Hey, everyone! This whole week has been about my transition from Western Australia to Tasmania. Back in Perth for a few days after Coral Bay, I didn’t have much time left in Perth. It was a weird feeling – I’ve only been in one Australian state since arriving here back in September.
Last Days in Perth
This has certainly been a “long goodbye” for me. Starting with the Björk concert, it has still taken me about a month to fully transition out of Perth. There was the Albany trip, the time in Coral Bay, and then finally the actual goodbye.
Kory met me at the bus stop after another long 16 hour bus ride. We stopped home, caught up, and then I took a quick nap. I spent the day doing laundry and hanging out with Kory.
The following day, I got together with Liam for dinner – we had Indian (which we both LOVE) and then went for ice cream afterwards. It started raining, which was such a joy. I had my arms outstretched to the sky, celebrating. After dinner, I went with Kory to Connections Nightclub for a dance session one last time. It was a good night and they played some great music, including Absolutely, Everybody by Vanessa Amorosi and Together Again by Janet Jackson. Absolutely, Everybody is a song I will probably always associate with my time in Perth. Kory showed me the song and it is so happy – such a strong, positive message. Together Again always makes me think of the partner back in Chicago whom I had to part ways with when heading to Australia. He played it for me shortly before I left the states and whenever I hear it, I think of him. It’s not a super popular song to my knowledge, so hearing it was surprising. After dancing, I walked home in the rain and went to bed.
On my last full day in Perth, I went to get lunch with Jamie, one of my favorite buddies from my deckhand job. We had a nice chat and since she had work shortly afterwards, she suggested we stop in the office so I could say hi to some peeps. It was really, really nice to see people again (albeit briefly). I also went on one of the boats for a second and it was instant déjà vu. I was like – wait, am I late for my shift? Haha.
In the evening, Kory and I went for dinner at this really cool Asian restaurant where the front of the store looks like a laundromat – a secret door opens and leads to the restaurant itself. We got an awesome meal and then went back to our apartment to hang out before he had to go to work. I also was able to see Yen and Candice once more before the night was over.
The next morning, I woke up at 530am and had to get ready to head to the airport. It was so weird to say goodbye to Kory. He really helped provide so much comfort and fun during my time in Perth. To be able to rent a room, stock the fridge, have my own shower and bed… these are things we take for granted at times. So in the end, there weren’t really words that could fully encapsulate a proper “thank you” to him, or a proper “farewell” either. I’m sure we will see one another again one day – hopefully in Southeast Asia next year. One of Kory’s last words to me was “thank you for treating my home with respect” – which was cute. He is very prideful of his home and takes excellent care of it. I only broke one dish while living there hahaha.
Along the walk to the bus station heading to the airport, the birds seemed to be saying farewell to me as I heard the crows cawing, the kookaburras cackling, and the lorikeets screeching.
Hobart, Tasmania
I had no idea what awaited me in Tasmania. I knew the temperature was going to be much colder than in Western Australia. I knew that there were plenty of mountains and hopefully some good wildlife. In some ways, I was feeling unsettled. I had a support network in Perth, and I knew I loved it there. I didn’t know how I would feel about Tasmania, but I was trying to just go with it.
Getting my first glimpse of Hobart from the plane had me in awe. I so love mountains and the ocean as well, and Hobart is a place where they merge.
Upon landing, I bought a SkyBus ticket and took the bus into the city. The city itself felt somehow much larger than Perth, even though Hobart is a city of around 200,000 and Perth is nearly two million. A towering mountain, Kunanyi, looms over the city.
I checked into my hostel and then decided to explore before the sun went down. I had heard of these “rivulets” that ran through the city, and decided to walk along one of those. I’m glad I did, because it was a very pretty area and I saw WALLABIES for the first time! Wallabies, like kangaroos and quokkas, are marsupials. It was such a nice welcome.
The terrain in Tasmania seems to be vastly different from that in Western Australia. It’s much colder, greener, and there are actual mountains.
As it got dark, I decided to head back to the hostel for the evening. Lots of people were there and it felt kind of cliquey. I was asking myself, “how am I going to make friends?” I’m not the most extroverted person.
South Arm
In the morning, I got some groceries and once I returned to the hostel to have breakfast, I heard some people talking about going hiking. I walked over and said something like “I don’t mean to inject myself into your plans, but I love hiking so if you’d ever want to go together, I’m down.” I then was offered an invite, which I took – not having any idea where they were going.
We had Ryan from Canada, Tomas from Belgium, Chong from South Korea, and Raphael from France. Quite the international group. Somehow I grooved in with them easily – I think explorers are often able to bond quickly together, sharing a love of nature, wildlife, and new places.
We drove down to South Arm – Opossum Bay in particular for starters. We walked along the beach and then headed up to a trail with really wonderful views of Hobart and Kunanyi.
We saw a dead penguin along the way which was morbid but also quite interesting.
I also saw an echidna near the side of the road as we were driving through South Arm! Hopefully I’ll get to see one up close again sooner than later. If you all remember from my trip to Kalbarri, I was very excited the first time I saw one.
Today sealed the deal – I really like Hobart and am excited to see what else Tasmania has to show me!
Art of the Week
I drew this one for Reid (friend from Coral Bay) as spotted eagle rays are his favorite!
Reflections
One thing I learned from one of my close friends and fellow travel buddy Michael (who paved the way for me, traveling to Australia himself on a work holiday visa back when we were 23) is this thing called “rose, thorn, and bouquet.” I’ve gotten in the habit of asking people what their “rose, thorn, and bouquet” of a travel journey was. Rose is favorite moment or thing, thorn is least favorite thing, and bouquet is something that was unexpected that you ended up loving.
Regarding Perth, I wanted to share my rose, thorn, and bouquet with you all.
Rose: One hundred percent the wildlife. I was lucky enough to see so much incredible wildlife while in Western Australia. From venomous snakes to octopi lovers to stingrays, kangaroos, skinks, bobtail lizards, weird birds, and more, and more, and more. As a wildlife lover and photographer, it was a dream come true for me. Seeing the venomous dugite snakes and the octopus experience in Coral Bay were probably my favorite wildlife encounters.
Thorn: Not having a car. I didn’t want to shell out for that expense since cars are ridiculously expensive, but if I had, I would have had the freedom to go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. An additional thorn would have been when I temporarily lost hearing in one of my ears around Christmas time. That was frustrating and lasted for nearly two weeks.
Bouquet: The people. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but in the past when I’ve travelled, I didn’t ever really care to meet the people. I wanted to be away from them, exploring nature and wildlife, but the culture and community, I didn’t really care about so much. It was quite a surprise to me when I ended up learning so much about Australian culture and meeting so many locals who had significantly impacted my life. I will certainly miss them, but I am really grateful for the memories we shared. The world can be small, so who knows when we may meet again?
What’s next? Who the hell knows. I’m not planning too much. Tomorrow, I’ll probably get a bus pass figured out and then go walk along one of the other rivulets. Apparently platypus can occasionally be found along the rivulets, so… I will definitely be hunting for them! And echidnas.
There is also supposed to be a really excellent spot for bioluminescent plankton over here. I was going to go tonight, but I’m so tired from hiking around today. There is also a spot where there are glow worms, but it kind of requires a car. So… we’ll see what the next week brings! I’m looking forward to checking out more of Tasmania.
Sending all my love!