Ramble
Quest - Hitching to Hobart and Arriving at Launceston.
While hitching to Hobart, a guy named Adam, who works for the Fish and Wildlife, stops. He says I'm hitching the wrong direction to Hobart but he can offer me a ride to where he is going to fish. I'm greatly confused, and in fact rightly so since it turns out I was hitching the right way, but at this point I have little knowlege of Tasmanian geography, so I take a ride with this guy, thinking it will at least be towards some town where I could always stay for the night. I ask him if there is accomodation near where he's going and he says there is.
So, I'm shocked when he lets me off at a fly fishing lake in the middle of nowhere. He says there's a place to stay just up the road, but I soon learn, while trudging up this endless dirt road with almost no traffic, that it is not so close. Amazingly, I'm able to hitch a ride to the end of the road, from two elderly ladies who are thrilled that I'm far more charming than I look. There is a place to stay here, in a bar, but I don't want to.
I'm in Miena, near Great Lakes, but there isn't much here besides lake. I ask some people which way to hitch towards Hobart and they show me, but the look on their faces tell me my chances are bad. They are correct. After a few hours I manage to get two short rides that bring me to the very end of any houses. Then the dog of the last old man I hitched with chases me completely out of town. Now I'm on another dusty dirt road in the middle of nothing, where two cars go past, very quickly past, in the next half hour.
I'm really stuck and think about just putting up my tent and sleeping until some sort of police arrive to give me a ride. Then a car pulls up and it's that Adam guy again! He's had his fishing and is now downing some beers while he cruises home while listening to the cricket on the radio. Once again he tells me I'm hitching the wrong way to Hobart! I swear this guy wasn't playing with me either, I think he simply must be mistaken about the way to get to Hobart!
Doesn't matter, at this point I'm very happy to see him, especially since he offers me a beer. OK, we're going to Launceston! Fate and Adam are bringing me there. We race down the road, drinking beer and listening to cricket, which is no doubt just as exciting on the radio as live. Steve Waugh is having his final moment in the sun and history is in the making. I'm practically at the edge of my seat. Sometimes we stop for a meat pie or to fish for a bit. I'm happy to accept my fate, as all proper hitchers should.
I get the last bed at the Launceston Backpackers, which turns out to be quite a good place. After cleaning up I wander around town, which I like a lot, and a Japanese guy named Nori recognizes me from Davenport (not the one who had trouble with his bedsheet though). We have a long, halting conversation, as his
English isn't too good. Fate is still toying with me though as I'll see this guy again.
Everything I need is here: an ATM machine, places to eat fish and get good wine, and even a movie house showing the second Lord of the Rings movie (thumb's up). At the end of the day I think back to my misarable predicament, stuck on the side of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and how well it turned out for me.
I spend a very pleasant Sunday wandering around scenic Cataract Gorge along with most of the rest of Launceston. This area retains something of its Victorian era feel and is quite a nice spot for being so close to town. Similarly, the city purchased a wonderful fountain from the Paris Exhibition to place in Princes Square and several interesting older buildings dot the downtown. Nice as Launceston is, I've got the bush in my blood now and immediately restock for my next trek.