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Well that was a nice weekend away.

A while back, Tiger airlines was offering a discount on their normal (already cheap) flights around Australia, and Rachel and I decided to do a weekend away in Tasmania as neither of us had been there before. So, flights were booked. Total price for the flights between the two of us, return, was $91. So a lot closer to the trip, a random motel was chosen, near Port Arthur, which we wanted to see, for a single night, car rental booked. (ok so when you factor in motel and car rental, a cheap trip is not so cheap anymore, but hey who thinks these things through properly?) and off we went.

I must start at the outset and say Tasmania is breathtakingly beautiful. We drove the 80km from the airport to Port Arthur and were stunned at the landscape. Also, we drove from the airport to Port Arthur and did not see anything that remotely resembled city or even suburban life as we are used to.

We got to Port Arthur with no problems, checked into our motel in Nubeena (10k out of Port Arthur), drove towards the historic site there, stopping at the Eucalypt Cafe for a meal and coffee.

An interlude here dear reader, as you may know, I am a little bit of a coffee snob and am not big on drinking coffee outside of my home, but this little cafe, in the middle of nowhere, had a menu that told me they certainly know their coffee. In fact I am not sure if I have ever seen a cafe with ristrettos and dopios on their menu ever before. So, if you are a coffee snob, and want a decent coffee in tassie, try the Eucalypt cafe in Port Arthur

Back to our main tale, we got to the Port Arthur historic site, and it started to heavily rain. We wandered into the information center, only to see that the pricing was a little steep to be wandering around a few ruins, especially in the rain. I mean yes, we could see it from the lookout and it did look pretty, but $28 each, to wander around some ruined houses, not an overly great proposition to us, especially in the rain.

Rachel particularly wanted to see the memorial site from when Martin Bryant shot a large number of people, becoming Australias biggest ever murderer. (some people refer to him as our biggest serial killer, but serial killers kill over multiple time periods, he just went on one big rampage. Does that make him a parallel killer?). So she asked at the information booth there, only to be told in hushed tones that they dont really talk about it, and handed a pamphlet with less info than might be garnered on the back of a cereal box. She also received unclear directions to the memorial, which we were then unable to find.

So in the rain, we drove to a lookout point not far from the historic site, where we once again took in the magnificent view, and then back to the motel for a quick nap.

It was still raining when we finished napping, so the decision was made to head into Hobart to check out the restaurants. 90Km later after a drive through rain soaked beautiful countryside, we made it to the CBD. It really had that country feel to it, and at 6.45pm on a saturday, was deader than a doornail that had twice been shot dead. We could not even find a place for a decent meal. So, several phonecalls later, to friends and family, we established that North Hobart may be better, and managed to find our way there.

Elizabeth St, in North Hobart seemed a little like a toned down version of Fitzroys Brunswick st. A massive variety of restaurants, lots of people walking up and down. We chose a lovely indian place whose name currently escapes me and had a very nice meal. In fact, I would rank their naan breads up there with the best i have ever had.

After dinner, we had the lovely drive back to our motel, 90kms away. In the dark, with no street lighting to speak of, along windy country roads, some unsealed, in a rent-a-car that i was not too familiar with. We were also tailgated for about 70km of that drive. FUN!.

 Oh i forgot to mention, anything further out than 30ks from Hobart, and we had no mobile phone reception, no voda wifi internet reception. For a couple who are as connected as us, this was mildly freaky.

Motel was comfortable enough for us, and sleep was had.

Next morning, back to Eucalypt for coffee and breakfast, and then back to the airport for our home flight.

A couple of notes on the flights and tasmania airport.

1. A food court is not 2 cafes serving exactly the same fare as eachother at exactly the same price. Please take note of this Hobart Airport

2. Tiger Airways has more room in their seats than Jetstar

3. Tiger Airways planes shudder a lot more than any other airoplane i have been on.

4. They also land in a more scary fashion.

5. Dont offer us the roomier seats only to take them away when we sit down. If you deem us unsuitable, thats fine, but nothing changed from when you offered them to us until we sat down.

All in all, the trip was much fun, and a much needed getaway. Will definitely go back and hopefully spend much longer there, soaking in the scenery and relaxed atomsphere.