More than a week's worth...some of our time was decidedly low tech!

Monday, 8 February 2010

I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning reading Jodi Picoult's Salem Falls. Then I awoke early to Skype with the kids in Israel. Then I went back to bed until noon! Tonite we went to the movies in Palmerston Nth. Hugh Grant is always nice to look at, but Did You Hear About the Morgans is a forgettable movie. Afterward we went to dinner and then home for an early night.

Tuesday, 9 February

This morning we went back over to Palmerston Nth. The camera Buzz bought (see last week's blog) doesn't seem to work! The camera store guy didn't have a clue, so Buzz has decided to fiddle with it himself. Something with the lens. I did laundry and began the packing for our trip to Tasmania and Melbourne. We leave tomorrow. Tonite we went to Lloyd and Krista Evans home for dinner. they have built a new home on a hill on the west side of Feilding, and the view is marvelous. They are doing most of the landscaping themselves...too much like work! It was a lovely meal and great conversation. When we lived here, Lloyd was the first NZ man who was interested in talking with me about the "world situation" instead of staying on the "mens" side of the room drinking beer!

Wednesday, 10 February

We just had a quiet day and left for the airport around 5PM. Air New Zealand had to change our flights; so they put us up in and airport hotel in Auckland tonight. There is no security check at the Palmerston North Ariport. They don't even ask for identification when you check in! We leave for Tasmania tomorrow morning.

Thursday, 11 February 2010
We got the 6am shuttle to the Auckland Airport and were on our way to Melbourne around 7:30am. The four-hour flight was fine. There isn't much to say about airline travel…line up, sit down, read, eat, line up, and leave. We had a short stopover in Melbourne where we changed planes for the one-hour flight to Launceston, Tasmania. In Launceston we collected our rental car…a spacious, new Ford Falcon and made our way to the city. Our hotel, Balmoral on York, is just a five-minute walk from the CBD (Central Business District for the uninitiated). We split up and had a walk around town. I found my way to the Information center and bought a very detailed touring map of Tasmania; so we should be set for the week. Dinner was lovely at La Cantina including a carafe of homemade rose wine.

Friday, February 12, 2010

We had breakfast at the hotel, loaded up the car and set out to travel to 200km to Hobart. The Midlands Highway to Hobart goes through several lovely small towns that seem to be almost of another era. Evandale and Campbell town were two of my favorites. In Campbell Town the main street footpath has a row of bricks memorializing many of the convicts who were transported to Australia. As you can imagine, with stops for antiques and historic sites, the 200km drive took almost seven hours! Our Hobart hotel is ok. We have decided to stay two nights instead of three. The most annoying thing is that Internet access is AUD 0.78/minute with a cap of AUD 29.00/day…outrageous. Hobart is an easy city to get around. Max spoke to someone who recommended Fish Frenzy, a restaurant on the Elizabeth Street Wharf. The food was delicious, and we enjoyed sitting on the wharf and watching the people go by.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

This morning we had breakfast at the hotel and set off for the Salamanca Market down near the wharf. It was interesting, but an hour was more than enough time to peruse the stalls. After the market, we did our tour of the antique shops in Hobart and New Norfolk. We traveled a small secondary road with really beautiful scenery one-way and returned to Hobart on the main road. Not that the main road scenery isn’t lovely in itself! In the evening we went to a mall Mexican restaurant for dinner. I must admit I was suspicious of a Mexican restaurant in Hobart, but the food was excellent. From there we went to a free concert by the Tasmania Symphony Orchestra under the stars in Glenorchy’s Tolosa Street Park. You couldn’t actually see the stars, but the concert, including soprano soloist Jacqueline Porter and a rousing encore featuring JP Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, was lovely.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

After breakfast, we loaded up the car and headed to Port Arthur. PA is the semi -preserved site of a convict penitentiary settlement. It was actively used from about 1820-1870 and then abandoned. The preservation didn't begin until the 1970s. The convicts housed here were recidivists. In Australia in the early 1800s that meant they had been transported from England for stealing a loaf of bread or some clothing and had done something equally heinous after arriving in Australia. There were, of course, serious criminals, but most were petty thieves. We had a short, guided tour of the site and a cruise in Port Arthur Harbor.

From Port Arthur we began our drive to Swansea on the east coast. Part of the drive, by choice, was along a one lane, unpaved road through the mountains. We were rewarded with beautiful vistas. We returned to the main road sooner than planned because part of the road was closed. We arrived in Swansea late in the afternoon.

Monday, February 15, 2010

The Swansea Motor Inn is "absolute beachfront". We have rooms opening onto patios about one minute walk from the beach. Last night we settled in, sat on the patio and relaxed, and then went out to dinner at the hotel next door. We were fortunate that the hotel had a large tour bus group, and the dinner was a delicious buffet!

This morning dawned sunny and warm. I did the laundry in the shower and put it out on the patio table and chairs to dry. Then Buzz and I went for a walk along the beach and onto a path that goes along the headland. The walkway is named for the unpronounceable Loontitermairrelehoiner Aboriginal tribe. Around lunchtime we stopped at the Bark Mill Tavern to get some takeaway lunch for a picnic on Nine Mile Beach. We drove out to the end, had our picnic and a walk along the beautiful beach. On our way back to town, Buzz left me at the library for my Internet fix.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

This morning we reluctantly left Swansea. We shot through the towns we had already visited. At Sheffield, there is a factory where they make beautiful marbles. I bought one as my Tasmania memento. After a quick stop in Devonport to check for Antiques, we arrived at the Beachway Motel in Ulverstone. (near but not ON the beach) Buzz and I had a nap, Cathy and Max explored the town center. We had a wonderful fish dinner at Pedro’s on the waterfront.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010
This morning we drove west along the Bass Strait Highway as far as Stanley. There we walked a bit through the old fishing village, had lunch and then took the chairlift to the top of “The Nut”, the mountain that dominates the landscape. The views from the top are spectacular. I don’t now how I will be able to edit the photos. We made a few stops on the way back to Ulverstone including the Makers World exhibit where there are interesting Australian craftspeople displaying and demonstrating their work. Unfortunately, the original work is interspersed with stuff made in India or China; so you have to take care if Australian made is your goal. We returned to Ulverstone around 5:30, had our usual pre-dinner siesta and a very good meal in the motel restaurant.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

We left Ulverstone this morning and stopped in Latrobe…you guessed it, antiques! We also went to Windemere to see the work of a wood craftsman. His work is beautiful furniture, mirror frames, boxes. It was worth the stop. We had lunch in Kingsmeadow, and now we are waiting at the Launceston Airport for our plane to Melbourne.

Our hotel in Melbourne is the Windsor, established in 1883. It is perfectly located for a look around the city. After getting settled in, we had a walk and dinner in Chinatown. At the entrance of each restaurant is a young person touting the virtues (and dinner specials) of the establishment. We picked one and had a good meal.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Today we slept late and then took the free tram around the city. We got off the tram near the Melbourne Museum, and spent the rest of the day there until it closed. As we have found in past trips, Australia is trying very hard to come to terms with its history in relation to its indigenous people. The museums, in particular, are doing a great deal to show how things really were in the early days of settlement. The Indigenous Peoples exhibit at the Melbourne Museum is excellent. The other part of the museum is science and natural history. In all, a very satisfying experience. In the evening we had an early dinner with Cathy and Max. They went off to see "Jersey Boys", and we went to the Bennet's Lane Jazz Club for a nite of good music.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Another late start and then we were off by subway to the Melbourne Zoo. The day was very hot. Buzz was in his element, but I faded fast. After a couple of hours at the zoo, we returned to the city for a rest in the cool of our room. We had planned to go to an outdoor concert this evening, but Cathy and I agreed we were too tired and just went out for dinner instead You will note there is nothing in the Melbourne section of this blog about shopping. I understand there is some of the best shopping in the world here, but I resisted!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

This morning we got up early so we could Skype with the kids who are together celebrating Robyn's birthday at Heather's house. It seems very appropriate to call her from Australia for her birthday. Laura and Jon were there with Zev, and he can point to his eyes, ears, nose, etc. So cute. Then, at 9am it was time to begin our journey back to New Zealand from Melbourne. The only excitement of the trip was that we had a very close connection from Auckland to Palmerston North. We had an hour to get through passport control, pick up our luggage, go through customs and biosecurity, walk the 10+ minutes to the domestic terminal, get our boarding pass, and recheck our bags. As we were about to start the walk to the domestic terminal, Buzz realized he hadn't taken his backpack (holding our books, binoculars and computer) off the xray belt. It took about ten minutes to get it, and we were on our way. As it turned out, we were the first people on the plane! David Broad was waiting to take us home, and we are back in Feilding until Saturday.