family holiday to tasmania

i'm back from tasmania, land of long drives and outofwack meals (ask me what i ate for lunch on one of those days and at what time).

day one: waking up at 3am to make it for the 6.30am flight to launceston, i was grumpy for the rest of the day because i only got to sleep at 1am the night before and to add to that, we had to wait three and a half hours of blistering boredness in a cramped hotel lounge for our hired car. i only discovered that we were waiting for the other family's hired car after we got to george town (the place we lived in) for the extra three hours as our car arrived pretty soon after we got there. not a good start my holidays.

[view of tamar river from the backyard]

first, about the other family: all of them were BOYS with the exception of their mother. their ages ranged from twelve to twentyish (my age-ish). my homework from counselling is to observe other people and pick out their issues (if i had time, i would phrase that a different way...). the dad perpetually smells of strong garlic (he eats a whole raw garlic in every meal) and is in denial over his blood pressure problem; hence the garlic breath. the mum is a control freak who orders her sons around like a herd. her oldest son..lets call him 'w' understandably get frustrated with his parents. all three of them talk to themselves or say stuff that you don't know whether to respond to or not...i can't tell which is which. second son, s1, is a quiet boy who doesn't talk much. what i find particularly weird is that he wears his good shirts to sleep. shirts like the ones you wear ties with. third son, s2, thinks that everyone that doesn't conform to his way of life is a freak. he repeatedly called me a freak..up to 5 times a day just because i do somethings differently. youngest son, j, is an annoyingly spoilt brat who manipulates his parents and is rude to them constantly. my dad told him off for being rude on the third day there and he hid whenever my dad appeared for the rest of the trip. i myself nearly threw him out of an open window from the second storey.

so there. my observations. back to the holiday:

[port arthur penitentiary]

day two: long drive down the east coast, all the way down to port arthur. this is the day of wrong turns and lost directions. port arthur was an amazing historic site over 100 acres with old ruins and restored buildings. our tour guide told us tales of convicts escaping and different areas of interest such as:

• the lunatic asylum which i really wanted to visit but it was under reconstruction.
• the preacher's sermon as you walk through the door so of the parsonage (preacher's house)...which was nonexistant when we walked in due to some power failure to one part of the house
• the ghost tour which my family couldn't be bothered going to because it costs $15 per person in addition to the already expensive entry fees
• the cemetery tour - as above
• the accountant's house full of toys from the 19th century
• the governor's house...BEAUTIFUL!

the drive home took twice as long because w was driving the car and we were following him he sped away leaving us in the middle of nowhere with no idea of where we are. this led us to miss the turn to hobart (where we were supposed to go) and landed us on the coastal route with takes approximately six hours to complete. me being me fell asleep in the middle of navigating was one of the factors for getting us lost. we had dinner at 11.30pm in macca's while waiting for the other family to get back so we could get into the house.

[me behind one of the ruined walls of the penitentiary]

day 3 to 6: all events of the days after day 2 was meshed up into a blur of events. i don't remember the sequence of events so descriptions below are in no particular order.

• seahorse world - couldn't take any pictures because the light from the camera flash can give the cataracts. it was an enlightening experince, though. i got to see baby seahorses one tenth the size of your nail.

• platypus world - we marvelled at the antics of hide and seek between the platypi and yabbies. then it was off to watch the mating pair frolick around in their pool/pond. apparently mating season just ended. then we watched them get fed

• grub(b) shaft gold mine museum - where i got to play with various gadgets of miners from the 19th century, talk on telephones to people at the other end of the room and run around looking for a toilet.

[swiss bell]

• swiss houses - better seen in switzerland, according to mum. the minigolf the tempted my brother into a foul mood when dad moved on and didn't let him play.

• krazy putt mini golf - improved my brother's mood immensely. i was so sweaty after that. cooled myself down with cherries and water.

• strawberry farm (plus strawberry wine tasting) - strawberry/raspberry vineger is the foulest thing i've ever tasted so far. for those who know me, salt and vinegar chips aren't exactly my favourite flavour for chips...add a fruit to vinegar? even worse. there was cheese tasting there too. dan discovered the joy of eating wasabi cheese and bush pepper cheese TOGETHER! earugh!

• cherry farm (where we bought one kilogram of cherries and ate them all within 3 hours) - shortest stop we ever made. total time spent there = 2.46 minutes.

[cataract gorge]

• cataract gorge - i still don't know why it's called cataract gorge. does it give you cataracts? because if it does, i did myself a great disfavour by undergoing a 15 minute bushwalk there.

• honey farm - yummy! i tasted over 15 different flavoured honey. there was even chilli honey! that was not as hot as i thought it would be. then i had mango icecream with honey! (icecream is my softspot just in case you didn't know. give me icecream and you can get me to do anything!...well, until that runs out)

[bacon]

• king solomon's caves - beautifully cramped space with stalagtites and stalagmites, bacon (i can't remember the proper word for them) and calcium carbonated water falling from the ceiling of the cave. very claustrophobic...not that i'm saying i am.

• cradle mountain - cold, wet and cold!

• lavender farm...the most boring place in the entire trip

day 7: cleaning up the house and packing. everyone stayed at home for the entire day with the exception of my parents who went out to buy fresh salmon. fresh, not frozen, FRESH!!

the place we stayed in had tamar river as part of our backyard. and tasmanian oysters were plenitful! by day 3, i was so sick of oysters. raw oysters, cooked oysters, fried oysters, eggandoysters, beer oysters...i think i've eaten my fill for the next few months.

and i'm glad to be back.

postscript (28/01/06); bacon is the american term for shawl