Thursday, 7 September 00

3:42pm, ASP Airport; sunny, on the edge of hot

Just arrived, John's already run off to investigate something. Took a shuttle bus this time - since we were the last passengers on a nearly empty bus, it was no problem at all.

Friday, 8 September 00

6:50 am, Grosvenor Vista, Adelaide, Cloudy

not a good night. kept being woken up by partiers, in the parking garage next door, I imagine. I think I'm ready for my exams, but still worried.

Last night, we had glasses of white wine with our drink vouchers, then went out for a walk. It was windy and cool, but not unbearably so. Found 115 Grenfell, where I have to go this morning - it's no more than a 15 minute walk from here. Cool, no taxi. Nice walk... we went down to Victoria Square, where we'd seen a pie vendor van on the way in, and had a bit of dinner. On our way back, we saw we'd forgotten that a pie van was parked practically across the street from our hotel.

1:39pm

I PASSED! 93 core, 86 DOS/Win. It wasn't adaptive, and many of the questions I'd never seen before despite all my practice, but all in all, I'm happy. I'm A+ Certified!

After taking the tests, I met John at the Meyer Center (around 11am, and he was still in Dick Smith's). Picked up a tripod in Dick Smiths, some nuts, and a little Radio Shack am/fm portable radio. Need some AAA batteries though.

It was spitting rain this morning, kind of unpleasant, but now it's sunny and the sky is clear. I had a Yiros for lunch at the Meyer Center... looked at weather centers at Australian Geographic, will probably pick one up in Melbourne. We're just taking a little break now, then we'll go back through the Rundle Mall. We'll probably pick up dinner in Chinatown.

7:31pm

... Something just happened on the street below. there was a screeching, then somebody screaming. I think someone may have been hit in the crosswalk, and that sudden stop seems to have caused at least one other accident, as I watched a silver sports car be pushed through the intersection a couple of moments later. Can't see exactly what happened because there are buildings in the way.

It is quite noisy here... I hope I sleep better tonight. We walked for miles and miles today, though we actually didn't go very far afield.

After leaving here the second time, we wandered through Rundle Mall, and went down to the other Dick Smith's, and back through Rundle Mall again, and back to the Meyer Centre. John picked up a thermometer to match his barometer, I've been picking up odds and ends all day... nothing big, though, except for the tripod. I'll rig some way to carry it with the camera bag tomorrow.

Originally we were going to go to Glenelg, but we've changed our minds and will wander over to the botanical gardens instead. If the day is nice, I might suggest Glenelg for later, or the Central Markets and Chinatown. We didn't get down that way today. Instead, I bought dinner at the chinese place at the Meyer Centre food court.

I wrote this to send to friends and relatives tomorrow morning; thought I'd add it because it has some other observations.

"Woohoo! I took my A+ PC Technician certification exams yesterday morning, and passed with an 86% on DOS/WIN and 93% Core!

I felt much better after completing the exams, let me tell you. I was quite worried at first, especially when I discovered the tests weren't the 30 max questions Adaptive format, but the old, full 70 question version, with all the old questions I didn't study for. I had to remember how to do things in Windows 3.x which I haven't used in over 5 years. Guess my memory worked ok though :)

We're currently in Adelaide. Although it was raining yesterday morning, it was sunny most of the day, and though it was probably warm by local standards, it was cooler than we've seen for a while. We've done a bit of shopping, and walked miles and miles yesterday. Today we plan a leisurely morning, including a walk over to the Botanical Gardens. We were going to go to Glenelg, but right now it doesn't look like we will. We've been there before, but haven't seen the Gardens. We might then go down to the Central Markets and Chinatown for dinner. Who knows? We're on vacation, and are taking it minute by minute. Now the tests are over, my stress level has decreased markedly. My feet hurt though :)

The hotel we are in is very centrally located, but because of that it is quite noisy. We could throw rocks out the window (literally; no screens) and hit the casino parking garage.. lots of partiers going back to their vehicles last night, and since it is Fri night I'm sure it'll be even worse tonight. Ah, well. The guy at reception actually used to live in the Alice, and gave us a slightly better room than we were originally booked into, so we can't really complain.

Right now, enjoying some choice in our TV watching, and just hanging out. Hope all is well there!

Jodi"

Saturday, 9 September 00

7:31am Saturday, I think

Another bad night, but I might have gotten a bit more sleep - maybe. I'm very whiney this morning though, my eyes are dry and scratchy and hot, and I'm just not particularly happy this morning. Maybe I'll feel better after some coffee. Now I think I'll send the email.

7:55pm Still in Adelaide, last night.

rained on and off all day, but got some good sun as well. We went out around 9am, had breakfast at the Meyer Centre. I had a bagel and cream cheese, and a banana smoothie. We then walked to and through the Botanical Gardens (in and out of rain) and back through the mall, then back to the room. Hung out in the room for a while, then walked down to the Central Markets, which were closed, and Chinatown, which was also mostly closed. We ate at a little local Chinese restaurant just off of Chinatown. We figured that if Chinese were eating there, it was a good sign. The fact that the place filled right up (all 6 tables) was another good sign. The food was good. John had Kung Po Chicken, I had Schezuan Chicken.

We then walked down to the river, and back to the hotel. Got back around 6:00. I was shortsighted and only brought one pair of pants; they got filthy so I had to hand wash them. I can only hope they will be dry enough to wear tomorrow.

We have to get up early tomorrow, we have a 7am flight to Launceston, then a drive to Bicheno, where we have a penguin tour tomorrow night.

Sunday, 10 September 00

9:18pm Bicheno Berries Resort, cold, clouding up

Nice view of the ocean from here.

Hard to believe we were in Adelaide this morning... we woke up this morning around 5:00, had coffee in the room, then caught a cab to the airport - Was on the road from Launceston by 11:15am local (we're an hour ahead here). Had a quick lunch at Conara, a tiny little town, and got to Bicheno around 2 or 3pm. The drive here was nice, through eucalypt forests and fields of sheep. It was around 12C in Launceston, and I don't think it got much warmer. It was quite cloudy when we started, but was partly sunny a bit later.

Just outside of Bicheno, we stopped at the Blowhole, and I got some reasonably good pictures.

This room is in a building up on the hill, with a panoramic view of Great Oyster Bay. This is a self-catering place, with a kitchen and washer. We did a bit of laundry, which is hanging and on the foot of the bed to dry. There's no heat , except a portable radiant heater.

After a bit of a wander around town trying to find a place to eat, we finally decided to have dinner at the Beachside (?) tavern. John had roast lamb and I had Trevella, a local deep-sea fish. It was good, I supposed, but not as good as a Barra. During our wanders, we went down to the shoreline.

I don't love the ocean like some, but I really like to watch the motion of water on a rocky shoreline. I'm just fascinated by the patterns and movement, different every time. The ocean here is quite clear, with that pretty blue. I even saw an eight-legged starfish (very stubby legs) in a tide pool.

The penguin tour is quite interesting. Cold, though. We wander around quietly, with only the guide with a flashlight, and we could get quite close to the fairy penguins. I accidentally set off my flash, so I did get one good picture. The others will need lots of work, I might end up with one or two useable shots.

Monday, 11 September 00

7:10 am (the system clock is wrong) Blowin' a Gale!

It's been blowing a gale all night, I finally gave up and got up. It's fairly cold in this place, as I said all we have is a radiant heater, and it is pointed toward the bed. The T-shirts and undies dried, but most of the socks are still wet. We weren't set to get up until 7:45 this morning, so John is still abed. Good thing I got up though, I'd forgotten to reset the alarm clock to Tasmanian time, which is 1.5 hours later than NT/SA time. Also, I moved the still-damp clothing to the bed foot, it might be dry before John gets up. I wanted some extra sleep, but it's just too windy out, and the floor-to-ceiling picture window creaks alarmingly in the gusts. I'm trying to drum up enough courage to go take a shower - it's cooold back there!

Tuesday, 12 September 00

8:10am Port Arthur sunny, cold

Didn't do a log last night... we mostly drove, anyway. We got on the road around 9:00. We stopped at the Swansea Wine and Wool Centre, where I fully expected to purchase another wool sweater. There was hardly anything there though, so instead I bought some chocolate honey (which is quite good). We stopped for lunch in a little place called Oxford, which was interesting because there was a largish male fur seal sunning himself by the side of the road. He was fairly used to humans, and I got quite a good photo of him, without triggering any threatening response. A local trying to take a picture did cause a threat, but the seal didn't chase him off or anything.

Further down the road, we saw some Tesselated Pavement, then the Tasman Arch and Devil's Kitchen, and lastly another Blowhole, very different from the previous one.

We got in here around 4pm, dumped our stuff in the room, then went and explored the Historical Site. Today we plan on going back over to the Visitors Centre and seeing if we can get a harbor cruise - probably not, I think the first one is at 11:00am. Today we go to Hobart, which is quite close as the crow flies, but we have to go back up the peninsula first.

I've taken some very nice ocean photos - The coastline is convoluted and interesting.

7:46pm Hobart, partly cloudy.

We left the room around 8:30am, checked out, and then went back over to the visitors centre. Took another spin through the exhibits and around the site, re-determined that the first harbor cruise didn't run until 11:00, and left around 10. We took the long road back up the peninsula, stopped at the Tasmanian Devil Park & wildlife rehabilitation centre (which was quite interesting), ate lunch at Eaglehawk Neck, checking out the historic site there, changed drivers at Sorell, and arrived in Hobart around 4:30. We found our hotel (right downtown), made a quick survey of downtown, then drove up to Mount Wellington. An interesting, switchbacky, kinda narrow mountain road.

At the Devil park, we saw some somewhat scruffy Tasmanian Devils, plus many birds and some possums. We wandered through a kangaroo enclosure, and one mother allowed us to lightly touch her. I got some nice pictures of her and her joey. Eaglehawk Neck is a very narrow point on the Tasman Peninsula - basically a sandbar, looks like a good hurricane would turn the peninsula into an island. It was the main point of control to keep convicts on the peninsula.

Mt. Wellington rears up above Hobart, with no heights even close around it. It's only at 1250 meters(4101'?), but since Hobart is at sea level, that's still pretty impressive. There was snow at the top. It was very windy and very cold, but the view was fantastic, though somewhat obscured by clouds. Once we descended from that lofty place, we went over to Salamanca Place, where we ate at Irish Murphy's. We'd had a biggish lunch at Eaglehawk neck, so we ate light - John had pea and ham soup w/ soda bread, which he really liked, and I finally tried Oysters Kilpatrick - which was tasty, but I'll probably not have it again soon. I was curious though, because I noticed just about every eating establishment in Tasmania has them on the menu.

After dinner, we wandered along the waterfront, admiring a number of replica sailing ships. One of them, the Lady Nelson, goes on cruises on the weekends. Unfortunately, it's not the weekend. We did find the Drunken Admiral, which was recommended to me, but John couldn't find anything on the menu he really wanted. He did, however, find something he liked on the menu of the place across the street - baby back pork ribs. So I imagine that's where we will eat tomorrow night.

So far, tomorrow's plans include getting up at 6am, continental breakfast at 7am, get into the car at 8am, Cadbury tour at 9am, return to the room by 11am (hopefully), then shopping, and John wants to go to the Antarctica Center, so while he does that I'll explore Salamanca Place, then have a bite to eat at the 24 hour bakery there, read a book and wait for John to come out. right now he's thinking of going over there around 2pm. I'll probably buy some wood products here, there's a couple of items I have my eyes on.

Wednesday, 13 September 00

9:51pm

We did indeed get up around 6am. I got a really good night's sleep, even though it wasn't a full 8 hours. We ended up getting to Cadbury early, before 8:30. We hung out in the car for a bit, then went in early - checked out the souvenirs, etc. The tour was quite interesting. I was a good girl, though, and didn't buy *too* much stuff at the store - but did buy yet another polar fleece vest. I'm ready for snow at Cradle Mountain now! :)

Anyway, we got back around 10:30, and just about immediately went back out again. We shopped together for a while at the Elizabeth Mall and associated arcades. John spent enough time at Dick Smith's that I purchased a magazine, and went over to a nearby food court and had a bite to eat while I waited. Then, when we went down to Salamanca, we did just a tad of shopping together, then John went to the Antarctic Centre. I continued to shop, then stopped at the 24 hour bakery, bought some H20, and hung out reading a book for a while. I then shopped my way back to the room, getting back in shortly after 5pm.. John showed back up before 6, and we hung out until going on 7pm. Then we went across the street to the New Sydney Hotel and had dinner, a beer then a mead, and listened to a Celtic flavored band. we just got back about 1/2 hr ago. I repacked stuff, and am now just hanging out.

I purchased a bunch of stuff, mostly wood: a thermometer in Blackwood, a Sassafras bud vase, and a Sassafras foot massager. Also some more postcards, and a "flexi flask" for all the H20 I am drinking. Some other stuff too, that I can't quite remember now.

I'm having a good time on this vacation. I mostly manage not to think about that w word, and firmly squelch any thoughts that sneak through.

Tomorrow we have a fairly long drive to Derwent Bridge, so we are getting an early start - another 6am wakeup and 7am breakfast. Imagine we'll be on the road before 8am.

Have a lot of chocolate, both what I bought and samples. Nibbling at it bit by bit.

Well, gotta recharge this thing.

Thursday, 14 September 00

3:00pm Derwent Bridge Chalets, "Clair"

We lucked out and were upgraded to a spa chalet. It's a bit chilly, but it is a very nice, brand new cabin finished in Dec 1999. We arrived here quite early, around 11:00, but were allowed to check in. We then went down to Lake St. Clair, where we tried and failed to get a ferry ride around the lake. We had lunch and went for a walk instead. It started raining fairly heavily though, so we cut that short and ultimately returned to the cabin. We've been doing laundry and just hanging' out, enjoying the fireplace. It looks to have stopped raining at the moment, and I can see a bit of blue sky. We've been enjoying hot cocoa and coffee and tea, bits of our Cadbury cache, and snacks we picked up from the gas station next door.

The lake was very nice, but with the bad weather we couldn't see much - we could see snowy Mt. Olympus for a while, is all. I'm actually kinda sleepy, and could nap if given a chance.

I just remembered I left my tea on the kitchen table, I'd better go get it.

Friday, 15 September 00

6:43am Clair

BTW, aside from occasional rests, it rained most of yesterday, and rained quite steadily later on. Around 5 or so, it looked like it might be clearing up, so we went back out to Lake St. Clair. By the time we got there, it was clouding up again, but we went for a walk. Soon we could see the weather coming across Mt. Olympus, so we headed back. By the time we got back to the cabin, it was raining steadily, and continued the rest of the evening. We just hung around here, reading and conversing, and eventually made use of the spa and Port. Quite nice. Went to sleep around 10:30.

The bed was quite comfortable, and I slept well. John got up a couple times to tend the fire, which I thought was great. We've just gotten up, and John is currently taking a shower.

6:57pm Strahan. Cloudy, a bit windy, maybe 12C

The Olympics are about to start. We're not nuts about the whole thing, but what the hey! we have nothing better to do, unfortunately.

they're counting down... 120 stockmen...

Anyway. Woke up just before our 6:30 alarm, as I said before. Left the cabin at around 8:30 or so, went back to Lake St. Clair to check on the boat rides. Hardly anybody around, and the cloud cover was even lower than yesterday, so we hit the road.

We visited a nature trail at Franklin and Surprise rivers, which was very interesting. Before Australia, I didn't even realize temperate rainforests existed. The forest we walked through was very wet, very thick, with lots of moss and dripping. Looked a lot like some east coast US forests we've visited. There were some very large, old trees, but most of them had fallen, and one very old tree leaned badly.

Later, we stopped at Nelson Falls, a rather spectacular falls at the end of a short (500m) walk. On the way back (actually, almost all the way back) I stumbled, and as I was recovering from the stumble, my camera back swung around in front of me, throwing me off balance. I took a bad spill. Nothing broken, but both knees - especially the left - and both palms - again especially the left - are scraped. Bandages on the left knee and palm. The fall completely thrashed my pants. We stopped in Queenstown, where I picked up bandages, antibiotic, and a new pair of jeans. The jeans are quite nice, actually, an almost black charcoal gray, but they're tight - it's been years and years since I've worn jeans, and I'm just not comfortable in them any more.

Strahan isn't much past Queenstown, so we got here around 2:30 or so. We are at Gordon Gateway Chalets, and we're in a studio room. Quite pleasant, actually, and it has a nice view of Strahan across the little bay. After we dropped off our stuff, we returned to Strahan to try to organize our local entertainment. Our first choice, after a discussion, was a sailboat cruise and crayfish dinner. That required a minimum 4 passengers, and we were the only ones interested. It was suggested we come back at 5:00 to see if anybody else booked. Our second choice was a helicopter ride out to a Huon Pine forest, again there was a minimum number of passengers, plus low cloud cover. That we have to check in on tomorrow morning at 8:30. We'd already been shopping (which took all of 15 minutes, Strahan's business district is VERY small), so we returned to the room, and ate dinner at the local tavern at Regatta Point. We had some very, very good T-Bone steaks ($9.50 for a T-Bone, chips and salad - very good deal!). I didn't finish my steak or my chips, guess my stomach is smaller with the dieting. I also cut off most of the fat (and I really like crispy steak fat!) and ate only the whites of the boiled curry eggs.

I think I've gained a little weight back on this trip. The new jeans should give me some incentive to stick to my diet better. 'Course, I have a bag of Doritos Sweet & Spicy 3Ds on the counter..

Still watching the Olympic opening ceremony, imagine it'll go on for a while.

Saturday, 16 September 00

4:19pm Cradle Mountain. Cloudy, a bit of blue, chilly

Yes, I got into the 3Ds almost immediately after finishing the log. Woke to a beautiful, sunny morning in Strahan. Unfortunately, there wasn't a third passenger for the helicopter ride, so we booked a jet boat ride up the King river instead. The King river was badly damaged by outflow from the Queenstown copper mines, and hasn't really started recovering yet - tailings were dumped directly into the river until 1994. for the most part, the damage seems to be confined to the shores, the trees above the river are as lush as anywhere else. It was an interesting ride - we got running commentary, but he also did high speed maneuvers in an out of the banks, and any time he wanted to stop and talk about a stop, he did a spin. It was all quite fun, but my head didn't like the spins that much. I couldn't take many pictures, though, which is unfortunate.

After that, we had some little danishes at the Strahan Bakehouse, visited the Huon Pine sawmill (John found a piece of wood for his weather center, I got some more coasters), then continued. Passing through Zeehan and Rosebery, we arrived here between 2 and 2:30. We lost the sun partway through the journey, but it hasn't been raining, for which I'm grateful.

After we got settled in, we walked over to the shop, then over to the visitors centre. We took the "Rainforest Walk", then walked back over to Reception, booking dinner for 6pm, and I'm going on a 2 hr horseback ride at 1pm tomorrow.

The plan for the rest of the day is to go to happy hour at 5pm, then dinner at 6. There's a couple of activities in the evening, but since everything costs here ($18 usually) I'm not sure what I want to do. A bag of Doritos cost $5.00.

So far the plan for tomorrow is to have breakfast in the room, then drive up to Dove Lake, walk the lake circuit, and come back by 12:30. Do the horseback ride, come back. Wine and Cheese presentation at 5, and dinner (snack) in the tavern bar after.

8:15pm

Dinner was good, but expensive. John had venison (which was excellent) and I had Ostrich - which was also very good, and which I'd never had before. I was surprised to find it was a red meat. I also had a chocolate pudding which was excellent. John wants to go over to the lodge at 9 and see if the movie's playing... I'm not sure if I'll go over or not, as I've gotten into my pjs and I don't know if I want to get dressed again. Plus, it's raining. whine, whine whine.

John soundly trounced me in two games of backgammon, I can't get him to play a third, so I'm gonna play solitaire. so there :)

Sunday, 17 September 00

3:54pm Cradle Mountain. Windy, rainy, cold.

Later in the evening, John went to the lodge and didn't come back, so I got dressed and went down there as well. Saw a bushtail possum on my way down. John was watching cycling on the Olympics, so I had a Highland Mint and hung out a bit.

This morning, we went out to Dove Lake at about 9:30am. The weather wasn't great, but it wasn't truly horrid either, so we walked around the lake. It rained on and off and was windy in some places... took us about 1 hr 40 minutes or so.

I did go for the 2 hr ride... the weather worsened, and the ride wasn't nearly as much fun as i was hoping. I did enjoy it, though. Even with high winds, sleet and a bit of snow. I rode a 15 year old pinto mare named Pastel, who was evil to the other horses because apparently the horse Craig, the guide, rode had stolen the Alpha position from her. Every time that horse and one other got near her, her ears would go flat back and once she did try to kick. I pulled her in a tight circle, and that got her attention. I did have to "speak" to her occasionally about this attitude, but I had no further major problems.

We rode to the top of a plain - it's supposed to be an awesome view, but with the rain all we saw was lots of button grass and gray sky. That's where it was highly windy, and blowing sleet at us. We went along this old road for a while, then turned around and went back. This time we went at a good trot, and got through the uncomfortable bit much quicker. Pastel wasn't the quickest horse, so I even got her into a canter a couple of times. Now I'm back and trying to warm up. I'm sure I'll be quite stiff tomorrow, trying to decide if it was worth it.

Monday, 18 September 00

7:49pm Best Western, Launceston. Windy

Quite a letdown from Cradle Mountain, oh well.

We went to a wine and cheese presentation last night, which was interesting. I'll never be a wine expert, however, and I couldn't even tell you which was my favorite wine. My favorite cheese, however, was a Lancashire style cheese made with mountain pepper berry.

Last night was extremely windy, windy enough that back drafts kept putting the flames out. I suggested that we forget the wood fire and turn on the heater, but John wanted to keep the fire going. So 3am, he sees the fire's out, and gets it running. it goes out, he gets it going again. Finally, the place filled up with so much smoke it set the fire alarm off. After that, he finally left the fire alone. it was cold in the room in the morning, but not terribly so, and the fire was easy to start. The weather was terrible still, raining, windy and quite cold. by the time we got 20 miles out though, it was clear and sunny. Figures.

We got here around noon. The parking lot is on something like a 45 degree vertical. So is much of Launceston, near as I can tell. Once we got settled, we went out to explore downtown. Not much shopping, but I did pick up a few things. We had dinner at a quasi-food court, then John went back to Dick Smith's and I walked home. I've repacked my bag(s), as I'm going to have to check in my carryon.

Tonight has been "finish off all the munchies" night... finished off the crackers, the soda, and John's Pringles. I picked up a wedge of mountain pepper cheese, which was quite good with the crackers. I just have one packet of soup left, if John doesn't finish it off later.

It is extremely windy out. I'm getting very tired of wind right now.

Tuesday, 19 September 00

9:25pm Melbourne, Travel Inn

No problem getting from Tazzie to Melbourne, but it was sad to leave. I'll miss all that green. We got into Melbourne around noon, settled into the room, then went out shopping. We had dinner at La Spaghetteria - a corny name, but my Fettuccine Primavera was quite good.

Wednesday, 20 September 00

9:57pm Melbourne, Travel Inn

Man, that was a short one. Left out all sorts of stuff - though mostly shopping tales. When we arrived in town yesterday, it was sunny, clear, and fairly warm. By the time we headed home, though, it was raining fairly seriously, and we were quite wet. It rained all evening, as well.

Today we got up around 7:30, and went over to the shot tower for breakfast. I didn't mention the shot tower yesterday, but it's an old tower, used to make lead shot and pipes. What's different about this shot tower is that a mall was built around it and over it, leaving the tower untouched. There are a couple of stores in the tower, and many stores around it. Quite interesting! Also in that building is a big pocket watch (about 10 or 15' tall) that opens up on the hour and plays Waltzing Matilda. AND... a huge LCD screen as well, which was of course showing the Olympics.

After breakfast and watching the watch <g>, we went out shopping again. Noon came by very very quickly, and around 2:00 we headed back to the room. Around 4 we went back out again, meaning to catch the circle tram and ride it around. However, the trams were in for repair and the reduced service meant the last tram finished at 3:00. So we walked on down to Flinders Station and caught a tram down to St. Kilda Pier. Wandered around there for a while, John did his usual 'touch the water' bit, then we caught the tram back up to Bourke & Swanston, and walked home from there. John was having some serious contact problems, so we returned to the room before going back out for dinner, contrary to our original plans. We had some very good Gyros for supper.

Now we're back, and packed for our return tomorrow. It was a very good trip, too fast as usual, over almost before it began, even though this is one of the longest vacations I've taken. It's been fun though!