Vacation's End...

     Well, the time has come... Steve and I head home to Bellingham the day after tomorrow. It's been close to three months since we left the USA for adventures in New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand was a definite "bucket list" must for me, and I'm so glad we saw so much of both islands, even if it was at a rather whirlwind speed. Thank you to Kirra Tours and our fearless guide and bus driver, Dave! 
     Our goal for the Australia part of our voyage was to have plenty of time to leisurely bond with our five-year-old grand-twins, Olivia and Owen. Plus, lots of family time in Newtown along with some interesting side adventures outside of Sydney. Mission accomplished! Thank you Andrea, Adam, Owen, and Olivia!
     Steve and I are now ready to head home and settle back into our former lives. We're especially excited to see family and friends and our 7-month-old grandson Solomon!

Look who grew while we were gone!

     It's been a good 17+ months since we've slept in our own bed on Undine Street. Not living out of suitcases, duffle backs, and packs sounds extremely appealing right now. And even cold, winter weather sounds tempting after recent hot, sometimes sweltering days Down Under. No more sunhats and sunscreen for a while! As I write this, Steve is packing us up and trying to sort through and triage some of the stuff we've accumulated along the way.
     This past weekend we enjoyed the grand finale of our family time together. We rented two lovely cabins in Glenworth Valley -- beautiful, secluded, and quiet countryside near the Hawkesbury River. We were only 1.5 hours outside of Sydney, but felt fully immersed in nature. Extremely relaxing. Check out these hammocks and adjacent refreshing waterfall!

 

     And the view from our cabins...

 

     And kids being kids...

 

     Last week, while Adam was at work and the twins were at "vacation care," Andrea, Steve, and I took the train to Circular Quay where we dined on authentic French galettes at the crêperie named "Four Frogs." The restaurant was opened by four French guys who fell in love with Australia and decided to stay, but sorely missed their Breton crêpes and galettes. Délicieuses!

     After lunch we walked passed the Opera House and through the Sydney Botanical Gardens.

     There's not much more to report. We've had an amazing time with so many highlights. In New Zealand there was Christchurch, Doubtful Sound, Queenstown, Nelson, Wellington, Hobbiton, Rotorua, Auckland and so much more. We visited glowworms, pancake rocks, mud pools, geysers, glaciers, and Hobbit Holes! And saw oodles upon oodles of sheep!
     In Windang, Australia we loved our little beach apartment Airbnb and getting to know the locals. Our hosts were terrific, loaning us their bicycles, and inviting us to parties at their home. We became social members of the Windang Bowling Club, where we ate many an Aussie dinner and learned all about ham and meat raffles. We also loved living just five minutes from both the Pacific Ocean and Lake Illawarra. Plus, we were just a simple bus ride away from Wollongong -- the site of Steve's famous skydiving debut and my French conversation group.

 

     Tasmania was also fabulous and there is so much more there we still want to explore. And our return trips to the Blue Mountains and the charming town of Kiama did not disappoint.

Cataract Gorge, Launceston, Tasmania

 

Blue Mountains

Kiama



     All in all it's been a grand adventure. Until next time...

  

 

 

On to Hobart...

 

 

     On January 2, 2019 Andrea, Adam, Owen, and Olivia flew back to Sydney from Launceston. While Steve and I took a bus about two hours south to the largest city of Tasmania, Hobart, about double the size of Launceston and a lot busier.

 
     We were happy to just settle into our hotel, wander about, and visit the visitor center for sightseeing ideas. We arrived in town just after the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, an annual sailing event that brings loads of tourists to Tasmania. Plus, The Taste of Tasmania was still in full swing along the waterfront. It's the peak of summer here now and the height of tourist season Down Under. And it's hot!
     Steve and I separated for a bit that first afternoon and he stumbled upon an interesting place -- Mawson's Huts Replica Museum. Apparently in January 1912 a group of 18 scientists and technical folks under the leadership of geologist Douglas Mawson landed at Macquarie Island following a monthlong sea voyage from Hobart. It was the beginning of Australia's exploration of the Antarctic.

Macquarie Island vis-à-vis Australia and Antarctica

 
     From there the team headed south to Cape Denison on Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. There the expedition set about building two huts that would shelter them and their dogs for two years as they learned about survival at the South Pole. The huts had to withstand freezing blizzards and hurricane level winds. When the expedition team finally returned home in 1914, they left the huts behind with many of their personal effects. The huts lay frozen and undisturbed for 60 years! Starting in the 1970s efforts were begun to preserve the huts and their contents. Exact replicas of them can now be visited along the Hobart waterfront.

Cape Denison, Antarctica

     On our second day in Hobart, we were delighted to meet with Dany and Dave. Dear Seattle friend Veleta first met Dany around 30 years ago when they worked together as architects in Liverpool, England. About 20 years ago, Dany decided to move from England to Hobart. Lucky for us! Steve and I enjoyed a lovely lunch in the magnificent Hobart Botanical Gardens with them. And then they took us for a drive to the summit of Mt. Wellington. And finally a visit to their home and beautiful garden. Thank you, Dany and Dave, for such a perfect day!

Dany, Steve, and Dave
 

Dave, Dany, Sara

Hobart's Botanical Gardens

 

Dany in her own garden.

     On our final full day in Hobart, Steve and I decided to take an all-day tour to Port Arthur, a key reminder of Australia's convict past. Today Port Arthur is a World Heritage Site run by UNESCO, but it used to be known as the end of the line for repeat offenders who were "transported" to Van Diemen's Land (the old name for Tasmania).

     Located about 100 kilometers southeast of Hobart, the first convicts were sent to Port Arthur in 1830 to clear the site and build the British penal colony. From 1833 until its closing in 1877, Port Arthur was used to house criminals from throughout the colonies. By 1840 there were more than 2,000 convicts, soldiers, and civilian staff living there. The prisoners all worked and a variety of goods and materials were produced at the site, including: bricks, boats, furniture, shoes, and clothing. And when they died, their bodies were shipped to the nearby Isle of the Dead.

Remains of the penal colony at Port Arthur.

 

Church at Port Arthur -- all prisoners had to attend.

Isle of the Dead - where some 1,100 people (prisoners, soldiers, and staff) are buried.

A nice spot for a prison.

     On April 28, 1996, Port Arthur experienced another piece of its difficult history when it became the site of an horrific massacre. A mad gunman took the lives of 35 people and wounded 19 more. Today, there is a Memorial Garden on the former site of the Broad Arrow Café where 20 visitors and staff were killed. The killer's name is never mentioned. This tragedy became the impetus for massive gun reform in Australia and there has never been another mass murder since. Sigh, if only the US could learn the same lesson that it took Australians only one atrocity to figure out...

     Steve and I are now back in Sydney with the family. And in just 10 days we'll be flying home to the Pacific Northwest. That's all for now...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Happy New Year from Launceston!

     Steve and I just got back to Sydney after nine days in Tasmania. All six of us (Andrea, Adam, Olivia, Owen, Steve and I) flew from Sydney to Launceston in the northeastern part of the island. We spent five days there together, and then Steve and I took a bus south to Hobart for another three days after the others went home. For those of you who may have as little idea of Tasmanian geography as I did, here's a little map...
 

 
     Launceston is a quaint, charming, super tidy, colonial-looking town of about 100,000 people. It's chock-filled with 19th century buildings that have been maintained in excellent condition and really give the city its old-fashioned and yesteryear feel.

 

     A few blocks from our hotel/Airbnb was a lovely park simply named "City Park" that housed a collection of macaque monkeys - a gift from Japan, a small plant conservatory, and a handy playground for Owen and Olivia to enjoy.
     An easy walk from downtown Launceston is stunning Cataract Gorge. Steve and I only walked as far as the First Basin, and enjoyed every moment. We learned that the rock walls lining the trail through the gorge were largely constructed by convict labor. Yes, Tasmania was originally settled as a place for Great Britain to offload its criminals. Some of the native Tasmanians we met proudly let us know they came convict stock. But we also learned that being a "convict" often meant simply not having enough money to pay your bills back in Merry Olde England. Or stealing a loaf of bread to feed starving children. Or sleeping in someone's barn without their permission. (I'll write more about Tassie's convict past in the next blog entry about Hobart and Port Arthur.)
     As we walked through Cataract Gorge, we came to a beautiful rotunda building, peacocks, and a sweet café for our "afternoon tea." Then it was onto the chairlift across the river and over to the public pool where Andrea, Adam and the kids were waiting for us (they had driven over). While fooling around with the kids in the pool was a lot of fun, the highlight for me was taking a dip in the natural, rock formed pool. Just stunning and so peaceful!

 

      Earlier that same afternoon, Steve and I had taken a harbor tour boat ride from the city waterfront. We rode along the Tamar River and learned about the huge floods that hit the town in 2016. Apparently, in recent years Launceston has become a popular retirement community because of its beauty, relaxed pace of life, and housing prices that are much, much lower than anything in Sydney or Melbourne. We also learned that the Tamar River system is actually an estuary that runs all the way up to Bass Strait (the body of water separating Tasmania from the Australian mainland). The Tamar is Australia's longest tidal river. A couple of days later we drove all the way up to its northern tip.
     Another excursion was a trip to the Tasmania Zoo about 20 kilometers out of town. Because how can anyone go to Tasmania without seeing some Tasmanian devils? The zoo did not disappoint. We also saw wombats, meerkats, emus, wallabies, little blue penguins, and koalas. Plus, lions, many multi-colored birds, various monkeys, and a bunch of farm animals.

You little devil, you.

Baby wombat

Its really hard to see, but there is a sleeping koala in that gum tree.

Wallaby

Little blue penguins
 

Andrea, Olivia & Emus

 

Frogmouths

 

 Owen meets an ovine.

     At times during our stay we thought almost nobody lived in Launceston because the town was so quiet, the sidewalks never crowded, and there was hardly any traffic. But when we went to watch the fireworks along the Tamar River on New Year's Eve, it was a different story. That's where everybody was hanging out.

    
     But before the municipal fireworks, it was time for the family to celebrate Andrea's birthday. (Sorry, we couldn't be with you this December 31st, Zach!) We took her to the Jailhouse Grill and Andrea seemed to love her yummy mud pie dessert.

 
     Then it was time for family (9:30 PM) fireworks. Welcome to 2019!

     
     On January 2, our last day together, the six of us drove up the Tamar Valley all the way to Bass Strait. At the windy northern tip of Tasmania we found Low Head Lighthouse.

Low Head Lighthouse - built in 1888.

 

     
     We also greatly enjoyed the Low Head Pilot Station Museum with its many interactive exhibits and historical artifacts about navigation. Apparently, the stretch of water where the Tamar estuary runs into Bass Strait looks deceptively calm, but is actually quite treacherous with its strong current and hidden rocks. Since 1805, experienced boat pilots have been guiding ships in and out of the narrow and rocky tidal channel. But even with the pilots' best efforts, quite a few ships have crashed on Hebe Reef located in the mouth of the river. The last shipwreck was not that long ago -- in 1995. So even with modern 21st century navigational equipment, ship pilots are still needed today. And so is Low Head Lighthouse whose red light still warns vessels approaching Hebe Reef.
     Right next to the museum was a nice stretch of beach perfect for seashell combing. A good day was had by all!
     Coming next -- Hobart and Port Arthur...