Breakfast at St. Helens

My entire trip has taken a complete turn. I never thought anything this great would happen to me: I have found a wonderful friend (and personal tour guide!) to join me.

Simon and I have been travelling together since friday morning, when we left Hobart for Port Arthur, an old penal colony from the early 1800's which is now nothing but ruins. It was interesting to see the old sandstone buildings, but was depressing to think of the history, and unfortunatly was a bit too "touristy" for us to enjoy spending much time there. My "personal guide" also took me for rides out to see some natural landmarks on the Tasman Peninsula including The Blowhole, Remarkable Caves, Devil's Kitchen in Penzance, and Eaglehawk Neck, a breathtaking lookout on the west coast of the peninsula.

That evening we stayed at the Lufta Hotel and had an amazing meal while looking out at the ocean. The next morning we decided to head back in for a brief stop at Hobart to change our clothes before heading north to St. Helens. It was a fairly long ride, but quite phenomenal roads and only a few painstakingly slow tourists. Poor Simon had to go slow to let my bike catch up, especially on the hills, but he seems pretty good about it.

A notable stop along the way was Bicheno, where after a few beers we played Keno and won $512!!! So needless to say when we arrived in St. Helens we wined and dined, once again looking out over the water!

This morning we're in recovery mode from a great night... Sitting in the sun enjoying tea after breakfast, I'm writting and Simon is reading the paper. I have really enjoyed his company over the past few days, and in fact we have decided (after a phone call to Simon's boss to request the week off work) to ride North and West and around the whole state of Tasmania! This is going to be a great week!