Lovely Launceston

I have made it to the town of Launceston in Tasmania, and it's already been adventurous. Tasmania has a total population of under half a million, approximately 100,000 of which live in Launceston. The scenery was beautiful as we flew in and disembarked from the plane. Launceston Airport is quite small, so I was looking for baggage claim signs and was a bit confused when I didn't see any. So I walked around the airport (took 3 minutes total) until I noticed a small group of people gathered around an exit. Finally several small trolleys appeared with bags on them. We had to stand back as a fruit and vegetable sniffing dog climbed on top of of the luggage to find possible contraband, and then we were allowed to find our own luggage.

To make the trip economical, I got a room above a pub, which I figured was fine since I was only there one night. Unfortunately, the problem with having a room above a pub is that they're not open until the socially acceptable drinking time of around noon. So I trudged with my backpack many blocks to sit down, have some coffee and a delicious breakfast. As I was leaving and struggling to throw my backpack on, a lady came up to me and offered me a ride wherever I was going so I didn't have to walk with my bag. How nice is that?? I declined the offer, but sometimes it's enough just to have been asked.

After dropping off my bag, I went for a hike to Cataract Gorge which was very beautiful. The walk to the first basin was relatively easy and scenic. Then there was a huge climb to the very top which was invigorating to say the least, passing by wild peacocks (Mom, I still have nightmares) and a wallaby with a joey in her pouch. Not a soul around and it was very peaceful, though I briefly wondered why I was the only fool around making this hike. About half-way up, I realized I would've given one of my appendages for the hiking boots I coveted in 8th grade, as they now could've served an actual purpose other than an early 90's fashion statement. Upon reaching the top, I was startled to find a man up there without his shirt on since I thought I was alone. I jumped and told him that he had scared me, as he tried to cover up his chest with his shirt in a sort of endearingly teenage-girl kind of way. "Oh come on, it's not THAT bad, is it?" he says. Oops. The view was breathtaking though (of the mountains and water, not the fellow hiker I managed to insult in 1.5 seconds flat) and I picked my way carefully back down the mountain.

Now during my early morning stroll through the town, I was inspired by some of the creative store names or accomanying designs I came across and though I'd share a few here with you:

• Fone Zone - selling phones, obviously
• Charcoal Chicken - this featured a chicked who was well-endowed in the breast department crossing her fishnet covered legs seductively with a wave of her wing
• Balls 'N Bumpers - sports store
• Den of Antiquity - thought that was clever
• Hatton & Laws - despite this sounding like a reputable albeit expensive law firm, it's actually a pharmacy
• Wombat - surprisingly this store does not sell wombats, but women's clothing
• Holy Sheet! - selling bed linens (or manchester re: previous post)
  
• The Sheep is Back - knitted apparel
• And finally, a personal favorite of mine: Peter Less though this was all run together in lowercase so it looked like peterless - this was quite obviously a real estate agent who was enormous and therefore not teased as a child because of his name

Here's hoping the weather holds for the week!

Heading further down under

Tomorrow I'm off to discover Tasmania for about a week. I've heard that it's absolutely beautiful, and I'm looking forward to seeing a Tasmanian devil (cute little guy on the left), and trying to see a Tasmanian tiger (the more dog-like than tiger-like creature to the right). Unfortunately the tiger is presumed extinct since this was the last known one to be photographed since 1933. But my camera will be ready for any and all sightings of creatures! I was buying a book on Tasmania today and the lady said, "Oh Tassie. I absolutely love it there. One of the most beautiful spots in the world." I nodded and told her I was very excited to go. "How are you getting there?" I told her I was flying. "Are you single or married?" Interesting leap from the previous question about transport, but whatever, and confirmed I was single. "Oh, you really should've taken the boat. You'd find lots of guys that way. I used to do it with my girlfriends all the time. It was a blast!" Huh. Well needless to say, my plans haven't changed and I'm still making the short flight to the town of Launceston tomorrow.

The week hasn't been too eventful, thus the empty blog, although I did manage to flood the laundry room AND kitchen yesterday, which is not as easy to accomplish as one might initially think. Between that and the dog looking at me pitiably because we had to put her on a diet and she apparently dislikes the new and expensive dog food, that about sums it up! Oh yes, and I learned that the term "Manchester" does not refer to the city in northern England like I had thought, but instead refers to bed linen. I have no idea why. I stopped asking those kinds of questions weeks ago.

Casual observations

Since I haven't done much that's exciting enough to write about in the past week, I thought I would just pass on some casual observations I've made during my time here:

1.) Having come from the "Windy City," I must say that I have never been to a place as windy as Melbourne, although it's not consistent. Some days I feel as though I can easily be blown back to the US. It's just not something people comment on when coming here.

2.) Turkey is not commonly consumed here. Lots of chicken and TONS of red meat. You can find it, but for sliced deli turkey for example, it costs about $12/pound. Egg whites unheard of in terms of omelettes and certainly not turkey bacon.

3.) Only some people have i-pod's here so CD's are still being purchased in full swing. My video i-pod is quite a novelty that people really enjoy playing with. I can't remember the last time I even bought a CD!

4.) XXXX is a beer and not anything else your imagination may conjure up

5.) Highways here can often be named, for example, Highway 1 down the Queensland Coast is named the Bruce Highway

6.) When getting into a taxi by yourself or with friends, not only is it not uncommon to sit in the front with your taxi driver, it's encouraged and considered normal. So it looks like you're driving around with your buddy. A buddy that charges you, but a buddy nonetheless. Makes it hard to tell if cabs are occupied when flagging one down.

And correction, the gigantic spider mentioned in the previous post WAS a huntsman spider, but not fully grown, thank GOD!

Spider terror

OK, those of you who know me well, know how I feel about spiders. I'm sure my mother can remember my tears as she was sweeping the corners of our garage of spider webs when one dangled close to her face. And those were like daddy long legs or something. Please take a look at the guest we had in our house last night. Then please imagine my reaction. Heart palpitations, cold sweat, enlarged pupils, and some very sad whimpering followed upon this discovery. Brave Tanya said, "Oh that's not SO big! Wait until you see a huntsman!" No thank you. She asked me to take off my flip flop so she could kill it and I wouldn't give it to her, ran into my bedroom and closed the door until I heard the tell-tale WHACK WHACK WHACK sign. Once I deemed it safe to emerge from behind a closed door and determined that it was indeed dead, I went in for a closer look - well, at a respectful distance of at least 1-2 feet. I've never seen a spider that size in a house before, and hope I won't again. Just writing this has given me goosebumps. Later, we noticed Daisy, the cocker spaniel, munching on something. I pointed this out to Tanya who went to investigate and we discovered she was chewing on a gigantic snail like a piece of gum. Needless to say, my nerves were a bit frayed after the spider incident and I may or may not have made some passing comments about the wildlife in Australia coming into the house. It was pointed out that perhaps spiders and snails weren't EXACTLY considered wildlife. You be the judge....

Sandy Point Adventures

Last weekend, we headed south to a beautiful place called Sandy Point to have a cousin's reunion for the weekend. It was so much fun! Got to meet the rest of Tanya's cousins and 11 camped out in a house. There was lots of food (TONS!), drinks, laughter, many games played, karaoke, movies watched, and sitting around the kitchen table chatting. It was making me homesick for my own family and certainly looking forward to our family reunion at the Outer Banks next summer. I've got some great ideas for games! The weather was cool to begin with, but of course, the day we left it was an absolutely spectacular day so we drove the two hours home with the windows down singing pop songs at the top of our lungs. It was a great weekend!

Sydney Adventures

The delay in posting this has more to do with my recovery from Sydney than laziness - well a bit of both I think. Last weekend I journeyed to Sydney to see my friend Alex who lives there, and my good friend Erica from Boston who was in Sydney for work. I had almost forgotten how absolutely beautiful Sydney is and how much I loved it! We had fantastic weather and even better company.

Sydney is located on the Harbor and there is plenty to do on all sides of it. The public transportation is easy and varied - boat, bus, train. The city is clean and easier to navigate than European cities because like the US, it's newer and the streets are more grid-like. And of course, such recognizable landmarks like the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House.

Alex and I traveled to Watson's Bay and within 20 minutes of being by the Opera House, we were at this beautiful part of Sydney having fish and chips on the beach looking out over the Sydney skyline. Then we climbed up to these really dramatic cliffs, met about 15 American college girls happily studying in Australia and just took in the view.

The next day, Erica and I had lunch on Darling Harbor and then went to meet some of her friends in Bondi Beach. We sidled into this swanky bar Icebergs that overlooked the beach and had an interesting night there to say the least. We started out sitting right across from Joey Fatone from 'Nsync with even our 18 year old waiter commenting that time hadn't been kind to him. Ouch. 308 bottles of wine later, we were doing some great people watching in rotating chairs and making observations to one another probably too loudly, and crashing into the person sitting next to us during the rotation. Let's just say the evening continued in a similar fashion in different locations with the observations getting louder and the crashes getting more dramatic, although without the help of the swinging chairs.

We finished off our trip with a long walk all around Sydney to see basically everything else before Erica headed off to Bangkok and I limped south to colder Melbourne, to air out my liver and recover quietly. Still working on it....

Grand Final Weekend

This weekend was one that seemed quite familiar to me. The AFL (Australian Football League) had their Grand Final on Saturday, which had the attitude and traditions of the Superbowl. We got together at a friends house filled with family and young ones, lots of food, lots to drink and several TV's all over the house to watch Geelong and Port Adelaide play. I have to say it wasn't the most exciting game ever to watch because Geelong just pounded Port Adelaide, to the point that all the papers told of Port Adelaide's humiliation and shameful performance. You couldn't help feeling quite badly for them, especially the chilly reception they got for their homecoming. But Geelong fans were out in full fashion and so excited because it was the first thing they'd won in 44 years. Victorians were happy that the trophy was once again in their state and following this, the Melbourne team won the National Rugby League championship, so there is lots to celebrate down here!

And oh yeah! Killed my first venomous spider in the house this week. And by me I mean I waited for Tanya to come home, and by killed I mean we sprayed it to death at a distance of 2 feet. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. I'm off to Sydney in a few days to see friends and the weather's supposed to be fantastic! Lucky me!