Tasmania

Last Friday, after driving back from Camp Gelantipy, I was able to stop by my host parents home for about thirty minutes before taking off to the next weekend trip. I hopped in the shower, unpacked my book bag from camp, repacked my bag for the weekend, and took off. James, my host parents son, drove me into Melbourne. I meet Katie, the girl from IU, and we ended up going to see the new Hunger Games movie downtown in Melbourne. It was really excellent! Then, we caught a train back to James's flat, arriving around 1am. The reason we stayed in their flat was because we had an early flight on Saturday that we wouldn't have been able to catch if taking the train from our host families. So we got up at 4:45am, took a train into the center of the city, then a bus to the airport, and hopped on a plane to Tasmania. Tasmania is an island south of the mainland of Australia. It is one of the six states in Aussie and the closest to Antarctica, so it is very cold most of the time.

Gorge Walk 

      After a rough plan ride (please refer to my previous post about a screaming child) we caught a taxi to our hostel. The hostel we stayed in was the most excellent and well organized I've ever seen. The man at the desk helped us plan our stay and made reservations for us at different places. Tasi is known for its great scenery. We went on a gorge walk by this river and saw a great waterfall. There was also a suspension bridge that went over the river. Halfway across, it started swaying (as I'm sure it is very normal) but it was still a little scary. We hiked around (my friend Elizabeth would be very proud) and visited an art gallery and museum. We went out for dinner and looked around some shops.

Flying across the sky! 

     Sunday was the best day. In the morning we did something called a treetop tour. It is a 3 hour guided zip lining adventure throughout this national park. Unlike other zip lining places I have been at, you are at the top of the trees the whole time. They attach you to the wire and you stay attached flying from tree to tree above the forrest the whole time. The weather wasn't very great. I guess they have a cut off of 50 km/hr wind (which is a little over 30 miles/hr) and if the wind is more than that, they cancel the tour. While we were in the middle of our tour the winds started getting crazy. They actually got up to 50 km and we almost had to evacuate from the tree. We ended up staying, but we were told if it gets worse, we would have to get down. So up at the top of these tree's we were all strapped in and the trees were just rocking from side to side in the wind. It was very adrenaline pumping, I loved it! The tree top tour was the coolest thing I did in Tasmania. After that, we went to the city park and saw the monkeys that were kept there. We went out for lunch, then took an evening flight back to Melbourne. One quick (100 minute) train ride, I was back at my host mom's house and ready to collapse.
     

My group on one of the platforms 

    Sunday night after I got home, I packed up everything because I switched houses. Raelee and Vic are getting their kitchen remodeled and they are getting their kitchen wall taken out and moved. The kitchen wall just so happens to be one of the walls to my bedroom as well, so we arranged for me to stay at the Farr residence. Joanne Farr is a teacher at my school. I was in her class on the second week of school. We have become good friends. She has a ten year old daughter and a fourteen year old son. She lives in the country and owns horses. I have only been here a few days, but it is a very lovely home and I think I am going to enjoy the rest of my stay here. I hope you all are having a good Thanksgiving weekend! I'm sad I will be missing it this year. Enjoy the turkey and I look forward to seeing everyone at Christmas.