Hobart, Australia - Polarsteps

After orientation finished up we decided that not going anywhere when we had an entire week before class would just be a wasted opportunity to travel around. So we spontaneously bought flights to Tasmania. No plans were really made except for the hostel and flight. So being the smart people we are, we planned to leave the morning after White Night (an all night arts festival throughout the city). Aka, we planned to have minimal to no sleep before heading to the airport at 4:30 AM. It was a Shit. Show. Kenza didn't wake up to knocking on her door but after hearing her phone ringing eventually she jumped out of bed and met us at the airport. We all made it expect for Peter. We were hoping he would walk on the plane right before we took off but it didn't work out that way. He has no Australian SIM yet and no one had seen him since the last bar of the night. Turns out he was sleeping on Kenza's couch the whole time. Because she was in such a rush on her way out, she didn't see him sleeping there.. Even more unfortunate than that, Peter did wake up and would have made it expect for the fact that his cab was pulled over on the way to the airport.. He got on the next flight for a "small fee" and met us on the beach later in the day. Every day seems to get more ridiculous.. Recovered from White night on a wee little beach looking out onto the bay with the mountains in the distance :-). Ended the night with a 2 for 1 beer deal and a fun game thanks to Brian's iPhone. First full day in Hobart. We realize that everything worth doing in Tasmania and every single hiking spot we wanted to do was only accessible by car. After having a few mental breakdowns and a bit of cranky, hangry bickerings we got in contact with probably the only car rental company that would rent to 9 young individuals with a driver under the age of 25 with an American license.. When that was set in stone, we made plans for the day in Hobart and would pick the van up the next day. We bused to the MONA (museum of old and new art). It had some interesting collections, very neat but so so odd. Took another bus to Mt. Wellington. Started the hike a bit later than we should have. Half of the crew turned around on the way up due to the fact that the sun was setting rather rapidly. But once we saw the summit, we wanted to see over the top so bad. So onward we went and thank goodness we did because it was so spectacular. We were way above the clouds!! To our surprise there was a parking lot up there, I guess you can drive all the way to the top (lame). Because it was getting dark and going down the steep, rocky path wasn't very inviting.. We asked 2 couples if they wouldn't mind driving us down the mountain to the bus stop. Both agreed and actually took us all the way back into the city. SCORE!! Cooked a large meal of pasta and drank Goon mmmmm yum.