I woke at 5am and couldn’t nod off again. Matt popped his head into the dorm at six to get myself and Michael. Gustavo, again, was the only other member of the group up for the walk.

We had a rushed breakfast, packed some fruit and snacks and zipped off in the bus. We got to the base of the trek in about twenty minutes and started off through the forest. Even this early, it was quite light and the trees were alive with birdsong. The sounds, smells and sights were amazing. Just like being in another world.

After an hour or so we reached the first viewing point by a cliff’s edge. It looked like the world ended a few metres from our feet. The cloud cover was so heavy we couldn’t see anything past the edge!

We had a quick discussion and decided to keep on trecking and see if the clou cleared.

It didn’t.

At the next viewpoint, we admired the way we could hear the sea but not see it and then decided to head back to the bus. Not a wasted trip by any means – what we did see was fantastic and I just want to go back sometime when the weather holds out.

The one upside was that it meant we were back in time to do the walk and boat trip in Port Arthur. The boat trip was OK for the twenty minutes we got, but we skipped the guided tour and just walked around by ourselves.

Matt managed to squeeze in a visit to a nearby Tasmanian Devil refuge where we arrived in time to see four of them being fed. Noisy little critters!

And then back to Hobart and various accommodation drops. I was back in the City Backpackers with most of the group. We arranged to meet for dinner around 7:30 and at that time walked up the Mall to find somewhere that would and couls handle 14 backpackers. We settled on the Queens Head where the staff shifted tables, moved chairs and even relocated another punter to squeeze us all in. To top it all they sold Brown Ale in bottles and the food was great!

Finally, on to the Republic Bar with some superb live music where Matt met up with us again. He let me know I’d left my jumper on the bus (d’oh) but that ATA would get it mailed to me if I called them.

Email addresses were exchanged as were hugs and handshakes. As with the Outback tour, I made a lot of friends from the great bunch I travelled with. I have two definite offers of accommodation in Lisbon and in Seoul, should I head in either direction. And I think I will at some point!