Mitz the wonder mobile

Wow, it's been a while since I have updated this!! I just got back from a trip to Tasmania - amazing! I had three days of school and then left on Wednesday from class to the airport to meet the other four who were going - Adam, Matt, Amanda and my roommate Nikolai. Mali came as well but she had a test that she needed to stay for so she met us on Friday. So we flew out of Sydney and arrived in Hobart around 8:00pm. We checked into our hostel and then got a recommended place to go out and have a couple beers. We ended up being super hungry afterwards so we took a walk down to the Salamanca markets to find a 24 hour bakehouse which served up hot meat pies and rolls. So tasty! We then woke up the next morning with one mission - to rent a car. We asked the woman at the hostel and she recommended a place. We called up and figured out that we could get an eight passenger van for a week for $500. We were sold so we walked over there, filled out some paperwork and were introduced to our new friend (who we named Mitz) - a blue Mitsubishi van that looked about 20 years old but at the same time awesome! She was a standard and they also drive on the opposite side of the road so this was a huge adventure waiting to happen. After getting some maps and directions we decided to go to the southern most tip of Tasmania and I guess the whole country of Australia and see the sunset. It took a little bit longer to get there than we thought because one of the roads was all dirt and rocks so we took it slow with Mitz. The whole drive there was unbelievabley gorgeous with rolling mountains and fresh green everywhere. The two hour walk we took around Fisherman's Point when we got there was also breathtaking. Adam kept on saying how he couldn't believe this was real - everything was just too pretty. We got to see an amazing sunset over the water with deep reds and oranges about mountains that looked like someone had a file folder of them which they just like stacked all together. It was a great first day in Tasmania.

The next day, Friday was day to pick up Mali. We had to figure out our accomodation situation for Cradle Mountain - tenting or cabin and then rent whatever we needed. We decided on a cabin and cheated the system a little bit. A cabin came with two sets of bunk beds and a double bed for $150 a night for two people and then it was $20 for every extra person. I didn't understand this because the room came equipped with six beds? So we just booked it for two people and then split that six ways. We then decided to get some sleeping bags so we rented those and then picked up Mali from the airport. We then treked out to the Cadbury chocolate factory where we got a presentation on the factory and then got released into their "discount chocolate shop" - um I was in heaven. I think my bag at check out weighed about seven pounds but we were good to go in the chocolate department for our trip. We then drove five more hours to our cabin up in Cradle Mountain stopping occasionally for food and scenic spots etc. The roads were super winedy and very mountainous. In one of my travel books it said that if you flattened all of Tasmania out, it would be almost as large as the mainland Australia. After a great night sleep in our cabin (which was clutch for the weekend, it was so good equipped with stove, bathroom, beds and a dinner table) we woke up to hike Cradle Mountain.

Cradle Mountain was a total 6-8 hike which we all geared up for. It was pouring when we woke up but turns out the visitor center didn't open for another hour when we got there so by the time we got our map and were situated on where to hike, the sun started shining. The hike was absolutely breath taking. It was one of the most scenic hikes I've ever been on - since the trees aren't very tall, you can see everything around you as you hike. It definitely combined some of the best hikes I've done all together - it had the tundra like Alaska, the beautiful lakes and rocks like Glacier and the scenic route like Mt. Katahdin in Maine. There was a point in the hike where you climbed up an edge to see Bam! Cradle Mountain. It looked like something from Lord of the Rings. It was so cool and the fact that we got to climb to the summit was that much better. My camera however did die right before we got to the trail leading up to the actual mountain so I was a little bit bummed about that but life goes on. But getting to the summit was kind of ridiculous because you would follow these markers as you were boulder climbing and you would see one in the distance that you were like "oh yea, that must be the end" and then you would get there and see another seven markers ahead. There was also this grey haired man who we deemed mountain goat because he passed us hiking at a ridiculous speed and then passed us again on his way back down. I commented that he was a mover and he just smiled and said he was pressed for time that day so he needed to do it fast - aka lapping 20 year olds making us look so out of shape. We finally got to the summit though which was awesome. For three of the six, this was there first successful mountain that they had reached the summit to which kind of boggled my mind because I guess normal people don't live with big dave's whose idea of a vacation is cross country driving to all different mountains. The way back down was pretty but so long. This is what I've figured out about hiking...getting there is awesome but very kind of a pain because normally it's uphill and stairlike so you're quads hate you. The summit is awesome but you can only stay there a little while before your sweat dries on you from the wind up there. And going down is great at first cause it's a lot easier than going up but after like an hour, you just want to get down the mountain and to your car. So we hiked down for a good four hours because I guess we took the longer trial back. It was almost 6 when we spotted the car and by that time the sun had gone down and it had started to rain. We were so excited to get back to Mitz and go back to our cabin, take hot showers and then go out to eat at the only restaurant around. I got into the drivers seat and attempted to start up the car and it started sputtering and then shut down. Then I tried again and it did the same thing. Matt switched, turned the ignition and nothing happened. Awesome, the battery was done. So we all got out and started to push the car to attempt a jump start. Nothing worked. Finally, other hikers saw us and offered to jump our car. The only problem was we had no idea where the battery was located cause Mitz didn't have a hood. It took us about a half hour to figure out that you had to unhinge to hooks next to the passenger seat up lift the whole middle consol up to find the engine and battery. We hooked up the cars and the car still wouldn't start. Finally, Matt decided to check the oil to find the tank completely dry. By this time it was almost seven and everyone was closed because it was a National holiday and there was no cell phone service in that part of Tasmania. Matt hitched a ride up to try and find help at...somewhere while the rest of us tried to stay warm in the car. Matt ended up flagging down a tour bus for "Night with the Animals" and convinced the driver to take us back up to our cabin. Thank goodness because our cabin was 10km. away and we were absolutely freezing and cold and exhausted. Once we got to our cabin, we took hot showers and rationed our food because we couldn't drive out to the restaurant. Mali and I ended up having peanut butter and jelly pasta (which was actually quite tasty!...try it)
The next morning, Matt and I woke up early to go try and figure out the Mitz situation. We bought oil and get a lift down to our car by a shuttle bus. We filled up the car and attempted to start to it but our battery had again died. We caught the shuttle bus back up to notify the ranger so he could come and jump our car. We again rode the shuttle bus back down to our car and pushed Mitz into place. A couple women saw us and asked if we needed a jump. We decided it wouldn't hurt to try it out because the ranger was going to be another half hour. We hooked the cars up and again, the car wouldn't start. The woman was like "mmm, it's not your battery. It could be your alternator" so I was like "oh brother, what the heck Mitz!!". But then the ranger came and hooked us up with a generator and the car started after the second try - thank you jesus! Matt said it was probably because the oil needed to get back into the engine so it needed a couple times to turn over. After that we picked up the other guys and started our scenic drive back to Hobart. We stopped off here and there for photo opportunities and ended up in Hobart around 9pm. We parked and grabbed a quick bite to eat at a pizza shop. To save money for the night, we were just going to sleep in the car so we were going to move the car to a better location. I got back in the car to start it up and discover that yet again, Mitz died on us. AHHHH!! so we were standed again and our flight was in 10 hours in the morning. Someone had the geneous idea to call the phone number on the van and people came within ten minutes to give us a jump. Although Mitz was unreliable, it was one of the best trips ever - so gorgeous. And you know what, it makes for better stories when you get back - count it.