Tasmania - Day 2 continued

After Port Arthur we headed touristically back towards Hobart - stopping quickly at pretty much every scenic lookout we could find:

Palmers Lookout
Remarkable caves
Devils kitchen
Tasman Arch
Blowhole
Tesselated pavements
Federation Chocolate Factory (not so much a scenic lookout but a must-see certainly)

It was a couple of tired little teddy bears who grabbed takeaway on New Town and headed back to the hotel to put our feet up.

Tasmania - Day 2 (Port Arthur)

An earlyish start today as we wanted to take advantage of the good weather and visit Port Arthur.

First though we headed for the (included) buffet breakfast and fuelled up for the strenuous days sightseeing ahead - toast, bacon, eggs, hash browns, and fruit salad (yes really - I had fruit salad for breakfast) before hitting the tourist trail to Port Arthur.

Brief stops at Richmond (historic bridge)& the Abel Tasman monument arriving at Port Arthur in time for morning tea.

Having been to Port Arthur some 30 years I'd forgotten how powerfully atmospheric it is - it has changed quite a bit - after the 1996 massacre parts of the visitors centre & cafe complex were pulled down and/or rebuilt.

The entry fee includes a 20 minute harbour cruise - it's interesting to see the site from the water - and unlimited wandering arond the site (some 40 hectares iirc) .

It's difficult to explain how cold and eerie the (former) penitentiary can feel on a bright, sunny winters day - sketches and photos explain what & how the various rooms rooms were used.

There is such a lot to take in.

The memorial for the victims of the 1996 massacre is a simple, but extremely moving, garden (with reflecting pool) on the former site of the Broken Arrow cafe (where many of the victims were murdered).

It is a lovely tribute and quite overwhelming in its simplicity.

I think Port Arthur is one of those places that you need to visit more than once.

There is just so much to take in...

Tasmania

After spending most of July and a fair bit of August being sick - think bad head cold that never left- I finally recovered enough to have a holiday.

Sometime ago Jetstar had $30 each way fares Melbourne/Hobart (including luggage) and I persuaded TappingBetty to accompany me.

She had never been to Tassie.

I had been to Tassie once; ** years ago on a school trip.

We arrived in Hobart shortly after 8am, picked up our rental car - a (Hyundai Getz)

and headed for North Hobart and our Hobart base - Rydges North Hobart.

On the subject of rental cars - most (if not all) guidebooks recommend that you don't make it obvious to to would be thieves that you're driving a rental car. Kind of difficult with a large Hertz sticker on the back window, Hertz label on the number plate casing, smallish hertz sticker on windscreen, hertz sticker on dashboard.

Anyway back to Hobart - Day 1.

After checking in (and discovering that TappingBetty's camera had failed somewhere between dinner last night and Hobart this morning) we left the car to coffeehouse with another Hertz rental at Rydges and, for some crazy reason, walked into Hobart City Centre.

Our first stop, armed with tourist brochures, was a coffee shop for breakfast and a brochure perusal.

The weather was sunny (and windy) so we opted to start the day by exploring Hobart. Our first stop was a camera shop where the demise of TB's camera was confirmed and she replaced it with a bright pink 10 mp model.

Next up we meandered in the general direction of the Visitor Information Centre and after a stop there for more brochure perusal & maps we headed, mini cupcakes in hand, for the waterfront and a gentle stroll (more an amble really) in the direction of Salamanca Square and Battery Point.

After wandering around Battery Point we descended to sea level and bought fish n chips which we ate watching the docks.

Off to check out Parliament House then a lazy amble back to the hotel to check in. Our room was excellent - a twin suite overlooking North Hobart football ground which meant some good scenery watching the teams train.

We decided we'd done enought walking for the day so we picked up the car & drove to Rosny point lookout, then down to Sandy Bay to see the casino. Afternoon tea was at Smith Street cafe and then, eventually, dinner at a local restaurant.

And the cure is...Sydney

I was a bit under the weather last week.

In a world in which swine flu was slowly encroaching I was stricken suddenly with a head cold.

Saturday - mild throat tickle (and matinee performance of Sydney Dance Co's 360 degrees.
Sunday - full on head cold
Monday - full on head cold

Also Monday went to doctor - she prescribed 48 hours of bed rest followed by 4 days in Sydney.

Well who am I to argue!

Tuesday - cold receding - not quite as rapidly as it had arrived but at least voice back, ears almost better etc.

Wednesday (Cold a bit better still worried about ears) - fly to Sydney to recuperate. (Suffer the dreaded 'ear squeeze for the first time in a long time - not even earplugs help). Visit Lindt chocolate shop (Cockle Bay Wharf) to buy cookies n cream lindt balls for hannah (only reason of course). Forced down a Lindt chocolate milkshake for health reasons. Went to casino to win money to pay for hot chocolates etc. (won $150), went to theatre - Chicago - Millerchip & O'Connor = awesome. Rohan - what a 6 pack.

Thursday - (Cold still on the improve - ears a bit better) Rain most of day. Sydney Writers Festival at various times throughout the day. Hot chocolate at Lindt Cafe (Martin Place) -medicinal purposes only of course!, State Library of NSW for World Press Photos exhibition and Darwin exhibition, and also because I'm a library nerd. Visit cupcake shop and buy cupcakes - use them to drown my sorrows after receiving disappointing email. Find Jeff de Bruges chocolate shop - lovely, but expensive belgian chocolates made to a french recipe. Delish.

Friday - (Cold getting better - ears good). Persistent rain seemed to make a Chocolate & banana milkshake at Guylian shop a good idea. Ferry to Homebush, tour Olympic Stadium (the faux engineer in me fascinated by how they change the stadium from oval - for cricket & AFL, to rectangular for rugby & soccer). Dinner @ City Extra, Circular Quay (Very good hot chocolate for a non hot chocolate specialist shop - very chocolatty & creamy)

Saturday. (Ears seem ok, still sniffling a bit) Rocks market - didn't buy anything, not even any fudge. Hot chocolate at Guylian Cafe underneath the 'toast rack'. Opera House for a wander, Sydney Museum for tramways exhibition, out to the airport to hang out in the business class lounge before flying back to Melb (business class).

Sunday. Cold practically gone. Headed out to the wilds of Clayton for Cloc's production of Miss Saigon - absolutely brilliant, superbly done, even the helicopter, just superb - giggled when realise BL borrower playing little boy and I'm sitting next to his mum, dad & big brother (big brother is 10 and one of our 'after school play games on the internet until mum comes & gets me' gang). freaked him out a little when I called him by name I think.

Monday - back to work. Cold is mysteriously worse again...

What does the 'out of order' sign mean?

This morning the public internet server decided to cark it (technical term that) meaning that for the first three opening hours there was no public internet.

I put bright yellow 'out of order' signs on all the computers while we waited for Adam to resuscitate the server.

NB: The bright yellow 'out of order' signs are clearly not that useful.

Questions/Statements from public:

1. What does the out of order sign mean?
2. The internets won't login
3. Hotmail isn't working
4. Are the internets out of order?
5. Why won't the internets log in?
6. Hawthorn's internets are working
7. How do I log on to the internet
8. Someone's turned the computer off
9. I found this sign on internet #3 (hands me out of order sign) is this why it isn't working?
10. The sign says the internet is out of order but can I use the pc to check my email instead?

This doesn't take into account the number of 'when will the internets be working again' questions and variations thereof.

If it had been my last day I'd have been tempted to be creative with my answers to the above questions...

How would you like to have answered these questions?

Light bulb moments

So the other day one of the light globes in the loungeroom blew.

In the light globe cupboard* I had spare screw-top globes but no bayonet globes. So I headed for my local foodworks - my light globe supplier of choice for nigh on ten years - but, world in crisis, they only only had screw-top globes.

I plugged in a spare floor lamp and used that to illuminate the front half of the lounge room.

Then I found myself at BigW - I've bought clothes, groceries, whitegoods and a computer there - surely a frosted bayonet light globe would be attainable?

BigW had shelves upon shelves of light globes: Did I want flood or spot (& what angle of flood or spot); 27w = 40w (how can that be); halogen (wasn't halogen gas banned?).

What about shape - the only 'uncle fester' shaped ones were red - no thank you; but I could choose from intestine shaped; mushroom shaped; glu-stick shaped etc.

Price - what happened to $1 per light globe? The cheapest were $6 each and did nothing other than light the room - the more expensive ones would save the environment; reduce my carbon footprint, brew coffee, and bring about world peace - if they vacuumed as well I'd have bought them.

Safeway had 'old fashioned' globes but only in clear - I want frosted (pearl).

So the floor lamp will do for now - (Just means I can't use/charge the eee whilst watching dvds at night)

P.S. My peeps at Foodworks have 'special ordered' me some pearl bayonet cap light globes. Should be in Tuesday.

*******
* When I say light globe cupboard, it's not a cupboard just for light globes - there are lots of other things in there as well!

This Boots was made for walkin'

We had a family lunch at my mum's in Pakenham today. The day started with an easter egg hunt for the under 12's. Unfortunately the 4 - 11 age group were late arriving which gave the under 3s a clear advantage in the egg hunting (close to the ground) section.

After a delicious lunch the various family members scattered themselves around the unit. Young (20 month old) Boots left the Brum-watching contingent and headed into the backyard with daddy. Daddy & Uncle rowrow then left to take the trestle tables back to the craft room and daddy swears he saw Boots re-enter the unit.

About 30 minutes later daddy rejoined the brum contingent and was asked where Boots was.

It then transpired that Boots (who could wander for his country) was nowhere to be found. He had somehow evaded the attention of doting grandma, aunts, uncles, & cousins and wandered off.

My mother lives in a retirement village (gated community) but Boots had wandered some 800 metres and into a different drive from hers.

Luckily a neighbour in the next block along from mum had seen Boots wander into her garden - she went out and spoke to him and was leading a very unconcerned Boots back the way he had come when we caught up with them.

We still don't know how he got out - there were adults near the front door, and in the back garden so someone should have seen him, but no-one did.

After a fifteen minute power nap Boots was up and ready to wander some more - luckily now everyone was keeping a much closer eye on him.