Homeward

Back in Sydney

Meanwhile it is the 12th of January. Our stay in Tasmania now very fast comes to an end, we definitely regret that. We really enjoyed this island. And to plan such a far journey with only two weeks time can nearly be called negligent!

Very early that morning we start towards Launceston airport, at noon we already land in Sydney. We stay in the same hotel as before. There is no official program with the travel group in the afternoon so this is the opportunity for Gernot and me to use the combination tickets we still have for the Sydney Sea Life Aquarium. With a detour to the Chinese quarter and ample souvenir shopping we start towards Darling Harbour for the last time. And as we already know ourselves of course we again forget the time and nearly are late for the last activity together with our fellow travellers, a real good farewell dinner with everybody.

The next day we start the return trip home. As the flight is booked for the afternoon we use the forenoon in Sydney for a last excursion “downtown”. The combination ticket after all also includes a ride up Sydney Tower. Here we have fantastic views over the city and now realize for the first time how big Sydney really is.

Then we have to face a 36 hours return trip, again with changing planes in Singapore. We arrive very early in Frankfurt with the result that we have to wait another three hours until our train leaves to Munich. Somehow you cannot really grasp that the holiday is already over and you are back to everyday life. Now we only got the photographs and the souvenirs. And the definite intention to travel Tasmania as well as Sydney again.

Conclusion

Tasmania is different to what I imagined it would be. I am not disappointed though, on no account –  it is even more beautiful than I thought.

It is not that easy to write a travel report when quite some time has already passed since the actual journey. Meanwhile it is three and a half years after our wonderful honeymoon. Writing this report I used the old documents of the tour operator with the itinerary, the dates of the pictures we took, the memories of my husband and of course my own memories – which both are not at all always congruent. Most of the time Gernot is right, he even knows at once the single days of the week for each excursion. I could have bet the photographs of the small prison island belonged to Port Arthur, but that was already on the West coast.

It is amazing what details come to the fore, totally personal, individual feelings and impressions – the hurting feet on our very first day for example. The cramps in my calves when fighting up Henty Dunes, I very good remember the second I nearly fell back on the last meter and rolled down again. The ingeniously good chip potatoes in the Greek restaurant at Salamanca Market, I actually ordered an extra serving. The chocolate muffin of mushroom cloud size in the Cradle Mountain National Park I had to eat in several meals. The feelings when petting a kangaroo in the Wild Park. The disbelief to really be there oneself and see flying foxes and cockatoos live, in the wild. And on returning to Sydney the awareness how awfully the air is poisoned with emissions, in Tasmania it is clear and clean.

For our next journey I resolved to write a day to day diary while we are still on the road. We already booked Wales, looking forward to it!