Hello! This time my article will be a little different from the previous one, it’s not about food nor quotes. In this post i’ll tell you a bit of my recent travelling story. Travelling is one of my hobby and for me, is some way to relieve stress from daily life routine. Agree or not, traveling is an interesting thing to do to spend your quality time with family or friends and it’s become even more interesting if we already have a clear travelling plan.
Several weeks ago, around the end of July to early August, me and my family spend our holiday visiting Melbourne and Tasmania which was winter season for about 13 days. In this post, I will share my experiences along with trip advisor and few small tips which may be useful for the traveler who wants to spend holiday around Melbourne and Tasmania.
For your information, Tasmania is an island within 200 km from Australia and it’s capital city is Hobart. Briefly, Tasmania is an island which is very beautiful and interesting place to visit, not only because of its beautiful scenery but friendly people makes us really comfortable to stay in Tasmania.
My journey began with a trip to Melbourne for 3 days 2 nights. Departed from Jakarta at 5 pm and transit in Malaysia for 3 hours and went on a trip to Melborne for 8 hour flight, we finally arrived at Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne at 09.00 am greeted by a bright weather but bit blustery, the air temperature was less than about 11 degrees Celsius.We hailed a cab and headed to our hotel in Russell Street. We choose Space Hotel as our place to stay, one of the best hostels in Melbourne. If you want a place for families with full kitchen facilities, theater, rooftop and clean rooms and strategic location , Space Hotel is the right choice even though there is no Wi-Fi.
Day One, because it was noon already and we didn’t have much time, we choose to get around using Free City Circle Tram passing every 8 minutes near our hotel. By using the City Circle, we became more familiar with the area around us and some places which are usually visited by tourists. We went down and started to go to Federation Square which is the main icon of Melbourne (fyi, there is free WiFi there) then Etihad Stadium, St Paul's Cathedral Melbourne, Victoria, ACMI, Flinders Street Station, and the Parliament House, Melbourne. All these places can be reached only by using Free City Circle Tram and a little walk about 10-20 minutes.
Day Two, we took a tour from our hotel to visit Great Ocean, which is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Melbourne. To get there, I recommend you to get a tour becauseof the difficult circumstances and steep winding streets. On the way to the Great Ocean, we stopped at few places such as Pollo Bay and Light House to take some photos and have lunch, but unfortunately, 1-hour more drive to the final destination, we had to stop. Polices said that we should go back to Melbourne because the only road closed due to an accident few minutes before we arrived. A Korean tourist’s bus blowned by strong winds and fall into the cliff. Quite disappointed, but in the end we were grateful because we felt indirectly saved by not going there if we know that the strong winds could endanger our trip.
Day Three, around 07.00 am we headed to airport to continue our journey to Tasmania, the real journey. Travel about 1 hour and we arrived in Tasmania (Hobart Town). We used a taxi to get to the Hobart Hostel accommodation. This hostel is the best hostel for 3 years in a row, a unique and comfortable place like a private home. There is a public kitchen, dining, living room, and also Free Wi-Fi. After having a lunch and left our luggages, we began to walk down around the Hobart city with a guide map that we took at the hostel. First, we visited Battery Point, a residential complex located in the ancient city of Hobart seafront, then we walked to Salamanca Market, a complex that contains small shops, cafes and bazaar every Saturday morning, because that was Friday then we just got into one of the fresh market there. In the evening, before going back to hostel, we visited St Davids park to take pictures and Elizabeth Street which is an outdoor mall contains small shops like usual mall.
Salamanca Market best Sandwich
Day Four, early morning we headed to Europecar where we rent a car for easier trip because you have to know that Hobart city is quite wide and there is absolutely no public transportation other than private car. Since today is Saturday, we decided to go back to Salamanca Market which was holding a bazaar, very lively atmosphere, funny stuff, Hobart typical food and music are scattered in several street bazaar point made us feel happy to be able to visit Salamanca Market that day. The price offered was appropriate for tourist’s pocket. After that, we were off towards Mount Wellington, about 40 minutes by highway followed by a small 2way street towards Mount Wellington. The scenery along the way are very, very good. Can you imagine a blend of mountains, desert, snow that has hardened and clourful trees standing along the way up there. Then when you get on, you will see the city of Hobart from the top of a mountain covered with a layer of clouds. So breathtaking :) we spent 2.5 hours there to get around and took some pictures, then we went back to town and visited Victoria Dock Hobart to spent our evening while enjoying a local seafood restaurant at Flippers. The restaurant is quite unique, we bought fried calamary and fries with a distinctive flavor, suitable to be enjoyed on the edge of the dock while watching the sunset.
view of Hobart City from Mount Wellington
Live Music in Salamanca Market on Saturday Morning
Day Five, early in the morning around 08.30 we departed from the hotel to Port Arthur which is famously known as a colonial town. It’s about 90 minutes via the A3 highway from Hobart. On the way, we stopped in several tourist attractions such as Richmond bridge, Clifton beach, Dodges Ferry, Dunalley and Eaglehawk Neck. Here is a guide to self drive to Port Arthur http://tasmania.com/maps/drive-map-hobart-to-port-arthur/ . Port Arthur is a very beautiful place, so the four of us went to put on a family ticket. The more late you arrive, the ticket’s price is more expensive.
Port Arthur - City of Colonial
Richmond Bridge
Day Six, at about 10 am we started our trip to Launceston, town in the south Hobart about 202 km from the center of Hobart and could be reached in less than 2.5 hours. Here is some useful guide: http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/travel-information/distance-and-drive-times . On the way, we stopped at some beautiful sights, such as the city of the small town of Ross, Evandale, Oatlands. This small town could be used to take some pictures with the cafes and their unique typical houses . Arrived in Launceston at 2 pm, we went directly to Cataract George, a tourist spot in the form of the most famous parks in Launceston. If there are required to attempt the longest single chairlift to see the view from the top. Once from there, we were looking for a hotel and it was quite time consuming, we stay at leissure Inn Penny Royal Apartment, honestly this is the best accommodation we stayed for a trip to Melbourne and Tasmania, although there is no WIFi and very cold at night, but the facilities are very complete and the room was very spacious for the size of the apartment capacity of 4 people. After checking in, we were looking for tourist attractions to visit, at first we wanted to visit the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, but the clock is at 4 pm and show time is not possible. Unfortunately, we finally decided to go back to the apartment because of a big rain began to fall and strong winds make the cold air becomes very cold. We also spent the evening with a meal, watch TV, and get ready for the next day's trip to the Cradle Mountain.
Small Shop in Evandale
Day Seven, in a morning with unfriendly weather, we went to Cradle Mountain, one of the major tourist attractions of Tasmania. After taking about a 3 hour drive, we finally arrived at our inn, Cradle Mountain Highlanders. Lodging that looks like a wooden cabin arrangement of the ordinary but it is very well thought out for the comfort of visitors. There was heavy rains outside accompanied by strong storms, the weather became very cold like around 4 degrees C and the wind was strong. We can only enjoy the view using a car through the windshield. Until the next morning, the situation was still the same. Quite disappointed, but we still feel happy because we can enjoy a cool atmosphere and the beautiful scenery along the way to get there. During the day, we returned to Hobart to go to Melbourne the next morning.
Some beautiful view along the way to Cradle Mountain
I couldn't get my own photo about Cradle Mountain due to a very bad weather, so here is a pic from Google. Actually, when you get there by yourself, the view is much beautiful than this one.
Day Eight, we were just arrived in Melbourne in a such bad condition because of bad flight. Not because of a long flight but our plane couldn’t land on time due to a strong wind so our plane had to move around in the sky for about 30 minutes through a strong wind and turbulance. You can imagine how terrible that situation was. After had a lunch we decided to go to Melbourne Central Station, trying to visit Brighton Beach, but due to heavy rainand strong wind, again, we couldn’t go there and finally decided to go back to the hotel and took some rest.
Day Nine, we visited Federation Square, containing graffiti alley and Footsray which is a special area of Vietnamese immigrants in Melbourne and we also tried the original Vietnamese cuisine there.
grafitti wall along the way in Melbourne, worth to visit.
Day Ten, we visited Queen Victoria's Market which is crowded on Saturday, then Melbourne's Market which is not so different with Victoria and the last night we spent at our relative's house who settled in Melbourne. About 01.00 AM we headed to the airport to return to Indonesia.
It was nice to have a holiday with beloved family :)
Tips:
1. For those who do not fit with the original food there, I suggest you to bring the spice sachet from your country in order to be able to cook.
2. Try looking for hotels that have cooking facilities.
3. If you travel around Winter season, make sure to always carry an umbrella, a jacket and a scarf despite the sunny weather, because there’s 4 seasons in A DAY .
4. Prepare maps which are easy to read, especially for self drive in Tasmania.
5. If you want to stay in Hobart Hostel, better choose the type of dormitory than a family suite because it is more comfortable and warm, also there’s Wi-Fi in your room.
Hope this post will be useful for you who wants to travel around Melbourne and Tasmania :)
CHEERS!
