The Most Beautiful Water in the World: The Blue Eye

I suppose technically the flora in the water is what`s beautiful, however the crystal clearness of the water lets it be seen and the way it ripples in the sunlight contributes to the beautiful ambience.

Climbing Europe`s Most Active Volcano

Mt. Etna is the first volcano I had ever climbed. It was also the first time I had a search party sent out for me.

Driving a Motorbike Across Vietnam.

Honestly, driving is one of my worst fears. And part of the reason for that fear that I'm terrible at it.. kinda like SpongeBob.  back home I often made the mistake of driving on the wrong side of a one-way road.. or not noticing curbs and driving over them.. the cars that I owned would fall apart, um, literally. I'd get honked at and/or yelled at almost every time I drove to the beach. and then there was that one time I crashed into a tree after attempting to turn too swiftly, or that time I tried to park and grinded against the car in the parking space next to it.. or that time I hit a fence.. or when I went on a road trip but my car didn't come back with me (for a reason I'd rather not say) -__-  ,etc. The point is; I fucking hate driving. 

So, I surprised even myself when I went to Vietnam and bought a motorbike while having zero prior motorcycle driving experience at all and then driving it across the country from the north to the south. 

Walking the Huashan Plank Path With No Safety Equipment

Yes, this is really the trail..

                                                                                 

Visit the World's Oldest Rainforest and Walk the World's Longest Canopy Walk

Taman Negara literally means "National Park" in Malay. Yeah, they seriously named a national park, national park! 

Anyway, It's also the world's oldest rainforest and I saw so many bizarre, freaky bugs. One of the Main reasons I went was because it's also home to the World's Longest canopy walk! good, so I could knock out 2 World's most something at once!

this big butterfly or moth was in the vehicle on the way there

Visiting the sacred rock in the middle of nowhere

 I had managed to find myself a ride to Alice Springs. Which is a town with a decent amount of establishments surrounded by a land ocean like much of the overwhelmingly vast outback is.
Like most who come to Alice Springs, my next goal was to visit the famous Uluru.
But unlike many, I did not want to take a tour.  But I wasn't able to find a rideshare so I ended up taking a tour. However, I'm so glad that I did. I met a lot of cool people on that tour and made some friends. 

  Uluru is way out there and to my surprise, tours were good priced.. I went with Mulgas adventure company and It includes more than just Uluru, There's King's canyon and a few other sites as well.
Like this place for example:

  

                                                                                                        Our guide seemed to be super uncomfortable whenever I stood close to edges.. which I did alot.

Wild Tasmania

While in Melbourne, I made a spontaneous decision to go to Tasmania. The plan originally was to spend a few days checking it out. But as usual, I ended up staying a lot longer.  

Hobart

I met a local man named Sam on Couchsurfing.org and joined in a roadtrip along with a few others heading north to Launceston. I soon learned that Tasmania was full of wilderness and nature. It's home to a lot of wildlife that I had never seen before. like this echidna below.

When we spotted this echidna, I was full of excitement because I'm a big Sonic the Hedgehog fan and the character Knuckles is an echidna. although the real life version of an echidna looks a bit different.

  Anyway, I was told that echidnas have terrible eyesight.. and that's why I could get close to it while it was eating. 

Actually, I don't really like referring to animals as "it" but I have no idea if it was a male or female. Ok, I'll just say He because Knuckles the Echidna is a male and that's what I correlate echidnas with.

perhaps, I wasn't able to get close just because of the bad eyesight because I also touched him and he didn't run away, he only flared his spikes slightly.

Another thing that excited me in Tasmania was this super blue lake..

Look how amazingly unusually blue it is.. LOOK AT IT!!

I'd never seen any lake like that!

By the way, here's a pic of a map with the blue lake labeled on it..

Septic. Household. Industrial. Tank.
Hahahahaha

We also visited a few more places... 

A Sponge

looks like spaghetti

Many who I met in Tasmania seemed very outdoorsy. As you probably can tell by now. 

Sam told me that his favorite place in Tasmania was Maria island. I took his recommendation and took  a ferry there. 

So, Tasmania is an island near mainland Australia, and Maria island is an island near mainland Tasmania.  Also the entire Island is a national park.

Which also means there's an entrance fee. But I, Mr. Bridgeford, the Great Vagabond found a way around it.

Well, actually no I didn't. I owe my free entrance into Moria Island to a man named Maxeem. He was travelling around by bicycle and also loved to visit communities. 
He also had a national park pass that he borrowed from someone else. 
The park ranger at the entrance was nice enough to let us both in under "his" pass. 

In this picture is a wombat

Maxeem

We walked for a long time before finding a place to camp. Maria island had a ton of wildlife. Especially wombats, which are well known for pooping in a cubic shape despite having a round butthole. 

One of the first things that probably pops up in someone's mind when hearing the word Tasmania is Tasmanian Devils. The animal is an icon of Tasmania and even has "Tasmania" in it's name! So, I was a bit surprised to learn that a disease identified in 1996 has endangered the population. :( 

To learn more about the devil's and the devastating disease, click this link.

These pics below were known as the painted cliffs.

No one lives on Maria Island except for park rangers and maybe ghosts. There are many old buildings around where people once lived. 

my arm looks a little weird in this picture?

After Maria Island, I was back in Hobart again.
But it wasn't long before I went on another road trip. This time with a Swedish guy.

There is one last highlight of Tasmania I must mention, The Gordan Dam.
One thing that I was extremely interested in doing was Abseiling the Gordan Dam as it is the world's highest commercial abseil.

But it costs about $200 and a minimum of 2 people is required to make the reservation. Also there is no public transportation to it and they require you to find your own way there. 

I wasn't able to find another willing to do it with me while I was there but someday I want to return.
I had done many adrenalin filled activities recently in New Zealand which caused a blow in my bank account so perhaps, later is better.  It's nice to leave a place sometimes with reasons to return.
While on the road trip with my Swedish friend we did make a detour to the dam.
It was far out in the middle of nowhere. We were the only people there when we arrived, no workers.

Alright, do you those things along the left and right sides of the dam. Those are  steps on something like a big ladder. So we decided to do some urban exploration and climb down the dam.  But, Of course there was a locked gate we had to dangerously climb over first to get to the steps..

the ladder

Well, that's all I got to say about Tassie for now. It's a great place and I'm sure I'll be back.. thanks for reading.

Oh yeah, and I also peed down the dam!