Tasmania, settling in around Launceston

Tasmania was the real unknown for me. Carte Blanche, no knowing what to expect and what to look for..other than the Tasmanian devil, obviously. Some people were saying it is not worth the travel, it is not so "wild" and not so "unique". I even heard opinions that it is "like Europe". Surprised?

Well, if you compare it with some parts of Australia, surely it is not the craziest place. And the climate? Surely it does not go to such extremes like Australian Outback. But I have never regretted for a minute my decision to spend the next 10 days exploring Tassie.  

walking around Launceston, I liked the little streets and the houses 

Beautiful ornaments on most of private houses, the colours are stunning

I arrived in my hostel before the noon...

... and the staff were friendly enough to early check in with no additional cost. ArtHouse hostel was a nice change after crowded Sydney hostel. I used recommendation from Lonely Planet, for this old colonial style house turned into a youth hostel recently, but keeping its unique atmosphere. It is said to be 1888 heritage, so one of the oldest buildings around!

source: http://www.arthousehostel.com.au/

I left for the town tour soon after, hungry for new experiences.

Where has everyone gone?

I started walking and everything was so quiet and peaceful, but it was Wednesday mid-day, where has everyone gone?? Only after walking for a good hour or so I spotted a hand note in one of the window shops: "closed due to Launceston Cup", Tasmania's premier racing and social event as I learned later. Actually Tasmania is famous for "funny" opening hours for shops and lots of public holidays that hit some travellers by surprise. I did not have to organize myself for another day or so, so it did not bother me so much, but if you are in a hurry and want to make some more advanced planning, I suggest studying carefully the local calendar beforehand...

walking up and down around Launceston

I had really beautiful weather, sunny and low twenties, perfect for walking. I was admiring for instance the local churches. Launceston is not such a big place, you can walk in from end to end without a major problem, and you get to see very nice church building around the place. But the things that caught my heart was...the roses. The beautiful, big, colorful roses that smell like roses actually. They reminded me of my grandmother country garden, where she kept a whole alley of red, yellow and pink roses that looked and smelled just wonderful. Since then I always check if a rose has a smell, but they don't smell roses when you buy them at florist.. I was so happy to have found them in Tasmania, to have brought back all the nice memories from my childhood and my granny... You will find the roses in most of the backyards and in majority of public parks. They are hugely popular and certainly people take pleasure from growing them.

Roses that smell like.. roses. I was so happy to have found these wonderful and majestic flowers over there.

Another thing that drew my attention was the number of public parks, playgrounds and memorial places. The public space is quite well organized there and very well maintained - my feeling that is. Every little fontaine, a chapel, even bigger bank of flowers - are made in somebody's memory. And the town is full of it. I found a beautoful flowerbed of roses and it was made for the International Year of Peace 1988 (!). Everything is for a reason :).

The monumental trees were the most beautiful I have ever seen. It is just a small sample of all the beauties I have found there. My day was filled with lots of positive energy from the sun, from the tress, and from the people! On my first day in Tasmania, when I was wandering around without a purpose really, I found many people offering their help and I got a car ride twice, without even asking for it. Tasmania was making me feel very comfortable and welcomed.