Heading up the East Coast

There’s so much to update! It’s been a fun-filled first few weeks here, and Christmas right in the middle of it!

The first major piece of business was buying a car. Our test drive was the first time we drove on the left side of the road. Didn’t mention that to the seller:) Just got confidently in and then turned on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal pulling out. But we were off to a good start, and the car checked out fine at the local Repco shop. And actually our hostess gave us a ride to check out the car in this neighboring town, but then she had to leave, and we had no way to get back, so luckily it worked out to buy the car! We bought it from a nice couple, and the guy subtly showed us his volunteer police i.d. card before we drove off for the test, just in case we had any wild ideas… anyway, got it for a good deal, and it’s a popular type of car. So popular that I keep trying to get into the wrong cars. Registering it took a couple of tries (had to get proof of address, tricky since we didn’t have one yet, but we went to the bank and they were nice enough to type one up for us anyway!). Australian bureaucracy hasn’t been too mind boggling. Yet.

Our cabin at Picaninny Point

After this was all accomplished, we hit the road for a week-long road trip to explore Tassie’s gorgeous East Coast. We started by staying at Picaninny Point, where Andres’s colleague Sam and his new wife Laura were celebrating a week-long friends-moon. It was an amazing spot! Very funky, with little cabins, composting toilets, and a lot of character, all a 5 minute walk from the beach.

View from our campsite at one of the Bay of Fires beaches

It was only about 3 hours north of Hobart, and it felt like a different world. Once you get out of the city, it’s green, tranquil, and very laid back. We saw so many sheep! The beaches are just stunning… but not exactly warm. I refused to get in–I’m NOT a water baby!

One of the craziest things about Tassie so far have been the birds. They are so noisy! There was one at our campsite especially that I just about wanted to MURDER at 5am. It sounded like a dying cat. Or something like that. Then there is what we call the monkey bird. If we didn’t know better, I would swear it was a monkey!

Get milked, earn a scratch. Ahhhh.

Anyway, moving on. There’s a lot to catch up on, I have to do this blog thing more often. We took a little side trip up a valley to visit the Pyengana Cheese Factor along the the famous beer-drinking pig next door. The oinker was asleep but we had a Boags anyway. And then we ingested a ton of dairy. Followed by driving on super curvy narrow roads. Fun combo! Actually it was all beautiful, and the cheese was tasty, and we got to see this crazy self-milking contraption at the dairy that incentivizes cows to walk through a milker by providing a cow-scratcher and salt lick at the end. Almost worth the whole trip. Plus we saw a ton of trees, which Andres photographed heavily.

I wouldn't have wasted our precious brew on this pig anyway, even if she hadn't been sleeping!

Cheddar soup, ice cream, cappuccino. Whew!

 

First day in Hobart

Wohoo! We made it!

It was really weird to wrap up our lives in Boulder. Many sad goodbyes but lots of love in the air. Really I think we were both just in a surreal fog. I still don’t think it’s really hit that we’re not just on vacation. SO we’re making it a vacation! Kind of.

FYI about Australian customs: if you declare something, make sure you know which bag you put it in. Luckily we had a very long layover in Sydney and so it wasn’t at all stressful, but my dirty hiking boots were in bag 3 of 5 that we checked. Nice customs man cleaned them off for me. Guess I could have done that myself!

Anyway, time for the good stuff. Hobart is pretty sweet. And we’ve been very lucky in our welcome. Andres’s new colleague Sam set us up staying with his friendly neighbor, in a great neighborhood (North Hobart) where everything is in walking distance. We managed to stay up chatting until 8pm and then slept 12 hours! Jet lag is pretty much over. Not too bad really.

Minutes from landing in Hobart!

Our first day was beautifully sunny, apparently a little unusual for this spring/summer because everyone kept exclaiming over it. Hmmm…our spoiled Boulderite attitude about abundant sun may be in for a shock! But we’ll take what we can get.

We are also in for a shock on food prices. After a $30 basic egg and toast breakfast and viewing menus where nothing seems to be under $15….well, we’ll see. Supposedly the fact that prices include tax and tip helps, but I’m not so sure yet. Did I mention we paid $14 for a six-pack of beer??? We see homebrew in our future:)

All in all it was a great day. We wandered all over downtown Hobart and the waterfront, taking in the sights. Beautiful old turn of the century architecture, more sidewalk cafes and wine bars than you can count, and a pedestrian walking mall that makes the Pearl St. Mall in Boulder seem a little sleepy!

First water sighting!

Among other accomplishments, we opened a bank account, got a cell phone, checked out drum sets, and drank enough caffeine to keep us up until 10pm. We went to the grocery store and I spent a long time looking for half and half. Alas it does not exist here. But peanut butter does. Thank God. Everything will be okay.

Interesting tidbits: you say HER-BS, not urbs, for herbs.  That one got a laugh, not sure why. Red peppers are capsicums (thanks Betsy for prepping me for that one!). No brewed coffee is available, but if you get a long black with a side of steamed milk it’s almost the same–basically an Americano.

This is just the tip of the iceberg folks. If we don’t kill ourselves crossing the street, you’ll get more updates in the future!