Seeing Tasmania for Myself

First of all I have to say, Tasmania is the best state in Australia!

Most of my life I have lived in New South Wales. I thought that was the best state until moving down here. NSW has got quite a few nice places to see, such as the Blue Mountains, the Snowy Mountains, all the beaches and rivers. They are all scenic in their own way but they don't seem to be as beautiful as the mountains and beaches in Tassie.

I wanted to visit Tasmania after seeing heaps documentaries and pictures. When Anna and I decided to come to Tassie in 2005 I was over the moon. At last I could see the places in the pictures my self. They are more beautiful when you see them for yourself.

The ride over Bass Strait was a little choppy; I loved hearing the wave's crash on the hull of the ship and the feeling of the boat going up and down in the swell. My first sight of Tasmania was the coastline while standing on the deck of the ship, with the sun still below the horizon. I actually felt like I was at home, even though I hadn't set foot on dry land. It is a welcoming place from so far out.

Finally we reached shore. The sun hadn't quite come up so things were still in that mornings glow just before the sunrise. Outlines and dull colour gave way to delicious greens and rolling hills as we drove down the highway towards Hobart. My most used comment on that drive, and still is, was "That's nice!" (with a few other words that I won't repeat here, but you can imagine). My jaw hit the floor with amazement at such beauty. The east has been in drought for a while now and it is not as green as it used to be, it is still beautiful though.

The scenery on the trip to Hobart had only shown me a glimpse of what there is to see here. With the turning of a corner you find incredible landscapes, which are totally different from the one that you have just witnessed. It is such a diverse place. A place where the look of a landscape is totally different just a couple of minutes later.

I haven't seen a sky anywhere else where I've lived in Australia that is as blue as it is here in Tassie. There are also different shades of blue, from baby blue to a rich azure. I remember driving from the Blue Mountains into Sydney. There was a point on the road where I could see the smog getting thicker and darker taking away what limited blue sky there was.

Living on the outskirts of Hobart offered us a great advantage for doing day trips all over the state, discovering more of Tasmania as we went. The roads are a dream to drive on here. They can twist and turn and sometimes be tight, or there are great straight stretches that allow the driver to do a bit of sightseeing as well. Because of the twistiness of some of the roads you can expect your trips to be somewhat longer than normal. Most of the roads are well maintained.

We made many day trips to different parts of Tassie but I was feeling that I needed to experience more of what this gorgeous land had to offer. We decided to put all our stuff into storage late last year and go. We packed our trusty tent and a few changes of clothes, some cooking utensils and food and headed off into the unknown.

The documentaries and pictures I had seen before coming to this beautiful state look dull and lifeless. I must say that experiencing Tasmania myself has been the only way to see it.