Tassie and Mel-bin

Hobart

I flew into Hobart, Tasmania with Sheila and Richard on Thursday, before most of the group had finished classes (I didn’t even skip).  We explored the city for awhile.  We didn’t really have any set plans, but it was really fun deciding on the spot what we wanted to do.  We tried to make it to the botanical gardens, but we couldn’t really figure out how the trails worked, even though some lady told us we couldn’t miss it.  I think she was wrong.  I got an awesome fleece that I know the fam is going to despise.  Michelle – if I ever visit Berkshire I’m going to wear it the entire time.  Get exciteddd.  At one point when we were walking around we found this random ghetto public bathroom in the middle of nowhere with barbed wire around the outside.  Obviously it was photo-worthy.  As we were photo-documenting, these boys walked past us and one of them turned to Sheila and me and said, “That’s a toilet.  A male toilet.”  Duh?  Still not really sure how we should have responded to that one.  

The rest of the group arrived on Friday night.  We had an epic backwards somersault competition in some random park.  Obviously I win.

the male toilet.

so much fun.

On Saturday, Sheila, Katie, and I went to the market in the morning then bike riding to the botanical gardens since we hadn't gone the day before.  Well, kind of.  We did a really good job crossing the street.  Then Katie decided she wanted to play leap frog with her handlebars.  It all happened very quickly.  One second we were moving along, the all of the sudden we hear screams of “I see bone!”  Yummy.  It’s okay, my camp counselor skills kicked in fast and Sheila biked back to the rental shop which was luckily about ten seconds away.  We slowly got Katie back to the bike shop, then headed over to the hospital.  6 and a half hours later, we left with a bunch of new pathogens, and 3 knee stitches.  The highlight of the day: Katie was eating her peanut butter sandwich while the doctor was cleaning her wounds, definitely getting judged by the doctor.  I think I would have been vomiting, she was a champion.  It was also a lot of fun when we went back to our hostel tired and hungry and all of the other people told us about how fun their day was.  Thanks guys. 

Convict Trail

The next day (HALLOWEEN!) we went on a 2 day road trip to Port Arthur.  My license expired, (stupid Illinois) so Sheila drove.  We couldn’t really do a lot of hiking related stuff due to Katie the Cripple, but we went to a lot of fatty related places like a candy store and some fun lookouts and a blowhole.  We stayed overnight in a cabin managed by Denis, our new best friend.  The cabin was awesome, although Noah had to sleep in the living room because that’s where his bed was.  The cabin  had a selection of cassette tapes including Lion King, Billy Joel, something with YMCA, and Jesus music.  Therefore, many dance parties were involved.  Later we went on a ghost tour, which was especially exciting given that it was Halloween.  Our guide was the perfect ghost tour guide, with a great combo of long hair, slightly above average voice volume, and sketchiness. Although the slutty costume count was low, the day was still epic.

Blowhole

Botanical Gardens take 3

The day after that we pretended to drive along a designated convict trail in Port Arthur, but we only found one of the stops.  I got stung by a bee in the morning and had to benedryll up so I wouldn’t turn into a human tomato.  This led to a pretty special car nap during most of this.  We made one stop at the Federation Chocolate Factory and another at the Sorell Fruit Farm.  I bought some chocolate to bring home, but then I ate it.  Once we got back to Hobart, we explored the Cascade Brewery, which had a beautiful garden type thing outside and some awesome views.  Also a cat.  From here we drove back to Hobart and.  wait for it.  ACTUALLY MADE IT TO THE BOTANICAL GARDENS.  It was by accident though, which is probably why nothing bad happened.  They were actually really cool, so it’s a good thing it happened for realsies. 

The next day, Sheila, Katie, Noah, and I flew to Melbourne and explored around for the day.  Nothing too eventful happened, although I did spend awhile looking for bee sting stuff since my arm was kind of freaking out a bit.  We didn’t do much because the Melbourne Cup was happening, which is HUGE in Australia.  (pronouced UGE if you are Fill).  As much as I love watching horse races, we decided to pass on it.  However, the next day we walked around Melbourne in the morning and went to the Melbourne Museum with Bailey, Tricia, Nina, and Jenny in the afternoon.  SO MANY DINOSAURS.  They also had a cool mind/body exhibit with fun interactive games.  After dinner we went to get McFlurries and saw some fat ugly girl climb over the top of the McCafe window and steal a single baby cupcake thing.  It was funny because she dropped most of the cupcakes on the ground.  Also because she looked like a beached whale climbing over the counter.  And lastly, because Noah told the McDonald's workers what was going on and nobody cared.  So silly.

Colgate Cab

The last day, Noah and Katie had left so Sheila and I explored a bit in the morning, and then went to the Melbourne library to do some real work for a change.  I know, so studious.  Mad brownie points for us.  Then we explored some more, took some pictures of Barbie, and headed back to UOW.  

Fun fact:  too bad I already used the Tasmania one.  Damn.  Oh well, camels are fun too!  Australia has the largest population of wild camels in the world.  However, these animals weren’t native to Australia, and imported from somewhere that I don’t remember.