How nasty is a holiday hangover!? The catching up on washing, groceries and other chores and the back to work anxiety! The wanting to stay on vacation forever… That’s been me for the last couple of days after a fabulous break in Tasmania.

I had five days off on my roster – the joys of shift work means that every so often there is a bigger break built in. I was determined to do something spectacular with it this time, and my visit to Tasmania was exactly that! What an absolutely stunning place. The scenery is spectacularly beautiful, and for someone like me who loves the beach, there is an amazing coastline never far away!

One of my girlfriends was able to take time off and come with me – it was nice having the company, and also made for a more affordable holiday sharing the cost of accomodation and car hire. We started the break with a concert on Friday night. I had been wanting to see Postmodern Jukebox for a super long time, and they did not disappoint! The show was fabulous. If you’ve not heard of them before, do yourself a favour and look them up, they are great!

We had a super early flight booked for Saturday, and arrived in Hobart mid morning. Our accomodation for the first couple of nights was the very quaint and quirky Customs House Hotel. Upstairs and downstairs, around all kinds of corners was our very spacious and comfortable room; across the road from the harbour, and a very short walk from the Salamanca Markets it was a perfect spot for us, and we made the most of it! In the two days that we spent in Hobart, we packed in a visit to the markets, a harbour cruise, a hike on Mount Wellington and of course MONA, the most fabulous art gallery/museum that I have ever been to.

Next stop, with some detours to other spectacular places, was the historic and beautiful Port Arthur. It felt like a must see place to visit, and was an incredibly interesting piece of our history. I have to confess to being a little bit disappointed tho in how sanitised it all was, I had expected to feel the weight of so much history – both old and more recent, much more than I did. It was lovely, and I’m glad I went, but I’m not sure it is somewhere I would chose to see again.

An unplanned stop on our way to Freycinet National Park, was the blowhole at Eaglehawk Neck. It was a stunning detour to make and I am so happy we found. It was incredibly beautiful and very very quiet, with no other tourists around. The sky was overcast, and the wind was blowing… my favourite kind of day and perfect for a stop on a rugged bit of coastline.

The drive to Coles Bay in the Freycinet National park ended up being a little bit hair raising…. We were a later than we had anticipated thanks to all the detours, and the road was more rustic (?… can one say that about a road?) than expected. Going through the mountains on an unpaved road, and in quite a thick fog made for an adventure that we probably weren’t quite prepared for! Thankfully my friend was happy to be the driver, because if it was me, we would still be driving! Our bed for the night was comfortable and old school – in a 1980’s kind of way! We only had the one night here, and didn’t get to see much of this part of Tassie, but it is definitely on the list of places to go back to.

Next stop on our tour was the absolutely spectacular – and probably my favourite part of the trip – Binalong Bay, or Bay of Fires as it is also known. What an insanely beautiful part of the world. Crystal clear turquoise water, white Sandy beaches and the most amazingly coloured rocks. Picture post card perfect… and the ideal place for a skinny dip – yes I did! Honestly, I could have stayed here for so much longer than the time we had… and it is also on the ‘return visit’ list!

Launceston was next the next, and last for this trip, place to visit. A beautiful drive through country roads, and a fabulous heritage listed hotel for the night. It was like taking a step back in time, and into another part of the world. The cold air and charming architecture made it feel quite European to me.. I loved it!

My friend and I set ourselves a challenge for our night in Launceston – find a fun place for dinner and interesting people to talk to. Lucky for us, we managed both! We found a beautiful Art-deco style restaurant with the cutest furniture and fixtures, all gold and velvet and luxury, and had a great chat with the chap at the next table to us. He is from Uruguay and was happy to have our company for dinner as he was on a trip for work. We covered all kinds of topics over our meal, and I feel like I have a new friend because of it.

Our final day saw us start the day with a visit to ‘Monkey park’, a beautiful garden in the city centre that randomly has a family of Japanese Macaque monkeys. kind of odd but fun! We also managed to visit Cataract Gorge and ride the chairlift across and then a hike to walk around and back down. It too was beautiful!

Five days was absolutely not long enough for the fabulousness that is Tasmania – but it was a great start, and I have a million more places to go and visit. I think it should be compulsory for us all to holiday in Australia. We live in the most beautiful country. There are so many fabulous places to visit and explore and I can’t wait to start planning the next trip!