Americans are notoriously awful with geography. It’s a 100% certainty that most Americans couldn’t point to Tasmania on a world map…. we suspect a majority couldn’t even say if it’s a real place on Earth, or just a fictional home to a famous cartoon character. We know this because we are those clueless Americans, or at least we were until a couple months ago. But here we are today, standing on it, exploring it, hiking it, swimming in it, and otherwise confirming its existence in every imaginable way. And for the string of lucky coincidences that brought us to this remote island, further south than anywhere else we’ll visit on this voyage, we’ve become very grateful in recent days.

Coming straight from the chaotic streets of New Delhi to the quiet and civilized shores of Tasmania doesn’t involve a difficult adjustment process. There’s no traffic, no beggars, no hustlers, no rickshaws, no potholes, no honking, no fires nor garbage…. about the only thing common is the abundance of roadkill. Instead we’ve got almost every variety of nature in its most pristine form – stunning white beaches, rugged mountains, and endless rolling countryside. The Aussies here are even more friendly and helpful than on the mainland, and the cities are even cleaner. If there’s a more storybook perfect place on Earth, we haven’t found it yet, and doubt we ever will.

So with time, as always, of the essence, we’ve of course been exploring at our usual frantic pace, trying to see everything possible in a fraction of the two or three weeks Tasmania deserves. If not for this, we might have found ourselves bored at times because the small towns are too sleepy for our taste, and even the biggest city Hobart, a Mecca for many yachties, left us struggling to find something fun to do…. Luckily for us, eating fish n’ chips and sleeping are two things we do enjoy from time to time.

With our batteries now fully recharged and our thirst for nature hikes and stunning vistas thoroughly quenched, we’re ready to hop on the ferry back to the mainland and continue our journey west along Australia’s southern coast…. the Great Ocean Road awaits.