The last 2 weeks at Tranquil Point were busy ones! I had the opportunity to travel up the east coast to Port Arthur and Wineglass Bay. Per my usual habit…I really had no plan other than Ben suggested I go for a visit. As luck would have it, my iPad stopped working the morning I left. My MAIN source to keep in touch with everyone and look up EVERYTHING, including directions! I was able to borrow a handy GPS which got me from place to place but, truth be told, I felt totally lost without my Apple technology!
First stop, historic Port Arthur. Port Arthur is the site of an old penitentiary. From 1833-1853 Port Arthur was a convict settlement for the hardest of convicted British criminals. Consequently, it is also the site of a 1996 mass murder..the worst in modern Australian history. Incredibly interesting, but a grim first stop. Espeically since I did a ghost tour of the property the night I arrived. Not smart for a girl who can\’t even flip passed a murder mystery program on TV without getting scared! Based on the Tasman Peninsula, Port Arthur\’s surrounding area is dotted with beautiful beaches and great hikes. I was able to take my mind off the prison with the stunning views of the ocean from viewpoints at the tops of rocky cliffs…some of the highest in all of Australia. I was however, reminded that the height of those cliffs was one of the reasons Port Arthur was so ideal for a convict settlement. I\’m still working on banishing the memory from my brain!
Next stop, Freycinet National Park. I drove for what seemed like an endless 2 and half hours. Passing rolling green pastures and an endless amount of sheep. I was convinced I was lost without my handy google map on my iPad and found myself really hungry for rack of lamb! I passed A LOT OF SHEEP!
My primary goal at the Park was to see Wineglass Bay. If you have never heard of it google it! Wineglass Bay has been listed as one of the top 10 beaches in the WORLD. I consider myself a beach connoisseur. Although the pictures online looked amazing, I thought no way can it look like that in person.
Well, to start the park is surrounded by red and pink granite mountains. So far, stunning. Next, the view point of the beach from above…also stunning and true to the pictures I saw online. It took about an hour to hike down to the beach. As you hike down you can\’t see the beach. It\’s just woods, no sight of a beach. I was getting skeptical again. The hike finally ended and the trail opened up to a beach with the whitest sand I had ever seen. The ocean in front of me was the absolute, most breathtaking, crystal clear blue water and the pink granite mountains are the backdrop. There wasn\’t a single person in sight. Just unbelievable. It is without doubt, the most beautiful beach I have ever seen.
Back at Tranquil Point it was life as usual. Yoga. Yoga. Yoga. Part of living or staying at Bikram Yoga Tranquil Point you must adopt to a few simple rules: No drugs, alcohol, electronics, magazines, hair dryers…AND no coffee. All in the name of keeping life simple. My primary concern was the coffee.
I have had a few conversations with Ben about coffee and is it really an addiction. I have broached the topic many ways…I don\’t get headaches, I don\’t really need it, I just like it, I\’m NOT ADDICTED. It was somewhere around week 1 of me being here that I suddenly I found myself drinking LOADS of herbal tea to distract me from not having a cup of coffee in my hand. Than I found myself drinking Dandelion Tea…primarily because the side of the box said it makes a great cup of Cappuccino…close enough to coffee and still thinking I am not addicted. The first time I was out in town in my new favorite place on the planet, Red Velvet Lounge, I had 2 cups. Delicious. The next week I was headed back to the Red Velvet Lounge, I was counting the SECONDS to order a \”long black coffee\”. Clearly, it is my kyptonite. I think rock bottom of my addiction came when I was at the Organic shop one morning and I was actually considered purchasing a jar of INSTANT coffee! Maybe, just maybe I\’m addicted. I say that as I sit sipping my third cup of coffee.
The organic shop by the way is in Maryanne\’s garage down the street and it is LOADED with every grain, nut, rice, oil, vinegar, sugar, bean, pasta, tea, or any other cooking item you could ever wish for! If a natural disaster or otherwise ever strikes the U.S. follow me out on the first flight to Tasmania. We\’re headed to Maryanne\’s! Between the organic shop, Ben-the ex-military guy turned yogi, and the 80 year-old world champion wood chopping/ax throwing neighbor a movie could be made on this little town! .
The food has been amazing in Tasmania and at Tranquil Point. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are cooked at the house. Every morning a fresh juice is prepared to have after class. A mix of anything from apple, kale, celery and ginger to oranges, lemon, Swiss chard and cabbage. Followed by what will one day undoubtable be known as world famous Tranquil Point porridge. Loaded with nuts, seeds, dried fruit and a few SECRET ingredients. I keep saying Tranquil Point needs to publish a cookbook. To which Ben says, it will be filled with empty pages because there are no recipes. Everything is made based on what came out of the garden or what\’s in season from the local organic shop. Everything is simple, fresh and delicious.
The weather has been chilly to say the least. There were a few solid days without too much sunshine. Clearly my definition of spring was not the right one…flip-flops and light shirts wasn\’t exactly cutting it. Layering with every warm item of clothing I packed was more like it. In the last few days I was here the wind seemed to get stronger, more and more unrelenting and colder. The morning would be quiet and sunny. I would turn around the sky would get grey, the water would turn rough and the wind would start. I never bothered to check the wind speed because it almost knocked me down a few times when I walked outside. It was surely hurricane speeds! Long Island would be boarded up and supermarkets would be emptied out anticipating a natural disaster of some sort. Not here…it was just another day of 4 seasons in one 24 hour span….it was spring after all. I can\’t lie, I was starting to wonder how anyone could live with this weather! The sun finally came out and the wind died down a day before I was leaving for New Zealand. I sat and watched the sunset in my flip-flops, without my layers and just like that Tasmania again became just absolutely stunning. I\’m not sure much can compare with my experience and the great people I have met here at Tranquil Point.
