Tassie

I was really hoping for a great big week so I could come up with some really fanstastic stories for you - but Tassie was so bone-numbingly cold, no one could be asked to get up to trouble. It's officially winter down there - about 3 degrees overnight, up to 10 at noon, and NO HEAT in the hostel. So number one - there aren't that many travelers in Tassie at the moment, and two - the ones that are there, are in front of the TV with a beer and in their sleeping bags to keep warm.

Due to poor planning I flew in and out of Hobart - and without a car, I was left with precious little time to see the country, so I concentrated on the lower East Coast.

First up - the infamous Port Arthur penal colony. A really fascinating historical site (it happens to have actually been a tourist attraction longer than it was a jail... how about that?) The jail is set on a lovely pennisula, remote from the mainland. It was a tad disappointing to discover most of the inmates weren't blood thirsty murderers or savage brutes (wouldn't that have made a good ghost story!) most of the inamtes shipped there were just poor, petty criminals (handkercheif theives, sticky-fingered pick pockets and the like). For those of you with an interest in crimiology, it was interesting to hear that Port Arthur was the site of one of the first Juvenile jails, and it was based on the "modern" principles of Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon (including the important reformatory grinders of 'honest' labour, 'moral' instruction, and the seperation of prisoners - legacies of which are all in our justice system to this day).

The next day, I managed to rescue a wayward German girl trying to climb Mt. Wellington, which overlooks Hobart, who was climbing without the benefit of a map. She was lucky I found her - another girl from the hostel did the same 3 hour climb, and found it took her 7 hours to manage to find her way down again. Tourists. Anyway - Mt. Wellington has a spectacular view of the Penninsula, Bruny Island, and next stop - Antartica! (It was a clear day, but I couldn't see it...)

I spent the next two days out of the road, checking out the Mt. Field World Heritage site (and spying my first Platypus - they are smaller than you think) and checking out the gorgeous Wineglass bay. Really - it was like New Zealand with less rain and the trees were smaller :-) I had a fine little nip of Tassie Scotch (it's making was banned for 100 years in the state by Parliamentary decree - the first newbie distillers had made a god-awful spirit!), and tasting a few good beers, and it is off to Adelaide for me! ... where I am going wine tasting.

Ahhh: the life in Sydney

Just when I think Sydney isn’t all that different from Vancouver (ok.. warmer and sunnier too…) I do something that shows me just how good life is here.

I have been running around the office getting ideas of where to go & what to do in Australia. One of the guys at the office tells me there is something I can’t miss – a dive of the Yongala wreck, out of Townsville on the east coast (near Cairns). Turns out he and a few buddies are going, right about when I will be at the top of Oz. Only problem is – I can’t dive – and haven’t learned because of a few family issues with diving (specifically a diving accident), but this guy happens to be a PADI dive instructor, so he’s offered to teach me the course, and certify me for my Advanced Open Water on the dive trip – who can turn that kind of offer down?

So he’s teaching me how to dive in the last couple weeks before I leave on my trip. I am studying at night, and on the weekends, and we are doing to pool work in some of the lovely seaside seawater polls, and diving in Sydney harbour. Other than a comical ability not to be able to clear my mask of water (I always tilt the wrong way – filling instead of draining it). I have to say – I think I should have taken this up earlier! It’s pretty cool to get out of the pool, walk around it to the rocks on the seaward side, put your fins back on and see heaps of coral, big blue gropers, fish like old wives, little nudibranchs etc. right in Sydney Harbour.

Yesterday, we did just a fantastic dive: the morning was cold, thick grey clouds all over the sky. After a bit of pool work – we broke for some much needed burgers and a warm up – and by the time we emerged from the burger shack in Manly – gorgeous sun!

We headed off to Shelley Beach - a gorgeous spot tucked around a little corner, overlooking part of Manly. We saddled ourselves up with gear, and trekked down the beach (much to the amusement of the people on the beach) and waded into the water. There isn’t much in the way of coral or super colourful fish, but lots of grey boulders strewn around. I saw my first shark – yippee! – about a 5ft. Wobbegong shark, hiding underneath the rocks. There were little sting rays, and poisonous rock fish. I was really chuffed to spot a huge Cuttlefish – it was longer than my arm – and not a minute later, spotting another one. Apparently, these two Cuttlefish were very large for their breed – we tried to get them to change colours, but it wasn’t meant to be. Of course, there were heaps of big blue gropers – like the family dogs of Sydney harbour. They swim right up to you, and nudge you looking for food, or a hand out of urchin. Woo-hoo! And after the dive, we walked right back onto the beach, just as the sun was setting behind us. Spectacular. So two more dives before I hit the road, and hopefully we’ll find the turtle that’s apparently lurking about. And my next stop: Tassie! (that’s Tasmania), I leave next Monday….