phew, before i have time to blog about the 14 day aussie trip, i'm going off to genting again tmr at 6am. it'll be too much of a shame to gloss over all the details, especially the help and hospitality we enjoyed in Brisbane and Sydney, due to time constraints, so now i'll just take the time out to blog about the most happening part of the journey, the 4 days in TASMANIA, and continue when i get back from the casinos.
Taz is a really different place from the other 3 places we visited, namely Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. there's a lot of shrubberies, wild-life, road-kills, and the highways are downright scary and secluded.
our first day started behind schedule coz yours truly misread the map and made one wrong turn, causing the group to cruise down south towards the wineries when we should be going north to the chocolate factory.
when we reached the wineries though, it was pitch-dark since it was five in the evening (-__-) so all we did was stare at the shadows, grab a pizza, and walk around the town before setting off to our starting point again.
this time around we tried to be smart and take a straighter highway back to Hobart town, hopefully cutting the journey time by 15 minutes. it was the scariest ride of my life.
basically, the highways in taz have NO STREETLIGHTS, only these shiny reflective thingies that reflect ur headlights. so we're heading down a completely dark and winding road all the way, with only the front 200m illuminated, missing turns coz itsh sho dark, and suddenly spotting this small wallaby head peeking out at us from the bushes. imagine entering an unknown unlit cave with one miserable torchlight and having this bad feeling that you're going the wrong way, but you don't know if you should just surge on and hope for the best, or turn back and hope for the best.
the road signs are miles away from each other so we don't even know if we're on the right highway, and we didn't encounter another car/house/sign-of-civilization almost all the way. to add oil to the fire, there was once where we were heading very sotongly up a mountain (which is the wrong way of course), and along the way we saw this very eerie sign on the dark dark road saying "100m to cemetery, turn left". i was seriously very very scared...! waaaaiii~~~
we were so glad when we saw the lights from the town at the foot of the mountains.
and then we drove on to the Derwent Valley, only halfway there our fuel tank was almost hitting on empty, so we had to desperately seek for a petrol station, and hoping that it'll hang on until we find one.
In the end we did find one, but it was closed, so we decided to camp there for the night.
did i mention that we rented a camper van? its like a caravan, with two shoulder-width beds on the bottom, and a plank plonked up halfway to the roof to make a third make-shift bed.
i slept atop THAT make-shift bed, on a stack of 3 planks and 3 cushions coz we can't be bothered to lay the full thing out. as such, when i huddle in that little enclave, my shoulder was to the roof, and i couldn't get my quilt in there. its ok, i thought, i'll just huddle with my 2 layers of clothes and jacket and towel, and it'll be ok.
it wasn't ok!
it got really cold at night, so cold my feet went numb and started hurting. it was so cold i couldn't sleep, and i was pretty afraid i'll get frostbite, so i decided i'll get down and huddle in the front seat with a quilt instead.
but i can't get down as its a long drop from my place, and if i plonk my heavy self down, i'll kill or severely damage the luggage/zhao/les who were lying down below.
so i tried to thaw it out. i wanted the two drivers to get their rest after all.
so i kept awake, rubbing my feet, and wondering at what temperature does frostbite set in.
after a while, i noticed that les seemed to be awake, so i called out to him to help me get down, or at least move so i can jump down without killing him.
he ignored me.
i called again. he was obviously awake, but he ignored me!
so i spent the rest of the night cursing him, rubbing my feet and thinking about frostbite.
in the end, near dawn, i decided enough is enough, i don't care if the luggage gets hurt and everyone gets woken up, i'm out of here.
i could spot some space on les' bed in the dim light, and so i bounced down upon it, and crash-landed on some bags nearby, before waddling off to the comfort of the quilt.
later we learned from the kindly petrol station uncle who gave us warm water that the morning was -6 degrees c. i wonder how cold the night was. the water were all frozen over, and the van surface was all iced over.
les said that he was aware that i wanted to get down, but he was so cold that no sound came from his mouth and he couldn't move even though he was worried about me. ...i think he was pretty close to freezing to death? i feel really lucky that he's all right. (>_<)
and so! that was our first near death experience! pretty mediocre actually, silently rubbing one's feet and lying motionless somewhere isn't really what i'll call a happening and adrenaline-pumping escape from death.
the second near-death experience was on the third day! we were trying this ambitious drive down to freycinet nature reserve and back to hobart in one day, in time for the market the next morning.
instead we got into a car accident. the van veered off the road, rolled 3 rounds across the highway, and ended up on its side on the opposite side. miraculously enough no one was seriously hurt.
what happened was that zhao had his eyes off the road for just a few seconds to admire the scenery, and the van careened off the tar road onto the gravel, he oversteered, the wheels jumped at the road edge, and the van rolled.
while all these was happening i was sitted in the middle (beltless) and sprawled happily across les' legs. les suddenly shouted, i looked up and saw the side pillar in front of me. i thought "oh shoot, there goes the bumper. that's about $200 to the rental agency."
then the van started tilting. and i thought "gawd, maximum excess of $2500." i can't remember anything at all about the rolling, except that i got knocked around a little.
when i opened my eyes, it was dark, but there was this window of light and les was crawling through it, so i followed him out. as soon as he cleared he stood up (yay he's fine), but to my surprise and embarrassment i couldn't do the same. my ear and head was knocked pretty bad, and there's a bunch of nerves there; i was pretty conked out.
so i had to be helped out and laid down and covered with jackets by the helpful tourists, an american couple, who were nearby. lucky for us, they were a fireman and a nurse, and were pretty used to dealing with such situations and helping people. they called an ambulance and the police for us. i know they won't be reading this, but still i want to say a big 'THANK YOU~~~' and 'SORREE for taking up ur holiday time~~~!' to them here.
well, after that the ambulance came, but by then i was alright enough to stand up and walk around. so i walked onboard myself, where i was given the oxygen supplier mask thingy.
i felt pretty silly after a while having that thing on, and also really apologetic for using up the tax-payer's money consuming medical supplies, especially after we knocked down one of the country's roadside fences. so i requested to take it off, and after a few questions, they decided we were all right and left waving and smiling.
i still feel its pretty amazing we're all right. the van was ravaged pretty bad, she took a lot of hurt for us. i'm sorry she had to be scrapped though... sob.
also, i was pretty sure that for a seat-beltless middle-sitter in a rolling van i'll pretty much be dead meat, or at least thrown all around like a little rag doll. yay~ thank you once again guardian angel! i'll be more careful in future~!
oh, and please do keep quiet abt that seat-beltless issue. we reported that we had our belts on, and i din tell my mum abt that issue.
oh, and to add to the spice and danger factor, please be aware that caravans have a gas tank at the side for cooking. there had been a pretty real danger that the van would go ka-boom and i'll be a piece of smoked bacon.
but all in all the experience was pretty harmless due to a lot of luckiness. yay! phew! following that we waited 2 hours for the tow-truck to come pick us up and had to apologize profusely to the very nice and understanding rental agency officer. the good news was that we got to stay in a hostel that night and get a much awaited hot water bath. (we didn't get to bathe for the past 3 days)
so the trip ended peacefully and uneventfully, and we flew off to melbourne the next day after a day at the weekend market, at which i bought a bunch of antiques and other stuffs.
yay~
seriously though, i wonder if i'd used up all my luck-points for the rest of the year. or perhaps my wish at the wishing falls helped a bit? (i popped in a dollar and wished to see a platypus and for the trip to end peacefully. at the end i bought this very cute platypus soft-toy, and the trip did end without any major injuries. perhaps i should have made only one wish, or thrown in another dollar for greater effect. oh well.)
so! i'm off to Genting! will gamble some if i feel lucky. doubt it though, luck-points~ luck-points~
