Our Melbourne Visit

Wow,

A month since the last blog -I've been too busy with work! I had hoped Tasmania would be different, but, alas, it isn't. I can say with confidence now that we definitely won't be staying longer than a year here.

Oh, yeah, Melbourne.

I have an old friend in Melbourne who I met in 1994 in Yosemite Valley while we were both climbing. I travelled to Australia (1996/97) and he to the US (1998) for subsequent climbing adventures. Since then we both married and stopped climbing. :) But we've kept in touch, he now has a 14 month old daughter, and we went to visit them in Melbourne.

Melbourne is across the Bass Strait - about 150miles of ocean - and so you either fly (boring, but quick) or take a ferry - exciting, but slow. We chose the latter. In mid week, the only option was a night cruise which means you board at about 7pm, depart at 8pm, cruise around the ship for an hour or two, an then retire to your cabin. At 7am, you depart in Melbourne (after a nice breakfast on board if you rise early enough). It was a lot of fun. The kids loved the cabin's bunk beds and the accommodations were relatively spacious, and very clean. The food in the restaurants was good.

In Melbourne, we visited several playgrounds, the Melbourne Zoo (where some of the highlights included a Red Panda and Tree Kangaroos), and the National Gallery of Victoria where there was a hands-on Lego exhibit. We had some good Thai food along with Jack, Risa's friend from Kinder. Jack is a stuffed bear with his own carrying case and accessories - lots of changes of clothes, pajamas, toothbrush, umbrella, etc. When a child is going somewhere exciting - they loan Jack out an he travels along on the adventure (see photo in the Thai restaurant).

It was great seeing Mark and meeting his new family and we even got a half day of climbing in (his first time in 5 years) He's told me since he's been bouldering twice - he may be rekindling his career.

We miss Spokane, but are enjoying our adventure.

See Ya,

B,N,E,&R

Festivals in the Sun

It seems that, at least in Summer, Tasmania loves festivals. Every City seems to sponsor them, but we live near a relatively large city (?30,000 population) so it has some really good ones.

Last weekend was the "Regatta" with boat races, ski demonstrations, a swimming race (if only I'd known), bike races, and performances.

Two days ago it was "Taste the Harvest," and we did (and ran into Emanuel Benjamin, a nice Tasmanian who moved form India 25 years ago to play professional cricket - he took the photo of all of us together).

Yesterday our own little town of Latrobe threw an "8 Hour Day" (US's equivalent of Labor Day) Festival with 8 hours of good music - we only made it through 4 hours - the kids got restless and the music got progressively louder - we're too old. There was a really good singer song writer who took lots of jabs at the Bush Loving, Big Business Promoting, Down-with-the-little-guy PrimeMinister, John Howard, adn the "labor" crowd loved it. The kids had a great time getting their faces painted.

School's going well for both kids, Nikki's meeting friends, and I'm getting more comfortable in the challenging position.

Hope all are well and enjoying Spring.

Love,

B,N,E,&R

Cradle Mountian

We returned from our fun but disappointingly uneventful trip to Central Tasmania to visit Cradle Mountain. (no snake bites, jack jumper ant bites, nothing!)
It was a beautiful mountain setting with lush fields of exotic grasses and gum trees and lots of unusual sights and sounds and smells. After a restful night in a nice "cabin" in a wilderness setting, we hiked part way around Dove Lake at the base of the mountain, limited by Risa's (in)tolerance of long distances. On the second day the girls and I went to the Tasmanian Devil Experience where we got up close and personal with a devil inside while Nikki viewed art - we got the better deal.
I'll send more pics to ofoto.com.
G'day,
B,N,E,&R

Hello All,

I (Bill) have three days off starting tomorrow, so we're headed to Cradle Mountain for the weekend. I've gathered epinephrine, liquid zyrtec, and wraps for any snake bitten extremity, so we're ready for the wilds of Tasmania, in particular, Jack-Jumper ants and poisonous snakes - mostly Tiger snakes here.

The kids are liking school and life is beginning to settle into a routine.

The big event today was making a couple Skype phone calls back home - great to hear people's voices.

The picture is Nikki at a "Classical meets Jazz" festival.

Should have more good ones from Cradle Mountain.

Cheers,

Bill

Hello All,

It was an eventful, fun week. Ellary and Risa started school and both loved it. There was a 5 minute period of uncertainty in the beginning of the first day where Ellary (and Nikki) both thought they'd loose it, but both recovered quickly. There's a picture with Ellary and Risa in their school uniforms. Ellary, of course, chose the dress option and Risa decided on the shorts and polo. The other day she actually said "Dress me like a boy."

Risa and I(Nikki) dropped Ellary off at her class first, called prep, we spent about 20 minutes with her and did some drawing and found another quiet girl unsure about the whole thing, to sit with. Ellary voiced her worry about starting school saying she'd rather just stay home with mama forever. By the end of today, her second day of school, she proclaimed, "I love school." She said one older girl told her she talked funny during recess but it was very matter-of-fact when she told us the story.

Risa was happy to stay in Ellary's classroom, so I had to carry her to her own room, called kindergarten, which is attached as well as sharing a common outside area seperate from the older kids. Risa did a little art then went outside on her own. Ellary's class had gone outside, also, to do some circle song and dance and Risa ran over and joined in, with Ellary lit up at the comedy of her sister. I decided that was probably my cue to exit. Risa was not excited about leaving at noon when her day was over. And, when we returned to pick up Ellary at 3pm, Risa raced into the prep room and stood with the other prep kids, who were waiting to be dismissed by the teacher to their waiting parents. I had to go in and carry her out kicking and screaming.

Ellary is learning to ride a bike and can go about 3 meters unassisted, so far. I suspect she'll be riding in a couple weeks. It's amazing to watch. I'll get a photo when she starts riding.

Risa is also inspired and is pedaling her own bike with training wheels - a big step for her.

Today was warm (about 28C, 80F) and after I finished work at 4 pm, we ordered a take out pizza, one decadent serving of tiramisu, two Boags beers, and headed for the ocean - about 15 minutes away. It was very relaxing, and much cooler. Ellary took a picture of me with the Spirit of Tasmania in the background. (The car ferry that runs daily from Melbourne to Devonport, Tasmania and back.)

"Life's a beach", with jellyfish sometimes! We saw jellyfish yesterday and today at the beach. We have been going to the same beach as they have a great playground and bathrooms. Yesterday saw an approx. 1 ft. diameter jellyfish beached far away from the waves. Living in Spokane all my life I don't know much about coastal stuff, my knowledge of jellyfish coming from Finding Nemo, and there were lots of people in the water so we went and got our feet wet. We saw more little ones in the water so I got a bit worried, which Ellary seemed to absorb. Risa had chosen to just play in the sand, which we noticed upon return next to a little beached JELLYFISH. Bill brushed up against one in the water tonight and nothing happened so I am confused. I guess a jellyfish google is in order.

Bill took a brief dip deeper into the water and Risa cried and was so sad that he had gone that far without her. She wanted Papa! She loves the waves and races out to meet them.



I have next weekend and Monday off so we'll probably head to Cradle Mountain or Freycinet Peninsula then.



Hope everyone is well.



Love,



BNER

Launceston Festsivale/OUR FIRST BLOG!

Hello All,
Bill had a day off (two actually) so yesterday (Sunday, 11/2 - they write the date "backwards" here) we drove to Launceston ("lawn'-seston")for a festival. It seems like may towns have festivals on weekends this time of year. Launceston is about 90km away from Latrobe and has a population of over 100,000. There are lots of beautiful old buildings built on a hill overlooking the town and the confluence of the Esk and Tamar rivers. The town is the home of the best Tasmanian beer brewery - Boag's.
As soon as we entered the festival, in a picturesque park in the middle of down town, we heard Neil Diamond singing and saw macaques(little primates with pink faces-- in a zoo type setting). Well, OK, it wasn't really Neil, but a guy that looked and sounded just like him, but the macaques were real. (This guy's claim to fame was he had a hit song in 1968 that bumped the Beatles out of a number one spot for 6 weeks). He must have sung every song Neil ever wrote and made 3 wardrobe changes. Maybe some of you Diamond fans know, did he make lots of wardrobe changes? Jen Hansen, did he?

In the spirit of Festivale, we sampled some of the food offerings and consumed a bottle of locally produced pinot gris. Interestingly, the Festivale had many wine booths as well as food booths, with wine to be purchased by the glass or by the bottle, to be consumed wherever, i.e. no beer garden. Imagine that at Pig Out in the Park. We got to try some locally produced organic cheeses and had a meal with Tasmanian smoked salmon. Ellary, our family's vegetarian, doesn't seem to like Tasmanian smoked salmon, salmon being the last dead animal food she would eat.
The girls were later enthralled by women and girls of varying ages(and one boy who danced solo) doing some amazing Irish dancing. Risa of course did her best to mimic their moves.

We also got our first primer on cricket in a pub while having coffee. The bartender tried to tell us the rules of the game and for the first 90 seconds he had me(Nikki) and then he started saying something about 20's and 50's and he lost me. He didn't saying anything about a sticky wicket, which is what interests me.
Lots of fun.
I'll try to post pics with this.
Thanks for checking us out.
Love,
Bill, Nikki, Ellary, and Risa (BNER)