No matter how much I tell myself that I had no idea what to expect, I'm always surprised by what I find.
From thick woods in Western Australia to beautiful remote coastline. I guess I expected Tasmania to be
a lot more remote and disconnected than it turned out to be.
While a huge slice of the island is set aside as National Park land, the cities are quite active. Hobart is a city of over 200,000 with a bustling downtown and a lot of upscale retail. The topography was reminiscent of West Virginia, at least on the coast. Hills, hills and more hills. Whatever way you turned you found yourself going up or down a steep hill.
Launceston isn't quite as big but it also has a busy downtown. Tourism and the proximity to Melbourne keep the island well tuned in to what is going on. And I'd have to say it feels a lot more plugged in than Western Australia. Not that Perth doesn't have it's pricy shops but its mining and millions don't depend on anything else. Just let the Chinese and Japanese fight it out for the iron ore and let the good times roll.