My Trip to the Other Side of the World

Amidst the bureaucracy of visas, the logistics of flights and ferry rides, and the uncertainty of what came next, I boarded my flight to Vancouver. I stayed there for an hour before my 14-hour flight to New Zealand. It didn’t feel like a 14-hour flight when I had a whole row to myself. Eventually, I made it to Melbourne, where a friend of a friend picked me up. She had a van waiting for me to rent, which would also be my accommodation for a short while. The van’s name is Hector, a 2003 Toyota HiAce. After one driving lesson on the wrong side of the road, I was off on my own!

My first task was to find places to camp for the night while making my way to the Spirit of Tasmania port in Geelong. I drove onto the ship, parked my van, and spent most of my time looking out at the sea. Eventually, I made it to Tasmania.

Since I couldn’t work yet due to my visa not being granted, my mission was to make the most of my situation by exploring as much of Tasmania as possible. With no plan and no idea where to go, I just started driving south. I ended up in Railton, Deloraine, Caveside, Oatlands, Southport, many parks in between, and Cockle Creek. I was like a Tassie tumbleweed going where the wind took me, carefree and without plans, just chasing adventure.

Cockle Creek is the furthest place south you can drive in Australia. The water was a beautiful blue, and the sun was shining. I was able to FaceTime my family in Canada, and we figured out that I was 14,303 km away—the furthest from home I had ever been. Eventually, I made it to the capital, Hobart, where I met the fine folks at Sustainable Timber Tasmania. Meeting the team gave me a better idea of what my time working there would be like, and it made me eager to start. I checked my immigration account every day, hoping for news on my visa. With no news, I kept going, traveling along the east coast and stopping in different towns just as I’m doing now.

I’ve met some lovely people here and have visited so many amazing places. In Deloraine, I went to a beautiful market filled with vendors selling handmade items. This was where I first saw Huon pine products, which are found in many gift shops around Tasmania, and leatherwood honey, which has a strong, distinctive taste combining floral and woody notes. I stayed at a campsite called Honeycomb Caves, where I saw stunning sunsets and explored caves just 30 meters from where I camped. Nearby, there was a pool called Caveside Pool, run by donations and volunteers—a hidden gem in the middle of nowhere that I had all to myself.

Next was the Liffey Falls State Reserve, where I hiked to Liffey Falls and saw my first echidna. Echidnas are monotremes, a type of mammal that lays eggs and doesn’t have teats. They have no natural predators in Tasmania other than dogs and are quite nonchalant around humans. Here, I learned more about Huon pine and forestry in Tasmania. Two lovely women I met while hiking shared fascinating facts about the forests of Tasmania and why Huon pine is such an icon. The tree is renowned for its durability and rot resistance, making it an ideal material for boats and furniture. During the early settler days, convicts largely harvested Huon pine.

After hearing all these stories, I was excited to see a Huon pine for myself. I quickly realized that despite its name, it was not a true pine at all but a completely different conifer species lagarostrobos franklinii. It belongs to a genus of its own in the Podocarpaceae family, rather than the Pinaceae family like the pines I know back home. The Huon pine, endemic to Tasmania, is now heavily protected.

From there, I headed further south into the Midlands of Tasmania. I stopped in Oatlands, which has a rich convict history. I hadn’t planned to stay the night, but when I found out they had showers, I happily extended my stay to two nights. There, I met a fellow van-lifer who shared insights into Australia’s convict history, explaining how Hobart was the second settlement after Sydney and how many places in Tasmania were built by convicts, including the wall I was camped beside. We visited Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, where I saw kangaroos, wombats, and the famous Tasmanian devil which looks nothing like the Looney Tunes character.

Tasmanian devils were extirpated from mainland Australia and are now only found in Tasmania. They are carnivorous marsupials that are endangered due to a contagious disease called Devil Facial Tumour Disease, which has devastated their population.

 

 

After Oatlands and Bonorong, I made my way to Hobart. There, I visited the incredible Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, where I spent hours identifying trees and testing my knowledge of different species. I found many familiar ones and many I had never heard of before. The highlight was spotting a shrub I knew well—high bush cranberry (viburnum opulus). After double checking my identification, I ate a few berries, which tasted as tart and terrible as they do back home. It turns out that if you want to entertain someone with a forestry background, all you need to do is take them to a botanical garden.

Another memorable place has been Swansea, a town on Tasmania’s east coast, where I volunteered at a festival and met my first fellow Canadians while traveling. I also met people from Bangladesh, Israel, Scotland, and many other places, each with fascinating stories to share. Not only were the people wonderful, but the beaches had the finest white sand. I stayed in Swansea for just over a week, going to the beach every single day. Swansea is adjacent to Freycinet National Park, home to the famous Wineglass Bay and Honeymoon Bay. Nearly everyone I met told me I had to visit, and they were right. I explored the park by doing two hikes Mount Amos and the Hazards Beach and Wineglass Bay circuit. The views were stunning, with breathtaking aqua coloured water.

The east coast, in general, is beautiful. I visited Bicheno, Lagoon’s Beach Campground, and my favourite place of all Apsley Waterhole. This incredible river had a gorgeous freshwater swimming hole where I could jump off rocks and finally swim in fresh water.

Traveling through Tasmania has been nothing like I expected. It hasn’t always been easy, traveling alone in a van while waiting for good news about my visa, but one thing people don’t mention enough, maybe out of modesty is just how friendly Tasmanians are. It’s not often that I sit alone in a restaurant; a family or group will often sit with me, and we’ll chat about anything and everything. At campsites, neighbours frequently ask, “So, where do you come from?” and before I know it, I have a phone number and a warm offer: “Call if you need anything, or just someone to talk to.”

Tasmania’s beauty is undeniable, but what has made my journey truly special is the kindness of its people.

-Hope Rebonne, Canadian Candidate, Sustainable Timber, Tasmania, Australia

 

To learn more about the Young Professional Foresters’ Exchange Program, click here.