tasmania (part 2)

Tuesday evening ended with too much wine (very yummy tassie wine) and me crashing at 8.30 pm. Luckily I ended up sleeping well and I woke up with more energy than I could have imagined. We took another long walk on the beach. This time I was wearing my normal shoes rather than Tul’s Uggs so it was a bit easier. It was still very cold and windy but I managed to do this outdoorsy stuff for over a whole hour. Tul laughs at me, cause she’s one of those very active and energetic people (skinny, too. Ugh) and I am totally not. Exercise for me involves a stroll on the beach in warm weather or walking to the bar for a Bintang.

Betul’s dog Reef on the Nine Mile Beach in front of her house in Dolphin Sands.

Anyways, after our walk we got our painting stuff out and we started painting like mad for a few hours. It was a lot of fun and we worked on 6 paintings. They turned out great. We’re going to try to set up an exhibition and sell some of the stuff.

After we were done painting, we headed over to Rick and John, friends of Betul, who live in Swansea. It was a lot of fun. Much wine and food was consumed and we had a blast. Rick is a hyper architect who loves to cook up both dinner and techno tunes. John is a builder who loves to smoke weed and is really chilled out. They are both very smart and very funny. Good times. On a side note, now I’ve finally seen kangaroos. They’re mostly active at dusk and dawn. Forget about dawn, but seeing them hopping away just when the sun was going down was lovely.

Thursday morning we went back to Swansea to catch up on the interwebs and do some grocery shopping. We also stopped in at a little restaurant Betul has done design work for and we got a free lunch. Not just a free lunch. A fantastic lunch. The fries I had there were one of the best I’d ever had. They were fried in some special sort of oil and they tasted really fresh and crispy.

Don’t remember what we did in the afternoon. Betul probably took me out for yet another Nazi walk and we probably painted some more. And painted some more on Friday.

On Friday evening we went back to Rick and John’s for drinks (and paracetamol). They are both so funny and so different. Another great evening. We saw them again on Saturday morning when we went to their building site. Rick designed a fantastic guest house just south of Swansea, called ‘The Lair’. Everything is super modern and super chic and classy  (and super expensive, too). They have been working on it for the last two years and it should be done in a few months. Truly stunning.

Betul and Rick at Trelli’s in Swansea.

After that, we had to pack up and head back to Devonport to catch the overnight boat back to Melbourne.

Tassie was so cool.  Hanging out with Betul after not having seen her for 12 years was even cooler. I’m happy to say nothing has changed.

(Tasmania: June 8 – June 14)

tasmania (part 1)

Betul and I took the ferry to Tasmania on Monday night.  Pretty much as soon as we got onto the boat, we had some dinner at the buffet. Of course, Tul filled her plate with healthy shit and I piled on lasagna, curry and all kinds of crap. It was all yummy (except for the curry).

After dinner we had a glass of wine and chilled out a bit, then we went to our little room. Very cute. Two single beds, a little table, bathroom and a window in the room. We chatted a bit more, then went to sleep. Luckily, we had a smooth ride. I slept very well. Though the wake up call was early. Very early.

Anyways, as we had gotten onto the boat as one of the last ones, we got off first. We drove to a little town to get some coffee. Then in the next town, we did some shopping and continued onwards to Betul’s house in Dolphin Sands, on the East coast of Tasmania, in a little bay with a beach called ‘Nine Mile Beach’. It’s pretty much right in between Devonport, where we docked and Hobart, which is on the South side of the island.

The drive was great. The nature here is absolutely stunning. When we got to the house, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had expected it to be great, but this is something else. The house is pretty much a hexagon and the front and sides is all window from floor to ceiling, looking out on the ocean. Downstairs there’s a huge kitchen island/table, a fire place, 2 seating areas, a big table with benches, a bathroom with a huge tub and 2 bedrooms. And a huge deck almost all around it.

I am sleeping upstairs in the loft room (with ensuite bathroom). I am also facing the ocean and there’s a big balcony. Really fantastic.

After lunch, we went for a long walk on the beach (according to Tul, we took a stroll, but for me this was a pretty brisk walk). I came back totally exhausted. We chilled out for a bit, had some food then fired up the fire place and drank wine while the fire kept us warm. A storm came over as well. Lots of rain and wind.
However, it wasn’t a night full of partying. Too much wine and too little sleep the night before made me actually crash at 8.30 pm and I slept like a baby. I only woke up a few times because the house was shaking a bit because of the wind. Luckily the roof stayed on 🙂

melbourne

It was so cool to see Betul again. Hadn’t seen her in 12 years and she still looks the same. We went to her place (gorgeous) in Port Melbourne, then went out for food and drinks. It was still sunny then (but cold; around 15C)  so we sat outside on a patio and had a great time catching up.

The next 3 days we spent in Melbourne, but didn’t do all that much. On Saturday morning we went to the South Melbourne market and bought lots of really yummy food and wine.

In the afternoon we went for a long walk on the beach all the way to St. Kilda and Betul made dinner that night. Yes! I had kangaroo meat. It was delicious. Can’t compare the taste to anything else but it was yummy.

On Sunday we just chilled out for a bit. In the afternoon we went to Betul’s parents, who also live in Melbourne. Great seeing them again. We had a really nice time playing music with her dad, who builds xylophones, playing billiards, eating her mom’s food and just chilling out.

On Monday we went for another beach walk to St. Kilda but it was cold and rainy. To me this was great exercise though so I didn’t feel all too guilty about pigging out at her parents’ place the night before.

Then we loaded up the van with surfboards, painting supplies and all the rest of the stuff in preparation for our stay in Tasmania.

Sorry about the lack of photographs. Just haven’t taken all that many.