11/25/06: On to the Freycinet Peninsula

After getting back to the hotel in Launceston Friday night I had the happy task of doing laundry (it truly is a happy task when everything you have is dirty.) Saturday morning it was time to head off to Freycinet. And that meant it was to be my first day of driving on the left side of the road. I was a bit apprehensive about it, to be perfectly honest. All of my reflexes still expect to see cars keeping right, even after 3 weeks here.

As a result, and since I was still getting over my cold, I planned a very conservative day: just drive to the Freycinet Peninsula. In earlier plans I had considered heading an hour in the opposite direction to explore a very cool cave system, or going to a wonderful winery, but I kept it simple.

While I was waiting in line to get my rental car (or "hired car" as we say in Australia), the rental agent was warning the couple in front of me about how dangerous the roads were now that it was tourist season and there were so many people out on the roads who weren't used to driving on the left. More anxiousness ... I did NOT want to become a statistic! After complating the paperwork for the car, I went out to check it out, and immediately unlocked the left hand door to get in, which, of course, was the passenger’s side. Hoping this was not an omen of bad things to come, I loaded up the car and carefully headed off. Fortunately, other than the vigilance needed to make sure I don’t slip into a bad reflexive response, the driving has been fine, with the exception of the way I keep turning on the windshield wipers instead of using the turn signals. Roads are two lane, narrow, and winding. At one point I thought I might be able to test the hypothesis of whether you can get car sick if you’re driving, but I was fine.

I arrived safely in Cole’s Bay and found the Pelican Bay Bed and Breakfast. After a couple of lovely short walks that my host suggested followed by dinner, I’m now sitting in the living room with a wood stove crackling away while waiting for the sun to set.

Freycinet National Park is a southward extending peninsula on the east coast of Tasmania. At the upper end of the peninsula are several 300 meter high granite mountains known as The Hazards (the low mounds to the left of center in the picture at the beginning of this post). The area is well known for its beaches and rock formations. Tomorrow the plan is to do a day hike in the morning and a kayak paddle at 5:00 in the evening.