Diaries of a Travel Bum

So I met up with Ivan at the local bowls club and it was on! "Hobart, I'm gonna be here awhile!"

I was based in Hobart from the middle of March until the beginning of May. During this time my prime goal was to find consistent work for a month or so. But as I’ve been discovering, that isn’t so easy in the seasonal work business!

I spent some of my time in Huon valley south of Hobart, which is famous for apple farming. I only worked about 2 weeks picking apples in Huon or “Hootersville”. The rest of the time I spent in Hobart, where I lived at both Ivan and Tony’s houses (cousins). This was the morning view from my camping spot in Huon. :D

Picking apples was much easier than pears! The apple trees are shorter. They are less bushy. The apples have a smaller mass/volume ratio (nerd talk… basically they are less back breaking). And to top it off, the apples snap off the tree easier!! I could work 9 to 5 and pick as many bins of apples as I did on my best 11 hour day picking pears! So there you go. The only problem was rain delay. Ripening delay. Delay, delay, delay! I also had one day of grape picking. It wasn’t too hard except for the awkward height of the grape vines (for someone tall). So the following day turned out to be the sorest day of my travels yet!

While I was in Hobart, I discovered new family! There were a lot more relatives of Tony and I than I knew. It seemed every second person I met was a 1st, 2nd or 3rd cousin (zero, once or twice removed. Google it). We went out and hung out a lot, and it was sweet getting to know them all! So what did I/we get upto…

Well I discovered many miscellaneous bars, clubs and restaurants; celebrated a birthday or two; had many a traditional European meal (mostly schnitzel!); enjoyed the local brew (Boags from Lonnie and Cascade from Hobart); and managed in my short time there to drive, walk, run and kayak over and under the.. Big Hobart Bridge. The walking/running was just early morning adventures/photography after a night out. The kayaking was awesome! It’s great to get a perspective of your surroundings you don’t normally get. And paddling in my tiny kayak under the middle of the huge bridge felt a little strange. Kinda like looking over the edge of a high cliff with no rail. You feel a bit helpless!

Well one day I travelled with my cousin Mark to Richmond, which is a lovely old (for Australian standards) town which claims fame to the oldest bridge in Australia! Hard core! I also visited Port Arthur with Cousin Ivan and his 2 kids (Sophie and Justin). I learnt a lot about Tasmania’s convict history, and being there, seeing all the old officer houses, prison cells, defence posts and churches, really helped to paint a mental picture of how life was. We also stopped at a blow hole, “the Devils Kitchen” and drove past a popular Tassie surf beach, which I probably wouldn’t have entered even with a full body wetsuit!

I spent a day helping make wine. Crazy Dida (grapma) Jack had hundreds of kilos of grapes delivered. Our task was to poor the boxes of grapes into the rotating crusher machine and force the grapes down through the crusher and into the fermentation barrels where all the remains would hold for a few weeks. I only tasted the wine after about a week of fermentation. It was very sweet, as you could imagine, and not very alcoholic (duh). But not sweet like cheap cask wine. It was tasty! Except I’d seen what the grapes we used to make it looked like. Let’s just say they weren’t the healthiest batch of grapes I’ve seen (To Jacks great disgust. Fíng this, BS that. Funny old guy!).

While I was in Tassie I saw my first live cricket match. It just so happened to be the final day of the shield cup final. Tassie vs NSW. Tassie was batting for the win. And they dominated! Great day out in the sun with my cuz Robbie (Ivans brother). Although he wasn’t too happy when I mentioned that the game was slowing down and I wouldn’t mind some action, because the next Tassie batter was instantly bowled. Spoke too soon! Besides from the cricket, the Taswegians opened my eyes to the world of AFL. And it helped that we GCers now have a team. GO THE ALMIGHTY SUNS!!! I even captured the SUNS first game lead on my camera and also witnessed their first win in the AFL, which kept me on the edge of my seat for... a bloody long time. Those matches last forever!! Turns out the Taswegians and the second biggest AFL supporter state in the country!

I also visited “The most expensive private museum in Australia”. Mona. It is owned by a man who gained his wealth by gambling using a system which himself and some friends devised which significantly increased their chances of winning overall. And so now he built his own museum into a cliff face, on his vineyard, overlooking the Derwent River and Hobart City! This museum is free entry and contains some very funky artwork. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera that day (disaster, I know, I'm Sorry).

Some of my favourite pieces were the “Fat Ferrari” which I suppose depicts wealthy people who care more about projecting an image of wealth than health. The Ferrari bodywork and leather seats etc. were all remodelled to look like the car had eaten too much maccas. Cool!

There was the “Writing Waterfall”, were a machine would systematically drop water out of holes in a long suspended rod which produced phrases falling through the air as water. Neat!

The most expensive piece was “the Serpent”; A painting which the owner had requested for his museum (like many of the pieces), which cost him 4mil and spanned about 40 meters across and 8 meters high. It consisted of hundreds or small paintings of similar design but altering colour to produce the effect of a larger painting (The serpent). It took the painter 3 years I think to finish his masterpiece. Sweet!

Oh and I almost forgot… The……. Poop machine. You heard me. A machine which mimics a human digestive system and produces doo doo out the other end. It is about 8 meters long. At one end there was a bowl for food; in the middle were various stages of digestion; and at the end… well lest just say a turtle head was popping out the backside. Lovely!

So this owner guy is a bit eccentric and all together strange. There was a lot of controversial art as well. Art relating to death, sex and birth. Not so good if you are easily offended or sickened. But the general consensus is; if you don’t like it, leave! Besides, most of the art is not offensive. Definitely worth checking out next time you are in Hobart!

The Salamanca Markets were a big thing on Saturdays in Hobart so I made sure to pop over a couple of times to check out the live music and large variety of stalls.

And yes of course, somewhere in amongst all this, I flew into the Gold Coast for Uncle Dezzas wedding to my new Aunty Emily! A fabulous few days, getting to catch up with family and friends! I miss you all!

So these cousins I keep mentioning; Here are some picys of them!

And finally on my last Sunday in hobart, Sandra (you guessed it, a cousin) organised a "Sam's Cousin" get together. And here are some photos of the final Hurrah.

So all in all, I saw quite a lot, and I can certainly vouch for Hobart being a lovely little city. Not so good if you have big carreer hopes or a need for large populations, because as I discovered, everyone seems to know everyone. Nevertheless well worth the visit and I give Hobart an 8/10 for it's lovely lifestyle!

These last miscellaneous photos I've decided to throw in at the end, because my narative was long enough already!

Now I've found a Griffiths Street, Griffiths river, Samuel Street and I swear I saw a Jordan River, but I couldn't be stuffed stopping for it!

The was at Hartz National Park. A lake in the mountains which I risked venturing to in the harsh cold rain... It wasn't so bad.

This was cool. The biggest tree in Australia (apparently) and definately the biggest I've ever seen! Photos do not do justice. Too bad no one was there to take a photo of me standing in front of it! This giant stands over 80m high and as wide as the length of a sedan near it's base! And thats after years of shrinking. :S

I just had to try one. They were all around the river where I was camping while in Huon Valley. It was salty. I was later told they were band as food, because back bacteria was found in some. I was lucky!

A nice view over Huon Valley on my way back to Hobart.

A view of Mt Wellington from the local Mariner.

The child of the bus driver who was transporting the Grape harvesters.

This view of Mt Wellington was from cousin Tony's house, where I stayed for most of my time in Hobart. Thanks Tony!

Me getting a little bit arty. And a little bit distracted. =D

Overlooking the Hobart region from the South-West.

Howrah beach. The local beach near Tony's house.

Getting my Artistic on!! Pretty good for using the timer on a cheapo camera!

You know that lovely purple skied morning view I showed you of my camping spot in Huon Valley? Well this is the same spot on another morning. I couldn't see even 20 meters through the fog!

Preparing to set up camp for the night at my spot in Huon. The river is behind me this time.

Ivan and Justin inside the main Port Arthor prison.

Me keeping a lookout for invaders and cuties!

Viewing the outside of the "Devils Kitchen", and the rest of the coastal cliff range.

And me having the time of my life!

This has been a Sam Griffiths Production of "SamInAus - Adventures of an Honorary Hobartian".

Thanks for reading!

Auf wiedersehen!! =D

My last blog entry ended with myself in the Spirit of Tasmania bar on my journey south from Melbourne. Now I’ll pick up where I left off.

I arrived in Devonport at 0700 hours on the 8th of March. There wasn’t much to see except for a Greek sea god sculpture and lighthouse at the north-east end of the port.

I quickly made for Launceston where I was picking up my university friend Meike from the airport. “Lonnie” is the second largest “city” in Tassie with around 200,000 inhabitants I think. It is a pretty little town with many old buildings (for Australian standards), and a wonderful gorge walk only minutes out of the city centre. We stayed in Lonnie for night and day and then made our way to the east coast, stopping off at a couple of waterfall walks and a cheese factory along the way. The chilli herb infused cheese was top notch and lasted the entire Tassie round trip (mmmMMMmmm)!

We began our east coast trek from the Bay of Fire. ooOOOOOOooooo scarey. The bay earned its name from the red stained colour on the rocks (some kind of algae… maybe dead algae?). Needless to say, it was nice and there was clear water, but it wasn’t spectacular (maybe due to the overcast weather). I did however have my first dip in a Tassie beach and it didn’t last long! So we made our way south. Through Saint Helens. Through some other towns that could easily be missed if you blinked.

Along the way to our main stop, we checked out some big ass sand dunes comparable to those at Fraser Island. Sadly I did a kick ass sand dune jump and in my excitement dropped my camera with lens open… Since then I’ve only managed to get 80% of the zoom without a lens error :-( and it makes crunching noises when the lens pops out. And worst of all... I got no good sand dune photos. We were also lucky enough to reach a little, locally proclaimed, “island”. Although… we could walk to it without a worry of getting wet (at low tide)... I saw some cute black and white birds. Meike swears she saw some cute black and white penguins… which could fly…). ;-)

Continuing south: we stopped somewhere nice to eat some cheese; drove south more; saw a blow hole which got a bit too excited and saturated me; drove south; picked up Phil… or Joe… maybe Kev… I can’t remember the hitchhikers name but he was a nice fella; and then dropped him off so we could look at the local beach. Oh and I almost forgot… we stayed at a campervan site with maybe the best facilities I’ll ever experience this year. I hope I took photos. $5 a night and the bathrooms were cleaner and better quality than my parents!

By the way, does that crack in the rock remind anyone of anything? haha

So next was Coles Bay, our last east coast stop before Hobart. We arrived late in the afternoon and considering the small town had no night life on a Friday night and the sunset over the bay with mountains in view, it seemed again braking out the cheese and crackers was definitely necessary! The next day we decided to give walking to the famous Wine Glass Bay a miss and instead splurge. We went on a little bay cruise instead. We learned some local history (the surrounding national park was named after the French explorer Freycinet). We saw: 2 playful schools of dolphins; A couple of sea-side caves; many stunning views; and finished at wine Glass Bay where we enjoyed the final magnificant view while sipping champagne and nibbling on more cheese and crackers (provided)! Oh and oysters! :D

We did a couple of little walks around Freycinet (I learned that the sperm whale is significantly smaller than a blue whale). And decided that, being a Saturday, we should head to Hobart that night for a big one! I contacted one of my many cousins (Ivica) who we met up with that night and showed us around town. We started at the top of the main drag and hit a rock’n’roll bar on the way down to the bay. I don’t like to talk about it, but dare I say, I broke out a couple of dance moves which, in the past, I may have shook my head at, after seeing my mum do them…

From there we reach Salamanca. Ahhh Salamanca… it has the nightlife variety of the Valley in Brisbane, but on a much smaller scale. Here we found a fusbal table. And here Meike and I dominated the locals. It is also here that Ivan said farewell for the night and I said farewell to the “Where’s Wally” impersonator I befriended and we made for someplace fresh. So after giving a couple of places the flick and getting some local opinion, we ended up at bar… xyz. No idea what it was called. But it was fresh. We chatted to locals. I tried to explain to some other locals I was from the Gold Coast. Apparently it sounded like a lie. Maybe it was my three years in Brissy?

Finally the place was dying down. Meike left just as I bought the next round and so I decided to stay with my 2 coronas and see where the night would lead. We’ll this place was seriously dead, so I said goodbye to the coronas (gulp gulp = goodbye x 2 in corona language) and went outside. From there I pretty much befriended a local chap who took me to a club (which was closed), where we shared a beer with the owner and laughed merrily. We proceeded to pile into 2 cabs (apparently the group had grown) and head to their friends house party in some suburb close to the city. From here the night got a bit random… People sitting in the top shelf of a closet, a Barbie doll, and Captain Morgan! After no sleep; some brief enjoyment of the city view from the house; a job offer; and some bewildering comment to me about the “Barbie guy”, I decided it was about time to get the hell back to Central City Backpackers. It was 8am!
Just in time to check out, we left CCB for Mt Wellington.

Mt Wellington is a favourite spot of tourists and locals alike which looks over: Greater Hobart; the bay; and all surrounding rural areas. Very beautiful! We picked up another hitchhiker on the way down the mountain before stopping at half way for more cheese and crackers. Also Ricky boy (a good friend) called from WA! Guess where I am Rickypoo? Where you could have been if you joined me on my adventure? On a big mountain overlooking Hobart! Ha-di-Ha-Ha

Meike didn’t have long in Tassie, so we continued out of Hobart that afternoon heading North West. The Western Tassie is much more rugged than the East coast (and the centre is dry and boring). This made for an stimulating drive with some nice river stop offs. Nothing spectacular until we reached the Cradle Mountain Range (our main goal).

We drove into the national park on Tuesday morning and caught the curtesy bus to the starting point of all the walks. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to attempt the complete Cradle Mountain summit walk. We did although have enough time to explore the lower regions of the range (already hundreds or meters above sea level) and even climb higher to a lookout which had a 360 degree view of 2 mountain lakes (Dove lake and Cradle lake) as well as Cradle Mountain itself. The Mountain was named such due to the 2D outline of a baby in a cradle which you can see along the mountain crest if you use a little imagination.

After the long walk back to my van and finally having learned to whistle loudly with my fingers (which I am quite sad to say I’ve forgotten), it was time to move on. We continued east just north of the national park and headed towards King Solomon Cave and Morokoopna? Cave. It was a bit late by the time we arrived so we stayed at a lake where we had a freezing cold 30 second bath and a bonfire! The caves the following day were fantastic. Let me ask you a question. What do you call the formation of a stalactite and a stalagmite which are fused into one structure… WRONG!!! It’s called a Mightytite! :-p See the picys!

I just did a word count and I’m sorry to drag on for so long! Almost 1400 words… :-D I wish I could have written a lab report as quickly at uni huh!

We’ll the bad news is, I’ve only covered a third of my time in Tassie so far. The good news is, I’ve covered most of what I will in this blog entry, because my following days in Tassie have enjoyed a change of pace staying in Hobart (and venturing home for a wonderful wedding weekend!). But more on that later.

So after the cave tours it was about lunch time and we started heading back to Hobart so I could drop my travel buddy at the airport. As previously mentioned, the centre of Tassie is dry and boring, and because my GPS accidently skipped past the scenic route, it was car games time to keep us occupied. My old housemate Raphi was the answer to one of my riddles. HEY RAPHI!! Hope your good!

We had time to tick one more goal off the list… Buy bakery quality pies. Which we did, and then Meike was off to Brissy! Talk of pie reminds me… when we met met the first nice backpacker… Phil… or whatever, he told us to check out some wood fire pizza joint on the east coast. I can’t remember the names of the restaurant or where on the east coast it was, but I enjoyed the best calzone of my life… mmmmm Chicken Pesto Calzone. How could I forget you for a second!

So back to the story. I saw Meike off at the airport and then it was time to meet Ivan for a second time! Hobart... I'm gonna be here a while!
… … To Be Continued.

Written 2/04/2011.

Period of 7/03 – 16/03

I’m in my second month of travel and so I’ll take some time to recap what I’ve been up to, plus describe how my fruit picking days unfolded!
So on day one and two, me and my friend Lindsay drove to Melbourne. For the next week we went to watch some of the Tennis quarterfinal matches at the Aus Open in Rod Laver Arena as well as a lot of the other matches on outdoor courts. The venue is very well set up and well worth checking out even if you are not the biggest tennis fan. Great atmosphere!! Although we had to make our own atmosphere at times, by making up chants on the spot, usually supporting the player who was losing at the time. Our favourite player to chant for was definitely Dolgopolov (some long haired Greek or Argentine fella). There are many ways his name can be moulded into a rushed chant. And we saw Roger Federer in all his glory kicking ass 3 sets to 0. We only saw 2 quarterfinals which weren’t straight sets victories, but we had loads of fun anyway!

One thing you should know about Lindsay, is that he likes to have a couple of drinks. In this instance, a couple means many. So we had a few big nights out. My waking hours were generally between about 11am and 2pm. I met a lot of people and got to experience the difference in night culture to the Gold Coast. There are a lot more interesting pubs and a lot less scummy night clubs (at least that was my experience).

We ventured up Eureka Tower (the tallest tower in Melbourne). We had a great night time 360deg view of the city and were even able to see the score on the score board at Rod Laver Arena through some binoculars!

We also went to Brighton beach at the Eastern suburbs to check out some of the funky beach huts.. on the beach... duh. Apparently the small personalised huts with no tangible amenities besides the roof, walls, door and floor, cost about $100,000 to buy! Still, I guess it saves on the cost of a beach umbrella.

After a couple of weeks I was getting low on cash so it was time to find work. So Lindsay and I went for a trip in my van to Shepparton (3 hours north of Melbourne) to find fruit picking work. Our persistent nagging at the local harvest job finder centre proved successful as we found work as pear pickers after our first night is Sheppsville. Unfortunately the rain cut our work short on our second day, so we decided to drive to nearby Echuca. We left for Echuca at 7am. We didn’t make it to Echuca that day.

My GPS showed us a “short cut” through some off road tracks. Eventually we hit some flood water and had to turn around. On our way back to the road Lindsay forgot we weren’t in a Hilux and got us bogged….. But this was no ordinary bog. After almost 10 hours of trying to escape the bog, the distant sky turned electric blue… and then it started pissing down.

So we were muddy; it was raining; there were flies and mosquitos everywhere; the car wasn’t going anywhere; and it was almost dark. We slept in the muddy mosquito infested van that night and the heavy rain caused the flood water to build up on either side of the road (which was slightly raised). Oh and we were within about 100m or 200m from the Murray River! Luckily in the morning the car hadn’t been flooded and we were able to walk to the road and hitch a ride to Echuca. We got it towed out that day! Turned out we had gone off the marked dirt road and had been bogged in an extra off road dirt road. Otherwise we would have made it to the main road in 2kms! Bugger!

When we arrived back near Shepps, we went to dry some of our gear in a park and a friendly man offered us accommodation until we were able to clean everything up. John was an artist of sorts. He painted Australian bird life inspired paintings; created his own clay sculptures; played 5 string guitar; and like most country artists, he liked puffing on his magic dragon! So we stayed at John’s house for a few nights in which time we mowed his acre of metre high lawn over 2 days with a half broken push mower and cleaned the hundreds or spiders out of his backyard granny flat. Staying in a small granny flat shack with 2 beds, a bathroom and a basic kitchen set up was actually a real treat after living in the van with 2 people for a few days. Also he had the cutest puppies!

But eventually we moved on after being stuffed around on our first farm. And after a week of living on home brand 2 minute noodles, we found a top job with onsite accommodation where we worked for a few weeks picking more pears. We worked most days, waking up at 6am and finishing work at 6pm. But as we always said… If you’re not picking, you’re not getting paid! I learnt to drive a tractor, reverse up to 2 trailers and balance on a ladder like a Olympic gymnast. Of course the work wasn’t always fruitful... Well at least not when it rained! It wasn’t all work and no play though. Each weekend we hit the town without fail. Unfortunately, Lindsay’s alternative character often got him booted from the clubs early, but we always had a good night with or without our fruit picking possie! On our last evening at Shepparton there happened to be the one annual AFL match played at Shepps. So we got to see Hawthorn play Richmond with a crowd of 6000. 10 bucks, Bargain! But it was bloody chilly and Richmond got flogged.

First pay cheque!

Finished an entire row!

Where I lived for a few weeks on a pear farm.

Got bored with my clean shaven look.

We left Shepparton on the 5th of March and I spent that afternoon and night with the Melbourne relos for Lizzie’s 30th! We were at a little horse ranch in a place called Daylesford close to Ballarat. After the long working hours and cheap quick meals which come hand in hand with a fruit picking expedition, the relaxing ranch and unlimited supply of good food, sweets and drinks was just what I needed!
The next night I visited Alice and Adrian’s house. Finally! It was a lovely night filled with great food and metal music! And that night, for the first time in weeks, I had a long night sleep!

And since that was yesterday night (as I write), I feel very awake and excited for my next adventures. Although that could also be because I am in the bar on the Spirit of Tasmania cruise ship listening to live music!
And so that brings you up to date on the best part of my Adventures so far.
Tassie…. Here I come.

wrote -7/03/2011-

Well Lindsay and I arrived in Melbourne in very good time.

A quick description of our road trip would be:
We left the GC at 7am sat morning; had crocodile pies at Frederickton (and yes dad, there was a Marilyn Monroe statue! see proof below); had a swim in NC; ran out of petrol; had nap; woke up with a flat tire; had a coffee; got to Melbourne at 11am Sunday!

Sunrise on our way from Canberra to Melbourne.

The angry monkey was first to solve the cube.... Stupid Monkey.

New Camera and Road Trip day 1-2 086

I told you so dad.

Frederickton Pies

Saw the Fed Express in all his glory.

Went to the Bottle-o.

Great view of the tennis center and the rest of the city from Eureka Towers.

The weather has been great for me. I'm quickly getting browner. Regularly heading out and sleeping in.
Oh yeh and I'm based in St Kilda. Which reminds me that I have to go move my car before I get a ticket! :S

Ciao for now.

Sam

Hello everybody!

Sam here!

This is the first of many more entries to come, explaining the up's down's and oddities of my adventures!

Today is the day before I head to Melbourne with my mate Lindsay and I still have a fair bit to organise!

Thank god the sun has come out to dry my clothes! Now I better hop to it

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL...