Tasmania Travels - Week 1
On January 19th about 1.30am in the morning we finally got moving in the Spirit of Tasmania following delays due to the crash a few days earlier... thankfully the crossing was smooth and easy and we were able to sleep in unlike the usual brutal wakeup call. We sailed into a very hazy Devonport thanks to the smoke from the terrible bushfires here at present.
Thankfully we'd booked our accommodation in Triabunna, a small town on the east coast, well away from the fires. We went for a holiday park cabin again – our favourite pick due to the low cost and being fully self-contained in a sociable atmosphere. You can read our review here.
The main reason for the trip to Tassie is to catch up with Trent and Boof who I got to know last year while they were at rehab in Melbourne adjusting to life with an SCI.
Trent is a quad - a similar level to me - who broke his neck when he came off his motorbike last year.
They both have quite tear-jerking stories - even prior to their accidents - and I'm hoping to interview them on the GoPro once I buy a new one after Horsey drowned the last one!
Boof is looking great, he's building up his strength by pushing 5km a day, and has put a halt on his drinking since realising it was damaging his health. We celebrated Australia Day at his place where he had a crew around to cook up some smoked lamb, tuna, and other delicious-ness. He's lucky to have some great mates that are helping him get set up at home.
Trent and his fiancee Amy have moved into a nice new flat of their own, and in general are doing well but are having some teething issues with a few things like specialised services that have very little knowledge or experience of spinal cord injury. We're hoping to do what we can to get them set up a little better.
We're trying to get onto Dave at ParaQuad Tasmania to meet with him and find out what services are available down here, other than the Spinal Fund which provides much needed funding to those requiring equipment and seems to be leagues ahead of what we have in Victoria.
Since arriving we've been to the famous Salamanca Market in Hobart, stumbled across the oldest Catholic Church in the country in Richmond, visited boutique chocolate shops, celebrated Australia Day with some locals with a snag and an icecream, explored the towns and countryside between Triabunna and Hobart... and now we've moved to a little town called Snug, a gorgeous spot south of Hobart.
Stay tuned for pics from our trip this week to the fabulous Bruny Island and although plans to do some sightseeing yesterday with Boof, Trent, and Amy wasn't to be due to the rain (we went bowling instead) we're still hoping to get out there in a couple of days – let's hope the weather treats us well.