Tasmania - check!

The city and its people were even more relaxed than the others in Australia... meaning that rather than shops and cafes open from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m., they are open from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Restaurants and bars managed to stay open for the "late night" crowds. I think we're really beginning to envy their work ethic.

Tasmania only has a population of only about 400,000, and nearly half of those live in Hobart where we stayed. The city is surrounded by gardens, and the island is made up of mostly national parks. Inside the city, there's a street called Salmanca Place, home to several pubs and gift shops. Every Saturday is the Salmanca market when the shops and restaurants come the the street to give the city a taste of their latest menu offerings and season's gifts. It's actually very similar to what the Strip District offers in Pittsburgh every Saturday.

Overall, the trip was very relaxing. We had two half day tours planned, and we spent the rest of the four days exploring the area's gardens, historic locations, and local shops. Something unique about Hobart is that the city was built almost two hundred years ago by convicts from the USA, the British Isles, and the rest of Europe. Nearly all the buildings are made of sandstone, too. The buildings complement the port area at Hobart, which is always busy with boats, more restaurants, and more than enough options for fish and chips (what we ate on Thanksgiving).

The major highlights would be:

1.) Our boat cruise through the island. We traveled along the island that's surrounded by huge rock formations and caves. Throughout the trip, we swam with a dozen dolphins that rode the waves from the 20-person boat. Seat otters and birds were other animals who proved to not be shy. Since it was a small, 20-person boat, the waves rode us rather than us plowing through the waves. For me, the bigger the waves got, the more fun I had. It was like a roller coaster ride that added to the beautiful scenery. However, for Jamie, it was like a battle between him and the ocean, but he lost. No, he didn't throw up. But he did manage to maintain a sickly, pale color and throw out a few choice four-letter words under his breath. He didn't feel horrible the whole time during the 3-hour ride, but it was probably a good 30 minutes that I think he would have rather been somewhere else.

2.) We fed kangaroos. They eat off of your hand like a horse would, leaving a nice layer of thick, slobbery film on your hand. It kind of looked like they blew their noses on our hands. It was especially bad because the was no where to wash our hands after that, so we had to ride the bus home and not touch anything. (Just kidding! We washed our hands, but I wanted to gross you out a bit.) Some others animals we saw and touched were: wombats, koalas, and the tasmanian devil. The devil seemed pretty nice, but we weren't allowed to touch it. Supposedly it could bite through your bones due to its amazing jaw strength.

3.) The area was very picturesque. Every where you look, there's a mountain.

4.) Fish and chips was great... and fresh, too! While we ate it on Thanksgiving day, it didn't matter much because Monja is cooking a Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow that we're very excited for...so we can at least celebrate it in somewhat of a traditional way even though there will be probably no football and definitely no snow (probably more like 70 degrees, actually). Miss all of you and happy belated Thanksgiving!