liveˈliv:v; to have a life rich in experience

a life abroad in australia & adventures along the way

12 Days in Tasmania, Part 1



Tasmania was a wonderful family trip with the Bell crew! Special thank you to Jenny for organising an adventurous and memorable time. I wanted to write about it to relive and savour these memories we got to share together.

We started off in Launceston, stayed at Air Bnb for two nights (The Penfold House)

– relaxed for the evening after our arrival and had a casual dinner at Plough Inn. I really enjoyed the Thai beef salad.

-roamed around and played at the local playground which was on the way walking back to our accommodation

-the family checked out the nearby car museum the next morning before wine tasting

-Tamar Valley Wine Day Tour- Iain was our guide, and drove us to Apogee Winery, where we were warmly greeted by their resident golden Labrador named Ollie. We had lunch at Nadine’s at Piper Brook, and continuing on to try sparking wine at Janz. We finished the day with a nice hearty meal at Burger Junkie.

The next three days and two nights were spent in Cradle Mountain.

On the way to Cradle Mountain, we stopped by Sheffield and met the alpaca Man, Ludo and his alpaca Pedro. They were sitting outside Bossimi’s where we had really tasty meat pies.

Sheffield is a town known for their murals, and Ludo and Pedro had their own

We saw many road kill, sadly. Tasmanian apparently has the world’s highest road kill rate.

We stayed at the Cradle Mountain Wilderness Village.

We encountered the elusive wombats during our time here- Jenny also saw pademelon.

Why did the wombat cross the road?

We had a full day before settling in at our chalets.

We completed a trek through the Overland track to Crater Lake; Crater Lake to Dove Lake via the Wombat Pool. That took a couple of hours or so. By the time we got to Dove Lake we opted to finish there and make our way to see some furry friends at Devils@Cradle which was KB’s clever suggestion! We got to pet a baby Tasmanian devil, a Quoll and a wombat!

Wombat in the distance along the Overland Track
Echidna along our walk toward Dove Lake

Our first night, we had dinner from “Van Tasty-C” a food truck located on site. Their kitchen was burnt down just after we booked it. We were disappointed because their restaurant was highly rated and had been looking forward to eating there. However their food truck was delicious!

The next day, five out of seven of us went to do canyoning at Dove Canyon. I will be honest, I was very scared to do it. It was exhilarating and strenuous. It was great to see the canyons from in between and below while we jump into pools of freezing water and swim and walk through it. By the end of it, it was a big physical task to make our way back up the steep trail atop from below…in all of our gear.

Jesus walks (such a great photo)!
Me Petrified!

Towards the end, everyone was doing flips into the water (except for me) so impressive!

We finished our day with a wonderful hearty meal at Peppers and a short leisurely stroll on the Enchanted walk.

This concludes Part 1.

Stay tuned for part 2.

2022 recap

Conan Gray at Fortitude Music Hall

15/11/2022

Set List

  1. Disaster
  2. Telepath
  3. Fight or Flight
  4. The Exit
  5. Wish You Were Sober
  6. Astronomy
  7. Best Friend
  8. People Watching
  9. The Story
  10. Footnote
  11. Movies
  12. Overdrive
  13. Checkmate
  14. Jigsaw
  15. Family Line
  16. Heather
  17. Maniac
  18. Memories

Whitsundays

September 2021

Honeymoon 2018 – a brief overview

Where to begin?

We left Brisbane, on 2 September, and flew to Perth, and had 12 hours before our flight from Perth to Johannesburg. We spent a few more hours at a care waiting for the check in counter to open at 9am, before flying to Nairobi, Kenya. Once at Kenya, we were welcomed at Boma Hotel. They covered our room with beautiful roses and rose petals, and wished us a lovely honeymoon.  After all of our travels, we crashed. The next day was spent in the city visiting the Giraffe Centre (next to Giraffe Manor), an elephant orphanage, Karen Blixen coffee plantation, Kabuzi Bead Factory, and Karen Blixen Hotel for lunch.

Initially we had a 6:30pm flight to Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania  -a direct one hour flight. We arrived to Nairobi airport around 4pm, and we told at the check in that our flight was cancelled. We would not fly out until 12:50am. It would not be a direct flight. It will stop over in Zanzibar first. We would wait another 8 or so hours until we board our flight. This was the worst part of the whole trip. Everything that happened onwards, was just a little bumpy, but not the worst, because, this. was. the. worst. part. So overall, everything else would be just another part of the African experience. As they say, TIA (this is Africa).

Over the next 27 days, we had very little internet access during our travels across East Africa and Madagascar. It was a fun filled, full-on adventure! Very dusty, bumpy, and at the same time, serene. Every day I returned to the room, feeling pretty wrecked. It was the best trip. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience this kind of adventure early on in life, with the person I love most.

Favourite moments:

  • elephants in the forrest @ Ngorongoro Crater
  • elephants in Amboseli
  • trekking with the gorillas in Rwanda
  • walking through the spiny forrest to see the lemurs in Madagascar
  • resting oceanside in Manafiafy

Pictures to follow.

L + R | 2017

Halloween 2015

https://youtu.be/MZLot0w8jE0

Thanks 2014

https://flipagram.com/f/OUwIgUuXv7/embed

Camping @ Mt Mee with DB Team

 

9 August -10 August 2014

Saturday morning, we went grocery shopping then stopped by Ry’s sister’s place to borrow folding chairs before meeting at CDMC’s place at 10:30am, and LBell and Shep arrived soon after.  We loaded the two cars, and headed north to Mt Mee.

The drive was quite scenic, however we were held up where there was a motor bike and truck accident that occurred.  Once we arrived, it did not take long for us to set up.

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Shep and LBell setting up their tent.

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DMC & Ry setting up the Taj TentDSC_1035

Girl Guide’s CMC starting a bonfireDSC_1036

Quick progressDSC_1037

Almost ready!
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Now the fun begins!DSC_1065 DSC_1067 DSC_1070

Playing a couple of rounds of Box Head; Box head DMC and Rule MasterDSC_1080

Master chefs preparing brekky to drool for!DSC_1082 DSC_1085

A short walk to see the waterhole -planning our next camping tripDSC_1087 DSC_1090 DSC_1092 DSC_1102 DSC_1107 DSC_1113 DSC_1117

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These are a group of wonderful ladies I had the pleasure of meeting and knowing during my time at UQ.  Kate, who has since relocated to South Africa was in town for one night, and here is us getting together and catching up at The Burrow in West End.