Tasmania

We went to Hobart, Tasmania!!!

In the U.S. when people go south for winter it's a good idea. [Ya know, it's warmer and all.] In Australia going south is a terrible idea. [It's a bajillion degrees colder, that whole Southern Hemisphere=opposite thing.]

So it was a little dumb, but we headed to Tassie anyways.

[Besides, we only stayed for two nights. Anyone can handle the cold for two nights, right?]

We stayed at a hostel called The Pickled Frog. It was definitely awesome. If you want to sleep in Tasmania for cheap, go here.

On our first day in Tasmania, like usual, we wandered around the town. [That's right, I said town. There are definitely no cities in Tasmania. Hobart is close, but unfortunately no banana.] There is a really pretty waterfront that runs along the town. The harbour is home to tons of ships, including the one from Whale Wars. The river also leads to Antarctica. That kind of blows my mind. [And explains why it's so cold.] During our wandering we came across an ad for a $10 harbour cruise. Amazing? Yes. Ok, so the cruise was actually on a water taxi, but it was still awesome and ended up being for just Chris and I.

Our water taxi.

The cruise took us to three different places around the harbour [It also serves as a ferry boat]. We got to hear tons of info about Hobart, the ships docked there, and the river itself [the second deepest in the Southern Hemisphere to Rio de Janiero]. Also, there was a main tour guide and another person that was a trainee. That meant we got to hear facts from both of them [and they were kind of fun to shoot the breeze with].

A little bit of home. [Minus the water.]

The next day we woke up bright and early to take a bus to Mt. Wellington. I'm not actually sure why Mt. Wellington is so awesome. At first I thought it had to be because of the elevation, then I realized that streets in Idaho are at a higher elevation than it. Apparently the rocks that make up the mountain are really hard, like really hard, because of how they were formed [when Pangea split there was some lava and yada yada], but aside from that, I got nothin'. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it a lot, I just don't know why everyone is so obsessed with it.
Let me get back to the point, we went to Mt. Wellington. When we woke up the weather was beautiful [especially compared to the cold and cloudy day before] so we were hopeful that the views would be amazing. The day before we were told that there was going to be snow on top, so we bundled up as best we could and headed to the top.

Our view.
The weather was great on the bottom, but not so great from the top.
We saw lots of clouds.

It was definitely cold and definitely windy.
It was blowing between 100 and 120km per hr.
That's fast.
There was also sleet coming our way at the same speed.

That's what happens when you try to shield yourself from the elements with the hood of a sweatshirt.

For a split second the clouds cleared and we were able to see these views.
[On the best of days you can see half of Tasmania from the top of Mt. Wellington.]

Halfway down we pulled over at this viewpoint.
It was purty.

After Mt. Wellington we still had about half the day to spend in the city. Thankfully, it was a gorgeous day that felt like it belonged in the middle of October.

I think I'm going to miss Tasmania a lot. It has been one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, and I was only there for two days. I'm pretty sure everyone in the world should go there. And really, how exotic does Tasmania sound?!

Awesome.

When we first got to Australia, one of the first things we did was head to the souvenir shops. [Are we good tourists or what?]
All over the place the have these rad coin banks that are decorated like paper notes. [$5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.]
Because they are so rad [and because we like coin banks], we had to buy one.
Australian $10 notes are pretty and blue, so we chose a bank with the $10 bill on it and brought it home.

Since basically the moment this thing was in our hands, Chris declared it his and decided to fill it with only gold coins. [He's pretty strict about the only gold coins rule.] Gold coins are worth either $1 or $2, so money adds up pretty quickly.
Now that we are poor and heading to Tasmania in a few days, we decided to open up the magic jar and count the money. [The bank only has a slot to put coins in, not for getting them out. That means we had to ruin the jar in order to get the money out. But that's ok, we can get a new one with our riches.]
So, we just finished counting the money. Guess how much there was??

$82.
That's right, $82 in coins. [Let me also add that the jar was only filled up less than an inch from the bottom.]
Ah, what a beautiful feeling.
Now we will be able to eat in Tasmania instead of just spending money on our hotel.
If nothing else, I think we've learned that coin banks are awesome. [And that we love teeny tiny $2 coins.] Thanks Australia.

Three.

Okay, I got to this one a little bit late. It still counts though, right?

Another month has passed. There are only 55 days until we go home [yikes]. The good news is, after today, there are still two more months to look back on.

Everyone knows what happens mid-semester, so this month was a little less than full of amazing adventures, but there were a few.
Here's to the best 55 days ever...

Philip Island

So cooperative.

Nico's Birthday!

Footy

Double Decker Gym.

We asked for water and got these.
Good thing we like lattes.

We celebrate Easter.

Sydney

Reflection

I'm in that picture.

Chris made me do this.

Until next time....