Day 2. Richmond, Port Arthur, Tasman Penisular - Tasmania, AU.

8th March 2012, Thursday

Ahahaha, so this is the part that was the most difficult problem for me. To wake up in the morning!! I seriously have a lot of difficulty waking up in the morning, to be honest I relied on human morning call every morning for work, ahem if you know what I am talking about. Thus I became very self conscious, telling myself I die hard have to wake up by myself when I'm in Australia, because no one is going to wake me up! I'm afraid because subconsciously I will snooze off the alarm and return back to sleep.

My dad was so sceptical, and laughing sarcastically, "See how are you going to wake up" attitude. Indeed, I tried to put up a brave front, but deep inside I was so scared. What if I woke up late, and missed my trip? I was constantly worried. I have a problem, and that is waking up and fulfilling the first appointment of the day. For instance, I can have an appointment at 1pm, but I could still be late because its the first appointment of the day. But for the next few appointments I am alright and able to arrive on time normally, unless in some dire circumstances. Somehow, I just have this lazy habit of delaying my movement out of the house.

Luckily, I was able to wake up at the first hearing of my alarm. My phone was just beside my ear. How blasting it was. Plus the hostel mates were already up before me, luckily. My trip meeting time was 7.25am, my breakky was just the bread I bought from Jackman & Ross and they were so hard. Challenged my teeth to the max. But because of the hostel mates, I still had some time to make some hot milo for myself to drink. And packed a cereal drink into my thermal flask. And the tour bus arrived! I was already told beforehand by my colleagues that the local tour buses are pretty much punctual, so I was careful to wait around.

Apparently my hostel was the first stop, and I took the chance to sit in the rear of the tour van. Good for me I guess, muahaha since I can get to take pictures on the go. Then they go around picking the rest of the tour mates. First stop was Richmond. Hmmmmm. So early in the morning, and the shops weren't opened at all. There weren't anything much to see; the houses were those similar to those I had saw at Battery Point. Residential houses I would think. Then I reached the Richmond Bridge. Also. Hmmmm. I don't know why, but it just doesn't feel that fantastic to me. Run down, and not much maintenance done. But the calm atmosphere was what attracted me. Its quiet, and relaxing to walk. Not much people in sight, not the bustling city noises we hear, only a sight of a lorry trugging its way once in a while. Just peaceful. The church was rather pretty though, situated on a small hill. 1 hour given. Quite sufficient.

The history of Port Arthur was interesting, if not fascinating. Tasmania used to be called Van Diemen, and actually a lot of people residing in Tasmania were in fact from UK. People who commit crimes in UK were sent to Tasmania to serve as prisoners and most of them were not able to go back once they landed in Port Arthur. The crimes they commit were not as harsh as those history we hear from China, but their punishment were quite severe. Port Arthur was quite pretty, I liked their green pastures. The other tour members and I were thinking, actually they get to enjoy such green pastures it must be good! Hahahahaha.

We had our lunch there as well, and I brought an apple to eat. Oh gosh, the water was so expensive, since its a tourist attraction.

Next we moved on to Tasman Penisular. Wow. This was magnificent. The scenery was fantastic. I just couldn't explain it, the extremely deep blue waters, the strong currents of the sea making its waves known against the rocks, just sounded so raw and unpolished to my ears. And that felt good. I stood there for a while, immersing myself in the beauty of the view.

And then its the long drive back to the city. Had a fish and chips dinner with the 2 korean girls. Not again, since I had it yesterday too. But since they hadn't tried, we tried it at the Fish Frenzy. I deeply regretted not trying the oysters, because I saw so many diners having it at Salamanca centre. I was only thinking, a dozen of them!? How am I going to finish it? Even half a dozen was too much for me. At international buffets, I only eat 1 oysters as they were huge, and the raw taste still didn't quite get to me.

We chatted a lot; they were so chatty girls. I heard about their working holiday experience; it sounded so exciting and made me think if I should consider gaining such experience too. But then, afterall the realistic me had a long thought, hmmm maybe not so, huh. It sounds great, who knows in future I may jump up at the opportunity if it came.

Back at the hostel, the 2 taiwanese girls vacanted the room, and in came a hong kong girl, Sam. Ahahaha she was also another sporty girl. We clicked immediately. Perhaps us, in a foreign country made us even more closer and there were just so many things to talk about and we just chatted non stop for nearly 1 hour straight. Like how were our trips so far, and what they had done and what they were going to do tomorrow, how long they were going to stay, etc... Its just non stop. Her trip was fantastic. They self drove, all the way starting from Launceston, and downwards to Hobart now. They covered the Cataract Gorge, on the way, Ross, and some other places which I could not remember since I didn't really go and research Launceston as much as Hobart. I only know they were planning to go Port Arthur, Cadbury and a strawberry farm for tomorrow whereas for me, Wineglass bay. I also only remembered they were going to take the Tahun Airwalk on saturday, which already send my eye sparkling upon hearing it. Her 2 other group mates (oh dear, I cannot remember their names... was it.. Li mei?) were sleeping in the other room. And she invited me for dinner tomorrow! Girls, we sure are just chatty. Its in our nature. Heh.