Do I start with the bunk bed story or make you read the whole post?? I think I’ll go with the ladder. That will be funnier later. We started our morning with the Cataract Gorge Walk in Launceston. The gorge was picturesque though the lighting was a bit off because the sun hadn’t fully risen yet. Along the walk we saw peacocks and wallabies.

Two people from the tour left us last night and after the walk, we lost 3 more, but gained 2 newbies.

We made a stop in St. Helens for lunch and then headed to the Bay of Fires. It’s called Bay of Fires because when Captain Tobias Furneax sailed past he saw the coastline glowing with the lit fires of the Aboriginal people.

White sand beaches, crystal blue waters and a free campground just steps from the beach. I was in heaven! We spent 2 hours there and when I got back to the bus I joked with our tour guide, Chrissy, that I was gonna grab my gear and she could pick me up on her way through next week. If she said ok, I would have stayed.

From the Bay of Fires we had one more stop at Shell Beach in FALMOUTH!! Even more exciting, on the drive, we saw a tiger snake on the side of the road. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop and I couldn’t get a picture. I swear I’m gonna get my snake encounter sooner or later.

Finally, we headed to Bicheno where we would spend the night. I’ll skip dinner and drinks and get right to the story you’ve been waiting for.

I went to bed about 11:30, and around 2 am I needed to go to the bathroom. Our hostel was very small and we had an 8 person shared dorm. I had given up a bottom bunk to let one of the older gentlemen have it, which left me up top. The top bunks didn’t have anything dividing them and they shared one ladder in the middle. In order to avoid hitting or sitting on Alvaro’s feet as I got up, I got onto the ladder from the side and facing down. What I didn’t realize is that these bunks were quite a bit higher than all the others I had stayed in on this trip. So…..I took 2 steps down and then stepped off thinking I was near the floor. I was still a couple feet off the ground. I fell to the ground, hit my head on the opposite bunks, slammed my toe into something and woke up all but one person in the room. Somehow, Ivo, slept through it.

The next day, my toe was bruised and really sore, but I had a mountain to climb. We headed out to Freycinet National Park where we had a few walks to choose from. My toe wasn’t going to stop me from the most challenging option of going to the summit of Mt. Amos.

Only 6 of the 21 of us chose this option and Chrissy led our walk. The walk was steep at times, had no railings, only a few steps at the bottom, and sometimes required scaling large slabs of rock or climbing through crevaces. It took about 3 hours roundtrip and I really enjoyed it.

The view of Wineglass Bay from the summit was well worth it.

After the walk, we headed to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary where they care for injured and orphaned animals until they can release them back into the wild. We saw a baby wombat, Tasmanian devils, koalas and loads of kangaroos. We got to pet a koala and hand feed the kangaroos. The kangaroos are so used to people that we got some awesome pictures with them.

We headed back to Hobart at the end of the day where we said goodbye to most of our group, including Didi and Katja. Hopefully I’ll see them again in Adelaide, but who knows. Anna left today, Mia had left after day 3 and we’re losing Chrissy too. Tomorrow we get a new tour guide. Marcel and I will continue on our Tasmanian journey without the rest of the dinner crew.

A 200 year old prison, Hobart from about 4,000 feet, a nightmare worthy museum and some of the best oysters in the world…….coming up next.

P.S. Don’t leave your bi