Another Loop Closed

So ends another lap of another state in another van.

When researching this trip many articles suggested a good tour of Tasmanaia could be achieved in 7 days. That might be true. We choose 14 days, but even in the planning stage realised that wouldn’t be enough. But for us deciding to make this journey virtually on a whim, we were boxed in by certain factors. School holidays and Easter for one, and as we used frequent flyer points our flight schedule was limited too. Regardless, we undertook the task and loved every minute of it. Doing it again, we would choose 3 weeks adding extra days along the west, north and east coasts, together with an additional day in Hobart and touring Bruny Island which we didn’t even get close to.

Being our second grand tour we are getting pretty good at organising things and becoming much more familiar with the idiosyncrasies with life on the road. Anthony as mentioned was a larger beast making our days more conformable, however the morning and evening rituals were still a Vienesse Waltz, albeit on a larger dance floor. Weather plays a big factor in any travel and knowing we had the space and room, and facilities to be locked down for a few hours if needed made things more palatable. Smaller vans require outside awnings and exterior furniture to get some space for yourself. Being our 3rd van hire now, we have concluded there are different vans for different needs, and before booking a vehicle, we recommend loosely doing your itintery and determining where you would like to go and what facilities will be avaiable. Caravan parks, free camping, powered sites, ensuite sites? All of these points help select your van.

We have already booked our next van for July, going smaller again becasue the touring we are doing is much more “civilised” and we dont need the extra comforts.

Tasmania has for decades received a bum rap, mostly uncalled for. Too far away, backward people, implications of family inbreeding. Funny as that may be - which we dont think by the way - the sheer wonderment of the state should be enough to get people flocking there in droves.

Firstly it is located only 240 km from the mainland, or a 90 minute flight from Sydney - big deal! Secondly the people could not be friendlier. Any person we encountered was cheerful, polite, welcoming and helpful. Of course some were a little “off kilter”, but we don’t know any place anywhere in the world without that type of folk.

Separating from the mainland 11,700 years ago, the state has numerous fascinating facts pertaining to its isolation. The decimation of the indigenous population, and the rich heritage they leave on the country. The unique flora and fauna found throughout the state and the infamous Tasmanian Devil and Tiger to name a few.

The island is the worlds 26th largest but what completely blows the mind is that 42% of the landmass consists of National Parks, World Heritage listings, or protected reserves. That is amazing! Almost half the land has been earmarked for protection and the progressive government and population have made massive inroads into making that the case as early as federation, speaking volumes to their priority of preservation over economics.

The rich convict history too makes this state as unique as any. The infamy of tyrannical penal stations, the harsh and laborious conditions convicts were subject to, and most for as petty a crime as stealing a loaf of bread. 80,000 convicts were sent to Van Diemen's Land before transportation ceased in 1853.

Throughout Australia one can happen upon buildings or sites dating back to the early or mid 19th century. This is not uncommon, but it seems in Tasmanaia literally everywhere you go there is a structure, a monument, a piece of history still standing that is plaqued with 1823 or 1845. That to us was astounding and a credit to the Tasmanian people for holding onto their history so tightly.

We do these trips under the premise of photography, of touring a region and hopefully visiting iconic places to grab a banger. We make no bones about that, but this trip developed into something more. We took photos of course, approximately 3,400 between us, but along the way the history and stories of the state became of equal importance. Its not to say we normally brush off stuff like that, we dont, but Tassie was different and held a reverential awe making it one of the best places either of us have ever visited.

Gordon River Mists

Bay of Fires

Anthony’s internals

So, many readers have been asking for a little more detail about the journeys we take. The photos and words hopefully paint the picture, but there has been interest in other, more boring matters.

We hired through Crusin Motor Homes who at this stage we cannot fault. The service was excellent, the pricing very competitive and the van fantastic. We flew to Hobart using frequent flyer points so maybe saved around $600 between us on that component. Fatpap does all the driving, he is a professional after all, but we would recommend anyone give this a go as the vehicles are easy to handle and a hell of a lot of fun to tour in.

Ideally you need to pack light, lots of layered clothing - no matter where you are touring - and do a big shop at the start with a good menu plan organised based on your location and facilities available. We top up on groceries on the road but only ever the fresh stuff and utilise our initial stocks whenever we can.

Pretty much all National Parks throughout the country require an entry fee which varies for each state and park. There are however options available and we always go for a limited season pass open to all parks for a specific time. We bought a 3 month, single vehicle pass for Tasmania costing $80 meaning we could enter any park, or camp anywhere we wanted, without having to pay, or worry about it each time.

Overall we spent a little over $8,600 on this tour. 54% of that was on transport (van hire, taxis, parking) and 17% on food (but geez we ate well). Another 10% went on excursions (we do treat ourselves) and 4% on accomodation. We did a lot more free camping this time around and booked less ensuite sites hence the decrease from the outback. We travelled about 2,400kms, more than predicted, with fuel becoming 6% of overall costs. Lastly, 10% of expenses was allocated, and spent on grog.

Now these figures seem healthy on the surface and for us well within anticipations. But we need to address the elephant in the room and a fact we are sure most readers are appalled by. There is a massive disparity between fuel and grog expenses. Almost double. We know, we know, we see it too and are ashamed of the numbers here. But we give you our word. On our next trip we will be making significant changes and have every intention of finding a WAY more economical van to hire!

Once again thankyou to everyone who made it to this point, we had a blast on this tour and feel like we’re getting the hang of things. So much so we’ve already booked a brief tour in July to Byron Bay and stay tuned, because Fatpaparazzi goes international later in August.

Check out our gallery for all our best images, they really do look spectacular hanging on a wall, and if anything takes your fancy, let us know and we can discuss options with you.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the ride.

Peter & Lyndall