Don't Worry Be Happy

We're visiting Mike and Liana who live in Trentham which is a very small town north of Melbourne. You might refer to it as a 'weekend' town as many of the houses are inhabited by folks who just come here from the city on the weekend. Many of the 2 dozen or so shops/cafes are only open Fri-Sun. This is the Main Street on a Thursday about 6 pm. About 25% of the businesses are coffee shops. The others are either funky gift shops or high end ladies shops that sell white linen dresses (you know the kind). We started our walk into town and stopped at Chaplins, one of the trendy coffee shops. This architecture is typical of the area.  Amazingly enough on this day every week from 11-1, Liz, bassist and jazz singer, performs. She’s a local musician that entertains in the cafe and was superb. We could have sat all day and listened. As well as the shops on the Main Street there are a few little alleys that lead to the bakery and the pizza place behind.  ...

I’ve been to a few different modern art museums but the Hobart Museum of Old and New Art really pushes the definition of art. Upon arrival, there is a vineyard which posts signs like this to keep dirty humans out:   The building is entirely underground (built into the side of the cliff?) and connected by very dark tunnels. There are no windows. At the start is a beer roulette which Ross tried and got a Pilsner (from about 8 choices).  Displays included virtual reality, a real 'digestive' system that is fed 2x a day and poops once a day, a tattooed man who has been on display since 2011; this drawing machine that is powered by the wind outside: Another display was a giant waterfall that, with the use of a computer and lights, produced words pulled from current news items. Not sure what the one below is.  None of the art has labels but instead you’re given an iPod like device that uses GPS to give you information about art works nearby. You can re...

Maria Island markets itself as an island off an island off an island. It was used as a convict colony in the 1800s and is today a national park with lots of hiking trails and camping spots but no facilities (ie water/electricity). If you’re camping on the island you have to bring ALL your gear with you across on the 40 min passenger ferry from Triabunna. After we got there we walked a few kilometres out to the fossils cliffs. We were surprised to see many, many kangaroos. The Cape Barren Goose is only found in Southern Australia and has that distinctive green on its beak.   A few have been transplanted here.  There is also a population of Tasmanian Devils here that are referred to as the ‘insurance' population. Throughout Tasmania the Devils Are dying off from the facial tumour disease  which is transmitted between them by biting and other contact. Because they are so interbred, when they get the tumour they don’t fight it off because they...

With an area and population comparable to New Brunswick it’s understandable that there are great stretches without much civilization. We started at the top of the island in the small city of Launceston. Although it has a population in the 80 thousands it'a pretty quiet. We arrived on a Monday at the end of a festival weekend and were able to take in one of the attractions. Architects of Air is an inflated series of bubbles that make up a maze of colours and shapes. It takes about 20 mins to make your way through and is quite the experience of light/colour. The outside looks like this: And inside: The Cataract Gorge at Launceston is an area that was developed in the 1890s and is a premier recreation area. We took a chairlift across the 'lake', then walked back over the suspension bridge. You can also walk all the way from town (1.5 km) along the side of a cliff. We wanted to drive down the east coast but the only way to get there was via a very boring 2-3 hour ...

We started our Australian trip at Gold Coast - a city just south of Brisbane on the east coast. This area is known for its sandy shores and surfing waves and there are plenty of both. The city is also made up of a maze of canals so it seems that about 90% of the houses have waterfront access. The place we were staying backed onto a canal and our friends Rob and Carmen picked us up on their boat for a little tour. It was a beautiful day on the water. The next day they took us up into the hills to a national park, Springbrook, where we hiked down to a waterfall. Then to a place known as the Natural Bridge, due to the formation carved out of the rocks.  The most easterly point in Australia is Byron Bay which features this lighthouse.    From here you can see to South America I guess. Or maybe New Zealand?   In Melbourne we stayed at Liana's family’s place and of course I can’t get over the amazing birds - their size and colours, and being woken up to such di...