"This Can’t Be Summer"

Well it started simply enough – "why not Tassie?" our leaders’ asked. And why not? We’d been to Cairns, through NSW, skiing, through Victoria, Fraser Island, the Whitsunday’s, even houseboating!

Some of you may remember "meeting us" a few years ago after we wrote about our 1995 Cairns trip. This trip was to be Scout Tour #7, and turned out to be our most ambitious yet. There were 16 of us in all – 7 Scouts, 7 Leaders & Rovers, and 2 "kids" (2 y.o. and 7 months old).

After months of planning, we met at the den on the 29^th of December, and travelled into Roma St on "old faithful" our Scout Bus. As our bus had carried us on many previous trips, it was a sad moment to be leaving it at home, so at least it could carry us as far as Roma Street.

We left Roma St Train Station at 7pm on the first leg of our train journey – rather strangely by bus! However, at Murwillimbah we changed on to a real train, and our trek began for real. Why the 29^th of December? We needed to start before the end of the year, otherwise it wouldn’t be Scout Tour 2001!!

After a few excited hours, we finally settled down to an uncomfortable night’s sleep. The littlies could stretch out, but the rest of us were very cramped!

The next day saw us in Sydney for lunch. What a relief to stretch our legs with some games in the park, and a wander through Darling Harbour! After a feed of pizza in Hyde Park, it was back to the train station for another overnight train trek.

New Year’s Eve! We arrived in Melbourne during Sunrise, and enjoyed an interesting breakfast on the train station platform! We filled in the day very easily, meeting up with old friends, checking out the sights from the Rialto observation tower, the Crown complex fountains, and just generally enjoying Melbourne.

That evening, the next leg of our journey began – and this time by boat. We boarded the Spirit of Tasmania with anticipation of a unique New Year’s Party, and a good night’s sleep. We were to be disappointed with the former (we were the only ones left up celebrating in the lounge), but the beds were very comfortable!

So, Day 1 of 2002, and we land in scenic Devonport. Here we picked up our transport for our Tasmanian experience, before heading south to Hobart. On the way we stopped at the Launceston Scouts to borrow a bit of cooking gear. We were self-sufficient with tents, esky, tables, etc but the extra gear was greatly appreciated.

On the way we stopped in Ross to check out the historic bridge, and for the first shock of our trip. It had been 38° when we left Brisbane. In Ross it was 8° and raining – and this was summer?! Apart from picking up a couple of late-comers from Hobart airport, this was a very quiet night in camp – I think there were a few sleepy tourists!

The next few days were spent exploring Hobart and surrounds. Some of the highlights included experiencing really cold weather inside the Antarctic Adventure, touring the Cascade brewery (and cleaning them out of soft drink in the tasting room afterwards!), watching the Devils at Bonorong wildlife park, experiencing the darker side of our history in Richmond Gaol, spectacular views of the rainforest from high in the Tahune Airwalk, and the miniature worlds of Old Hobart Town and Alpenrail.

The most exciting part for most was Jet Boating. I say by most, as when the last three of us went, the boat broke down part way, so apparently we missed the most exciting bits!!

The most-remembered event by one Scout has to be our visit to Constitution Dock to see the Sydney-Hobart fleet! His parents (keen sailors) had threatened us with all sorts of things if he got to see the fleet without them, so naturally we had to get him on board Nicorette!

From Hobart we travelled over to Port Arthur. We had a very interesting day wandering around the site. Then most of us headed back after dinner for the Ghost Tour. Almost all of us made it through the tour, although one had quite a good grip on the tour guide throughout! Sadly we didn’t see any ghosts.

The next day was the longest drive of the trip – across to Queenstown. Along the way we found time to visit the scenic waters of Lake St Clair. Upon arrival in Queenstown, some of that Scouting magic came to the fore. We’d been unable to confirm our stay with the local Scouts, but decided that we’d be able to find them when we got there. However, we couldn’t find them! After trying everything we could think of, we decided to abandon hope and find a caravan park to camp in. When we got the Queenstown Caravan park we met up with the manager and told her our story. Turns out that she was a Scout Leader in NSW, and knew the local Scout Leader quite well. Whilst trying to find his phone number for us, he actually rang her to see if she’d seen us. So, we got to the stay in the den after all. We had a great night with the local SL Peter (thanks!). During the night we were very pleased not to be camping, as the wind blew up so strongly that we thought the roof was coming off the den!

From Queenstown we headed over to Strahan, for a cruise along the Gordon River. Apparently it rains over 300 days of the year, and being Scouts you can guess what the weather was like for us! It was still a great cruise, and well worth the journey!

From Strahan we drove up to Cradle Mountain. And we thought Ross was cold!! We didn’t truly appreciate the place that night – it was wet and dropped to freezing – a strange experience for Brisbane-ites! We spent some time the next day exploring the Cradle Mountain area, which was just fantastic (although still a rather mild 4° that morning!). Some of us had been talking about spending a few days walking through, and now we are convinced we’ll be going back!

From Cradle Mountain we headed down to Mole Creek. Here we were to be doing some "adventure caving", but that fell through at the last minute, so we ended up with National Parks at Marakoopa Caves, where we enjoyed a terrific tour – thanks for looking after us! Many of the outsiders were surprised by the tin whistle accompaniment whilst inside the caves, but we were all well used to Sally’s musical talents by then!

So, on to our final stopping point - Launceston. From here we visited a hedge maze (in Westbury), which was enjoyed by all. We won’t mention how Bungy tried to video his way in with the idea of playing the tape backwards to find his way out; or how Samantha (2) found the middle before him…..

Also in Launceston we enjoyed some time in Cataract Gorge. This was our warmest day in Tassie, so we even managed a swim!

After two nights in Launceston, we had to head back to Devonport to find our way home. Along the way we checked out Seahorse World, which was just amazing. And we were able to fill in time in Devenport at the local science centre (Imaginarium), where the friendly staff stayed open an extra hour just for us!

And so we returned home the way we had come. Overnight on the Spirit of Tasmania, with a day in Melbourne. In Melbourne two of our Leaders baled to check out the shops, whilst the rest of us wandered around town.

Then overnight on the train with a day in Sydney. Here we visited the Opera House and the Coathanger (as some of our group had never seen them), before spending the rest of the day at the Powerhouse museum.

Then the final leg - another overnight train trip home to Brisbane. I don’t think we could have handled another night on the train (4 was enough!).

And so Scout Tour 2001 (Tassie Touring) came to an end. It was a memorable trip for so many reasons, and we certainly can’t do justice to all of them in this short diary. Some that we haven’t mentioned already are:

• Fred eating a raw egg for "National Egg Day".

• Visiting Andy’s 24hour bakery and buying their entire croissant stock at 5am

• Sculptionary ("Pictionary" with play-dough)

• The looks you get when carrying a 120 litre esky on to a train (or better still, trying to put it in a cloak room!)

• Cramming everyone’s carry-on baggage & pillows in a single train station locker.

• Conversations with complete strangers who seem surprised to come across a group of Scouts from Brisbane carrying an esky and with a baby in a backpack and a toddler in a stroller!

• Trams in Melbourne, especially the City Circle.

• Sally’s purchase of a metal fish sculpture in Strahan which we had to cart home on ice in the esky (only place big enough to store it!)

• Singing "Bob the Builder" in the bus.

This trip wouldn’t have been possible without help from many many people. Some who deserve special mention however are:

• Amanda from Countrylink.

• Peter from Queenstown Scouts

• Karen from Cascade

• The baggage handlers at Spencer St station

• Chris from 1^st Launceston Scouts

• Todd from Thrifty

• Kathryn from Spirit of Tasmania

What next? Scout Tour 2002, of course.