given him any indication that I wasn't happy there, and certainly hadn't let on about my feelings about him being strange.

To me it felt as though I wasn't right for him, for whatever reason and now he had a new girl I could leave. Harmless or not I wasn't staying a minute longer than I had to. I also wasn't going to leave Yayoi there alone either. I hung up the phone and immediately packed. As soon as he returned, I got him to take us back to Launceston, where the couple who had just dropped Yayoi off were more than happy for us to go and stay with them.

Whether or not he was a harmless old man wanting the best for me or if he was a seedy old man and I wasn't going to do didn't matter. I just went with my intuition and got the hell out of there. Something its just best to go with your gut feeling and leave.

While travelling you learn so much about yourself and the world and in this case it was all about making the right decision.

P.S. Number of trees planted: One

"The Crazy Women" of Launceston

I left the comfort of Jenny and Bronte's home in the Huon Valley and headed to my next host.

Yvonne Gulyas. Fiftysomething. Lives in Launceston, northern Tasmania.

A single women with many life experiences and more than willing to tell her about her son who had got mixed up with the wrong kind of people, her intertwined relationships with men, her achivements and passions all within the first ten minutes of meeting her.

This was a truely extraordinary women. Needless to say, she had AHD.

Upon meeting her, I didn't know whether to be amazed at the amount of words and different conversation topics she could get out in one breathe or to run for the hills. I don't even believe that I got more than two words in during the first couple of days I stayed with her.

She was a poet, a writer, had previously been a journalist and now owned had her catering business. A crazy women, but her heart was in the right place.

I was volunteering for new experiences, and by joe staying with Yvonne was definitley an experience.

She'd lived in China for four years, had four children, grew up in sydney and relocated to Tasmania. She'd had her life theatened by a previous boyfriend hurling a knife, won poetry prizes, had love affairs with her best friends man, worked on chinese tv, trained as a chef, went to school in Malaysia, lived in Bali and took pride in telling me she had 'cancelled christmas' and was heading back there for a the festive peroid.

This women was something else.

She was loud. She was crass. She was one of a kind.

Her house was messy, but it was an organised chaos. She had a cat she mothered and a stray she fed. She housed two chinese students, both lovely people.

An odd family life but never a dull moment.

The 10 days I stayed with her were never boring. In the evenings I spent most of my time in my room, enjoying the peace and quiet and the ability to hear my own thoughts or chatted with Rachel, one of the students, answering her many grammar questions and helping with her pronouncation of English.

A couple of evenings she had guests for dinner which was nice. She was a very sociable person and she shone when she had company. Another evening we also attended one of her poetry nights, where she met up with a group of local poets and they shared their writings over a few drinks at a local pub which I found very interesting. It was also nice to see her in her element, almost like seeing a wild animal in the wildness. Her personality shone there too.

So as I said it was certainly an experience meeting Yvonne, and certainly not one I would forget in a hurry.

The Huon Valley Farm

The Family

On the Sunday I met up with a girl called Fiona, a 20 year old Canadian who was also going to WWOOF in Huon Valley with my new hosts Jenny, Bronte and Luke. Jenny was English and from Bedfordshire, Bronte from Adelaide, and Luke was their seven year old son.

They picked us up from the village bus stop and took us to their home buried amongst the hills of Grove in the Huon Valley.

Their house was a gorgeous self-build, and after coming from Michaels it felt like a castle. Everything about it was amazing. It was beautifully built, amazingly decorated and so incredibly homely

.

Me and Fiona

Me and Fiona had our own room which we shared with our own bathroom. I really was living in the lap of luxury after staying in a bed that was basically in the living room of Michaels house.
They had the perfect little house complete with two dogs named Rosie and Bruce (although I prefered Rosie Pie and Brucie!) and a cat called Murphy too.

Comfortably stretched in front of the fire!  

Goats!

On their little family farm they had assortment of animals. There was a herd of goats that much to my delight followed up into the forestry and climbed trees! Two bucks- Seb and Handlebars and my god did they smell! It was supposed to be a luring part of being on heat to attact the female goats but the only thing it attracted was my overwhelming urge to vomit!

They also had four large pens of chickens (which frequently liked to escape and create our very own version of chicken 

run!)  One poor little rabbit which lived in one of the hen runs which also housed some noisy geese! In addition, were three random peacocks that also lived in one of the chicken runs.
And last but not least were the three cheeky piglets, that I used to play chase with whenever I fed them, however I've since been informed are now only two :( and Blaze and Connor the mummy and daddy pigs.

Connor enjoying some apples

Even though I hadn't driven in years Jenny was keen for me to get behind the wheel of an old suziki she used around the farm. It was so much fun ragging it round and as it was old and a bit battered anyway it wasn't so bad when I bashed or crashed it (which only happened once.. into  wooden crate when it shot back in reverse!.. oh and the accident with the shed post!) It was a bit tempermental in reverse and liked to suddenly jump into full speed after being reluctant to start for a while, probably my inexperience as a driver but whatever it was made me wear a seat belt everytime I reversed!

Life was never dull at the Huon farm, even when we went for a general meander into Huonville, the next biggest town, we ended up on swan rescue!A friend of Jenny's had found a injured distressed swan which was passed over to us to rush to the nearest vet.Somehow at the farm me and Fiona managed to get the cold/flu and within a matter of 24hrs we'd gone from being completely ok to dying with fever and congestion- not the most ideal situation when your staying with a family for room and board in return for your work! The family were lovely though and didn't mind at all and told nus to take it easy, but we still managed to continue with at least feeding the animals for the next few days.

Easter Sunday came too and we assisted in an easter egg hunt that Bronte had planned for luke. He'd hidden various eggs and bunnies all across the farm with clues written on them leading to the next egg. Although still being both not very well, me and Fiona weren't much help but we gave some good moral support.

We did get in to the spirit of easter and make bunnie shaped cookies and hotcross buns though and they turned out pretty well if I do say so myself!

On easter monday, as Luke was off school and Bronte had a few days off from work we headed out for the day to the Hertz mountains, just south of the Huon region...and there was snow! I think it was what I really missed at christmas time and here we were in thick snow and it was brilliant!

I left the following friday, leaving Fiona behind and after a last minute swap of media, I went off to my next adventure and on to launceston!

Huon Sunset

Homely Hobart

Michael dropped me off in a town called Margate not too far from Hobart around 7:30 in the morning and I got back to Hobart around 9 and headed straight for city central backpackers where I'd stayed before. I liked the hostel so had no quarms about going back there. The women at reception recognised me straight away and found me in a bed in the same room as before. Just like returning home!

I spent the rest of the day doing some boring stuff like washing, bought some food and hung out at the hostel. I also started chatting to a lovely german guy called Lennard from my dorm and made loose plans to go up Mount Wellington, which over looks the city, the next day.

Later the day while in the dinning area I noticed someone I recognised. It was Phil one of people I'd hung out with last time I was in Hobart! Turns out his wwoof experience hadn't gone well and he'd come back to the city. He told me that there was supposely a few bands and stuff happening at a place called the kelly steps that night and I agreed to head there with him, after we shared his food after what i'd made had turned out to be an absolute dinner disater!

The Kelly Steps are buried down an alleyway, so if you didn't know they were there then you'd just walk right on by. As Tasmanians don't like to be 'normal' this obviously was the perfect place to have a few bands playing and to set up a make shift bar! We had a beer and hung out on the steps listening to the music for a little while, but due to our late arrival and the immediate end at 11pm we weren't there long. After all this was Tasmania and it certainly isn't reknownd for its all-night party scene.

On the Saturday I spent the day with Lennard, the guy from my dorm visiting Mount Wellington. We wanted to get there but didn't know how and ended up going on a tour with just the two of us around Hobart a little then headed to Mt Wellington that over looks the city of Hobart.

The views were really nice, but the best thing about the day was certainly meeting Lennard.

He was such a well mannered lovely person. We spent the rest of the day together hanging out at the hostel talking about anything and everything. How a crazy guy that kind of lived at the hostel looked like Gerrad Butler in the film 300, (He certainly wasn't any Gerrad Butler, but after googling a picture i agreed there were some similarities!) the different names the British and Germans call the seas around Europe (Its the Baltic sea, not the east Sea :p),  the weird names Germans have for things like slugs or should I say naked snails :) and why dinner is called dinner, what lunch is and what exactly is teatime, with a bit of bad pronunciation of German thrown in for good measure.

We certainly talked for hours. Its always pretty awesome when you meet someone like that! Especially when all you do is talk nonsense!

 We headed back to the room not so late. The next day I was heading off again, this time to WWOOF at a farm in an area called the Huon Valley South East from Hobart.

Beautiful Bruny

On the monday morning, March 26th, I met Michael for my first proper WWOOF experience, outside the church round the corner from my hostel. I was going to spend the rest of the week with Michael and his son seven year old son Brody in at their home on the beautiful Bruny Island.

His home was a small self build in the middle of a clearing in the middle of his acres and acres of land which included his own creek. The house itself was a little blue box painted blue mostly inside too. The whole feel of the place reminded me rather of my uncle Alastair's house in the countryside in the north east of Scotland.

After meeting Micheal in Hobart we spent the rest of the morning running errands in the city, taking tools for repair buying things for the house and choosing some paint for the eves.
We looked at the paints for a while trying to choose something that would match the blue that he described his home to be.

We decided that we quite fancied an aqua marine colour- our logic was "If you have the feeling that you want to do something, just go for it," so we went ahead and bought it.  As it turned out though, the green paint we thought we'd bought was almost exactly the same as the colour of the house. After running a few more errands we stopped off at his mum's house in a place called Kingston were I met her and his ex-partner.

Ruth needed him to take her to the city to take her to a meeting, so Michael dropped me off in a cafe where I spent a fair few hours doing some writing. He said he would be back in a couple of hours, but his time keeping was as good as Polina had warned me it was going to be and he didn't return for a good four hours just as the cafe was closing.

We caught the ferry to Bruny just as the sun was starting to set, and the skies looked stunning.

Michael bumped into some people he knew on the ferry who had just been at the rainbow festival and they all headed back with us to his house, stopping on the way at the spilt that divided the north and south side of the island to admire the sun setting in the sky.

That evening for dinner we had a bit of a strange concoption of rice and sweet potato, carrot, beetroot salad and sweetcorn for dinner.

It was a bit of a strange start to my WWOOFing experience, not at all what I expected. He didn't seem to live much on a farm or have much of an organic plantation but i guessed i'd just see how it went.
The next day it was one of the Rainbow crew's birthday's- Shiva- a very expressive gay Italian man with eye lashes that fluttered as he spoke gesticulating with both hands. He was an adorable guy and I loved him instantly. The whole lot of us- Mitzy, Clint and their three children, Shiva, Virgina and Bea and their friends Erin and Joseph, and Michael, his brother Paul that was also staying with him, Brody and me all head to the beach and spent the day there. We played frisbee, swam, fished and chilled out all day.

For lunch Mitzy woked up some amazing sweetcorn fritters in her campervan for everyone, a recipe I have memorised as they were delicious!

As I'd never been fishing before Paul was determinded to take me out to catch my first fish. The brothers hacd their own fishing boat that we took a fair way off sure and Paul showed me how to cast a fishing rod and off we went. Their wasn't many fish about- apparently the fish move with the tides-but I still managed to catch one although it turned out to be a baby and we tossed it back in.   Paul managed to get a couple of decent sized fish though against the odds and we took them back to the beach and cooked them on a fire we made.

As the evening drew to a close we ll headed back to the house and made a huge feast for everyone with vegetables from Mikes garden and we all sat down to eat together on whatever piece of furniture was avaliable. It was a great evening sitting around and chatting about all kinds of things. Mitzy threw together a birthday cake for Shiva with whatever ingrediants she could find which was delicous. Shiva did this incredible almost theatrical interpretation of Mitzy with his eyes squinted and pouting his lips. , "The amazing Mitzy!.. Her children behind her, her man by her side , hand held up high looking towards the sky, holding a cake! I am the amazing Mitzy!"

When I couldnt keep my eyes open anymore I headed to bed. Looking at the time on my phone, when I got into bed it said 9:15; god i was getting old!

Talking to Michael the next day he assured me I didn't go to bed until about 4, so maybe i'm not that old afterall!

I spent the rest of Tuesday painting Michael's house with the paint we'd bought, and discovered that there was almost no difference at all in the colours. Oh well!

That evening we went fishing again. This time just me Mitzy and Paul. There was always different people to talk to and hang out with at Michael's. I liked this a lot. We even saw a pop of dolphins swimming though the bay.

On wedneday we got up pretty early and as the waves were good Micahel wanted to get out as soon as possible and head to Cloudy Bay to go surfing and asked if I wanted to come too. Of course I said yes. When we got there however the waves were pretty big so Micahel went ahead and surfed while I watched and waited for him to return to help me, but by the time he was finished we had to head back as a friend of his which was also surfing was going to come back with us. I did some yoga while I waited for him though. It was a lovely calming place to do some yoga. So on a platform built for the surfers, I relaxed and did some yoga to the sound of the waves. Sounds pretty new-age hippie of me, ay!

The last day I spent with Michael I finally did some "gardening." In fact I planted a tray of Brocolli. Not the organic gardening experience I had expected but an experience all the same. The rest of the day, trying hopelessly to do something for him, I did some cleaning and then spent the rest of the day reading and playing some ping-pong.

That evening just before the sun went down we took the boat out fishing and all those of us that were left at Michael's (Joseph, Shiva, Virginia, Michael, Paul and Me) took a rod each and tried for the final time to catch some fish in the lagoon as the sunset drinking a few beers. We caught a few fish and headed back to the shore where we sat round a fire and watched a seal as it played in the moonlight that reflected on the water.

We headed back as we were getting cold and Joseph decided that he was going to make 'chocolate creme;' it wasn't the success he'd hoped for but was pretty good regardless.

Friday came and as Michael worked back somewhere near the city over the weekends he dropped me off at a place called Margate, where I caught a bus back to Hobart. It was nice spending a few days with Michael, even it wasn't the experience I had expected. I loved beautiful Bruny Island, but it was nice to get back to civilisation too and back to the homely Central City Hostel.

Tasmania: The Other Australian State

I caught the 7am flight from Sydney to the capital city of Tasmania, Hobart.

This journey signified eight whole months of travelling on a trip that was only supposed to last only four. Here I was in a country I'd never dreamed of being in about to embark on an adventure I'd never imagined I would be going on.

However since I had come to Australia, I'd set my heart on venturing to Tasmania and here I was finally fulfilling that wish.

In a few short hours I had landed in the new state of my choice and the anticipatience of what may lie ahead was exciting. I now really was in the realm on the unknown. I had no idea what I was doing now. Little plans or ideas. This was the type of backpacking that I had tried to do the whole of my trip so far. Travelling without knowing or planning. Well ok, without planning maybe thats not wholley true. I had made some vague plans to do something that is called 'WWOOFing,' however what I would actually be doing- who knew!\

WWOOFing or 'Willing Workers On Orgainic Farms' is a kind of volunteering organistation that is actually in action all over the world. You exchange your time and energy and get some memorable life experiences, food and board in return.

Another bonus of this scheme is that if you complete three months or eighty-eight days of work (which can also be done on paid farms,) you can then qualify to apply for a the much prized second year visa.
Its a great way to see some of 'The Real Australia,' and experience life with an Australian family or host and do things you've never dreamed of doing.

I had already been in contact with a women who lived in the north of Tassie and arranged to stay with here later in April and another yoga retreat in the south of Tassie in the beginning of April.

With time to kill before those arrangements I wanted to see a bit of Hobart and the surrounding areas and and perhaps see if i could find some others to volunteer with.

The day I arrived in Hobart I was wiped. The late night and early morning start had used up all my energy, so after a short wander around I ended up falling asleep on a green in front of the parliament building in an area of town called Salamanca. Determinded to do something with the day I booked to go on a tour to the famous 'Wineglass bay' in Freyinet National Park later that week and went for some dinner at Muirs Fish and Chip restaurant which Debbie from Sydney had recommended to me.

The food was nice but being a girl from grimsby I'm not easily impressed by forgein fish and chips especially as the fish in Britain tends to come as big as your face with huge mound of soft steaming chippy chips. It was good fish but the chips were not up to standard. Sorry but GY fish and chips win handsdown everytime.

I spent the rest of that evening and the following day hanging out at the Central City Hostel back in Hobart. It was a lovely atmospheric place to be. The weather outside sucked- cold and windy- so I took some much needed lazy time and watched tv and films.

I got chatting to a lovely German guy called Dennis in my dorm room and his friend Martin, although Martin spent all his time with his head in book and barely said two words. They'd just come back from a seven day trek across the Cradle mountains which sounded pretty awesome, although had completely stunk of the whole room with their walking gear that was spread out across the floor. Dennis apologised profusely about but as he was so nice I told him it didn't matter.

The following day a german girl moved into the room too full of energy and life which certainly brightened up the place. She'd too been on some tour of Tasmania and had her washing drapped over every possible bed post avaliable.

On the Thursday I'd booked to go on a tour to the famous Wineglass Bay. Whenever you see pictures of Tasmania, its more than likely you'll see a photo of Wineglass Bay, I certianly got dozens of images of it when I googled Tasmania. In fact it was one of the reason I decided I definetley wanted to come. It was a kind of 'I want to go there!' moment and minutes later I booked my flight.

The tour wasn't the greatest. A bit overpriced for what was actually included but I enjoyed it all the same. All the places we stopped at were truely stunning and really made me gush about how amazing Tassie was to all my friends and family back home.

It really made me feel saying 'Excuse me Tasmania, the rest of the world called and would like some of its beauty back!'

 It was a nice day and I saw some lovely places but the best part of my day (although a close second was the friendly wallabies at Freyinet NP!) was probably meeting a young Phillapeano guy called Ken. His wonderfully boytorus and fun character really made the day. We just acted like children taking hundreds of photos and messed around all day. When we got back me and my new best friend went and grabbed some dinner at Fish Frenzy and chatted the evening away.

Friday was spent being lazy too. I really was loving this not working malarky! If you don't want to do something then don't! I could deffo get used to this!

got a call from Ken about 7 asking me if I wanted to go take photos of the lit up city skyline. I figured as I hadn't done anything more or less all day, apart from hang out with a dutch guy I'd met called Sander and talked about my travels through Asia, I would go. We (unsuccessfully!) took some pictures of the city and then played about with our cameras taking pictures in the shadows and street lights and ended up with some pretty interesting photos!

The following day we met up again to check out the famous Salamanca market with a whistlestop at an amazing bakery that was just round the corner from the market. The market was fun. Lots of stuff you expect to see- handicrafts, homemade jams, wines and whiskeys and nick nacks and plenty of food! There were quite a few buskers too making some nice music which nicely added to the market feel.

In the afternoon I headed back to my hostel and got talking to a Russian/Candian girl named Polina. Funnily enough she had just come from the WWOOF host that I'd spoke to the day before and was about to go stay with, had moved into my dorm and was even in the bed above mine!
I was getting hungry by now and being lazy and not wanting to cook for myself I was just going to head out and see what I could find. Me and Polina ended up going to an Thai restaurant with an English guy- Phil- and his French friend Adrian, which Polina had met earlier that day. We finished off the evening back at the hostel with a box of goon (bag of wine, to the English ones of you) and chatted the night away.

It was one of those nights that you would just like to chill out and have some pleasent conversation, however Phil's idea of fun was intense conversation analysing peoples beliefs. We had gotten into an extremely deep conversation about Yoga Ashrams and his views were the polar opposite of mine. I think he felt my feelings of my time in the ashram were naive and that i'd been sucked into what they wanted me to believe and feel. In the end he said he was interested in my arguments and we agreed to disagree on the whole matter and to be honest I was just glad that it was over as I found the whole ordeal exhausting!

In a pleasent end to the evening though I spoke to my best friend in England and it was so nice to hear her voice and here all about normal life back home!... Even if it was interupted my running out of credit and a women telling me to be quiet!

 Sunday came. My last day for the time being in Hobart and I finally got the energy to go to MONA- The Museum of Old and New Art, after failed attempts every other day of the week, Man, that place is weird. If you know me, you know I love art. I love all types of art. Historical painting, modern paintings, colourful paintings, b;ack and white paintings and 'i don't know if thats actually classed as a painting 'paintings. Drawings, sculptures and photographs- I enjoy them all. But boy this place was something else.

There is such a bizarre collect of things in that place I don't even know where to begin. There were things I loved. There was David Shrigley videos and art, a room filled with tv screens of people singing and dancing to Madonna songs and a huge head on the floor that you look into and see all the things whirling around its brain. But there were strange, strange things too. A poo making machine room- which smelt like sick and looked worse, a video of a person squeezing zits and a really eerie room containing a mummy on a island surrounded by black water accessible only by a stepping stone path that went around the side of the room.

I'm glad I went, but it definetly hasn't knocked London's Tate Britain of my art gallery top spot.

To finish off the evening me, Dennis, The german girl, Polina and another German girl who moved into our room went in search of a pub. It sounds like a simple task, but trying to find a pub in Hobart on a Sunday night is harder than it looks. In the end we were in luck and found one open which even had a band playing... to a massive crowd of four people! We sat and had a couple of drinks and then headed back after our crazy night. Wow Tassie is just... wild! I'm guessing that the Sunday night lack of entertainment isn't a great example of Tassie nights but you never know. This place does seem pretty quiet!

Hobart was a lovely welcome to Tasmania and I couldn't wait for what the rest of Tasmania held!