#i also NEED to book my car rental at work tomorrow. and print some stuff for my birthday scrapbook

[mildmayfoxe]

ok. i did NOT change my sheets tonight either but i DID put away a bunch of laundry which will make it easier to change my sheets tomorrow. and if i’m brave i’ll even do MORE laundry tomorrow. while i change the sheets

[elevenhoursinfront-blog]

31st July 2017

The alarm went off after what felt like a 3 hour sleep, if that. It was amazing to sleep without other people making such noise in the room. I might add that it was nice to get dressed without a toilet in the way. We gave ourselves an hour to get ready which seemed like a lot of time to me, but it was just right. We got showered, dressed and listened to music. We even was able to have a cup of coffee before leaving. We got to reception, checked out and the shuttle bus was outside waiting already. The driver was in the seat and looking like he was about to go so we panicked. We booked the 0500 and it was already 0501. The driver got out and got us onto the bus even though there were people waiting that were there before us. He said that we had booked the bus so we were right to get on. The journey took 10 minutes, if that. It dropped us off at terminal 3 which was the wrong terminal. We needed terminal 4. Google maps said it was a 20 minute walk so we panicked. Mel and Jack were standing in terminal 4 waiting for us. Luckily, it was about a 5 minute walk. My shoulders felt bruised from my bag. They also cut off your circulation to your hands which is weird. Your veins end up popping out and they go bright red. Pins and needles comes along shortly after too. Yuk. We found Mel and Jack and went to check our luggage in. We received a text to say that we had to get there earlier due to heightened security due to terrorism. I kind of feel like Australia just want to jump on the bandwagon really. We had to check in on a self kiosk and print our boarding passes. We then had to check our luggage in ourselves. Talk about making people redundant! It took a fair amount of time to do the luggage as the machine didn't work. Staff came over about 3-4 times to assist us. We looked around and it seemed that everyone was struggling. All of our bags weighed 18kg which is far too much. I came out with 12kg so I have no idea how I've accumulated so much stuff. We went through security which was not heightened in anyway whatsoever. They even let us through with liquids. We got through the other side, had some breakfast and had to leave straight away. Of course, it was gate 45 so queue the 10 mile walk... It went really fast to be fair. A Jetstar man was going round weighing hand luggage at random. We were dreading being picked because ours were clearly over the allowed 7kg. We managed to get through without having ours weighed which was a blessing from above. We got into our seats. Mel sat 17A, I sat 17B, Steve sat 18A and Jack sat 18B. The flight took off slightly late but we landed after about 30 minutes of flying. We watched sunrise in the air which was lovely. We got to Launceston airport which was tiny. It was a whole 1 degree outside. Steve's bag was first off, followed by the rest. Our flight wasn't full so that's probably why it was so quick. The Europcar hire place was right next to the case collect area so that was convenient.    We didn't have a great start as we had hired the vehicle through Rental Car which is a compare site, bringing Europcar as the cheapest. We paid $86 for 3 additional drivers and $121 for full insurance with no excess. When we collected the cars, the woman behind the desk said that because Mel and I were under 25 years of age, we had to pay an extra $580. We are fully aware that the majority of places charge more for younger drivers but we went with this one because they never asked. Then the woman told us that because we booked through a third party (Rental Cars), we had to pay an excess of $4,500 if we crashed regardless of whether it was our fault or not. We would then have to go to Rental Car to pay us back for the excess. We basically paid for two services that we couldn't use... It's ridiculous. We were absolutely fuming. The women didn't even come out to the car to search for any scratches and we even went back inside after about 20 minutes of searching to see whether she'd come out. After that, we took the 15 minute drive to our Air BnB. The property was absolutely stunning. The house is massive - we only get part of it but it's enough. We had two bedrooms, kitchen area, living room area and bathroom. The house was set up high so we could look over Launceston. I loved it. It was cheaper than a hostel so we're the real winners here. We had a coffee and dropped our bags off. We hired an SUV because we had a lot of baggage - it wasn't big enough. We still have to sit with one in the backseat. We were starving so we drove to Woolworths to do a food shop and went straight back home for beans on toast for lunch. We were all sitting on the sofas with the heating on which was making us fall asleep. We got up and decided to go and explore Launceston. We went to the Catarac Gorge which is one of the main attractions for Launceston. It was a massive park with an outdoor swimming pool, lake and the longest chairlift in the world. The sun was out and the skies were so blue, what brilliant weather. It was chilling but you could feel the sun on your face. We got the chair lift over the whole of the pair which was amazing. The views were just incredible. When we got off, Steve noticed a wallaby sitting by the exit. We took photos and left him sitting there. First animal of Tasmania! We walked through the forest area which was gorgeous, we spotted another wallaby which let us fairly close to him. We went to a few lookout points and walked over the suspension bridge. What a great day so far. We went to the city and had a walk around shortly after. There wasn't much around, we went into a small quirky cafe for a coffee. The woman serving us told us to go to Seapoint which was a small walk along where the 'famous Launceston boats' were. The views did not disappoint. I got such great photos. We took a walk along the water and headed back to the car after about an hour. We were knackered. We drove back and got a cup of tea as soon as possible. Mel and I rang the car company to make a complaint. We didn't get anywhere because the sarcastic man on the phone had an answer for everything. I rang my dad beforehand to confirm I was in the right and to get a few complaint lines at the ready. I got in the shower, Mel and Jack made dinner. We had pasta bake with salad which was great. I done the washing up and Steve done the drying up, after slight persuasion. We're off to Cradle Mountain in the morning so an early night is in order. It's 2135 currently so time to get ready for bed. It's snowing tomorrow so hats at the ready. I can't believe I threw my coat out.