crescent head

note on the local: crescent head is a small town 18km se of kempsey and the surf longboarding capital of australia. it was in crescent head that the malibu surfboard gained recognition in austalia in the 1960's. our surfing base camp was located in the 6500-hectre hat head national park. the presence of nsw's largest sand dunes means good surf, and the park meant we had it to ourselves.

this entry could almost be its own separate work entitled the grommet diary. we arrived with our surf safari group in crescent head on the 26th. at that point none of us had ever surfed before. this must be understood, like dickens said, before anything else. our group was a diverse one with canadians, aussies, americans, swiss, swedes, fins, norwegians, irish, scots, spaniards, limeys and an african. we arrived after a 6 hour drive from sydney to get matched up with the proper equipment and catch our first lesson on the beach. the beach we went out to was big hill, a nearby beach, and one that conditions would make us surf often during the week. i got up on the first wave i tried. an amazing feeling.

everyday we would have the same routine. up before 7am for brekkie, sun screen, duck tape and the morning tide. by 11am we would trickle back to base camp for a quick shower and change of clothing and lunch. then it was siesta time and the entire camp napped until around 3pm when we would go back out for the evening tide. we would return to camp sometime around 6pm stoked, banged up, and ready for a shower and dinner. after dinner we would play games to see who would do the dishes - luckily my team never lost (including the sex position challenge which we won outright!). then everyone would retire to the humpy (which is aboriginal for shack) down near the beach for drinking games until early in the morning. then it would be up before 7am the next morning again.

the friendships started the first night. by the second i had graduated to a hard board and was shifting back on the waves. it was also on the second day that i saw my first, and only shark. it was a little reef shark about 2 feet long. however, i still went swimming and was immensely proud of myself for not going back to the beach. it was also on the 2nd night that we had a sing off between the countries around the fire with the only rule being no national anthems. the canadians did not win, but we didn't come last either and stompin' tom would be proud we chose his hockey song. we didn't know the lyrics to any celine dion or bryan adams songs. lydia had a great birthday on the third night. it was the camp's pub night and we all took a bus into town. we shut the bar down with mexican waves, photos, dancing irish dances and singing irish songs. after this night the foot dance also became a tradition for good luck before entering the surf. lydia got a cake, and everyone sang happy birthday to her and bought her rounds. on the fourth day we surfed nobby beach with its crazy currents and massive waves. the instructers called the waves sand monsters. 2 people had to be rescued that day. big dave, the scotsman, was pulled out by the rip while taking pictures and almost drowned. another girl dislocated her knee and i had to pull off my best david hasslehoff impression and rescue her (i think the mcalpine lifeguards would be proud). the waves were so intense you didn't have to paddle, and the sets chose you instead of the other way around if you went out in them. most of the group wouldn't go in, but before the instructors pulled us out i had gone through the washing machine several times, and had also caught some enormous waves in the powerful surf. as dan would say we were, "not there to fu*k spiders." by the final day it was time for a morning surf before heading to byron bay. our departure was made easier by the fact that we all booked into the same hostel to keep the party going.

it was a fantastic group. dan the aussie steven segal. he is one of the coolest guys i have ever known, my best mate in camp, and we will definitely meet up again. big dave from scotland with his helpless surfing is funny even to listen to. during the drinking contest some beers spilled on his chin. as such he says he cannot return to scotland. the irish crew were great - trish, john and kevin who works for irish radio and tv as a soccer journalist. the campfire songs, talk and games of kings were as memorable as the surfing.

we are all cut up, bruised and exhausted. i can't remember what it is like to sleep or not be hung over. but i'm addicted to the goon, the waves, and my new friends.

sydney v1.3

to my disappointment the tour of fox studios australia is no longer running. thanks again outdated guidebook. finished do androids dream of electric sheep? i think i'll stick to ridley scott's film blade runner staring han solo himself.

instead we've spent our final few days in sydney exploring the local beaches. on thursday we went to bondhi (bond-eye) beach, which is just south of woollahra. probably australia's most popular beach, mostly with tourists. there is even a reality show based on the lifeguards who patrol the beach on tv here. it is called "bondhi rescue," and it is very popular. other than tourists, several surfers can be spotted bobbing in the waves and topless women sunbathe all over. might explain the popularity.

the next day we visited manly beach which is comparative to bondhi in terms of popularity, but it is more of a beach for locals. to get there we took a 25 minute ferry from circular quay. the northbound ferry doubled as both our transportation, and a cruise ship. it provided great views of sydney harbour, the sydney harbour bridge, fort denison, and the downtown in general. manly gets the nod from lydia and i as being the better beach than bondhi. both have soft, golden sand, but manly is an oasis in the desert. a strip community of restaurants and surf hops leading to the beach down a palm tree lined walk.

it was 33 degrees in sydney yesterday, but showers came at night to cool things off. we celebrated our 2nd last night in sydney by hitting up bankstown (western sydney) for middle eastern food at titanic. it was our pleasure to treat micah and sarah after we have crashed in their place for so long. after dinner we hit up a club on the outskirts of king's cross. note on the cross: king's cross is known for being the amusement park of american soldiers on leave during the vietnam war. it is the centre of sydney's backpacker culture, a culture micah and sarah have been nice enough to let us miss. hostels, irish bars, and strip clubs mark the streets, and a warning in our guidebook warns against walking alone at night. our club, the victoria room, was, however, merely on the outskirts of the cross. this meant that i got to say that i saw the giant neon coca-cola sign that is famous for marking the entrance to the cross. our club was a classy place and we all felt money with our booth and chocolate fondue.

tomorrow we are up at 6am to catch a train back into the city. from there we are meeting up with our surf safari crew. m.i.a. for the next 5 days as we surf up the coast to byron bay. if a shark should get me my last words are "i dig music" like the guitarist from stillwater.

sydney v1.2

toronga park zoo with its million dollar views of sydney harbour. caught the 12 minute ferry from circular quay. pretty fun experience for people who like zoos, even for people like us who are koala'd and kangaroo'd out. crazy world lesson for the day was that animals in the rainforest use its plants for medicinal purposes. we've studied less than 1% of the medicinal potential of rainforest plants, meanwhile we are destroying as fast as we can. the cure for cancer and aids or a better viagra may be waiting to be found.

back in sydney after zooing it up we went to get a movie fix as i was jonesing for some popcorn and the silver screen. when we went to buy the tickets, however, we learned that there was a 2 for 1 coupon in that day's daily telegraph newspaper. we ducked out of line and went searching the entire cbd for a copy of the paper. no luck. all sold out. not a single paper left at new stands, convenience stores or even the doctor's waiting room i passed through. in desperation as the clocked clicked down to the show time i spotted a gentleman reading the newspaper in a food court from my vantage point on an elevator. my opening line was "excuse me for interrupting" - which was fine. my second line of "are you going to the movies tonight?" probably sounded more like a date request than i would have liked. as they say here, though, no worries. we got the paper and the coupon and saw bra boys - a documentary on the famous maroubra surfing gang as narrated by russell crowe. the movie was great as it was 100% aussie, and the timing couldn't have been better as we had just seen cronulla earlier on in the week, and our surfing safari is next week. lyds even managed to sneak in a mcflurry-like ice cream treat in my knapsack into the movie without spilling any. the surfers in the movie were nuts as they charged hard on the big breaks like surfing jedis. their gang was more a brotherhood forged in the surf from their poor backgrounds and broken homes than toughs looking for a good time. some of the big wave riding included "jaws" in maui and "cyclops" here in australia. it is at the latter where the swells look more like jello than water it is so thick. at cyclops the surfers are 6 hours from medical attention if they eat it, and the area is crawling with great white sharks. there are even 3 tombstones on the beach. but these guys manage to surf them all while severing veins on boards and necks on rocks. they manage to look past the possibility, no matter how high, of the presence of the shark or the danger of the rock when the wave comes. they say "fu*k it. we came to surf." the movie is a definite see if you plan to visit or are a surf enthusiast.

moral of the movie is to not miss the perfect wave for fear of the shark or rock. charge hard. we all could do better.

sydney v1.1

our recovery from st. patrick's day took sometime. highlight of the night was micah forcing open the doors to the elevator while it was in motion. he had forgotten he was wearing it, and wanted to leave it back in the room. we had to force them closed again so we could continue our decent. the inside view of the elevator shaft was right out of speed, or die hard if you prefer. the tsn turning point of the night was the scotch traveller we took on the subway. that stuff is pure poison (sorry marysville sisters). we did, however, make it down to the harbour the next afternoon to check out the rocks market, and take in a boat cruise of the harbour. everyone had a great time for the dinner and cruise, and the all you could drink wine and champagne added to the fun. after dinner we took to the top of the ship for some open air views of sydney. after we docked back at circular quay we took in the light show for the sydney harbour bridge's 75th birthday. from a hill in the royal botanic gardens we sat and watched the lit up bridge ahead, and the bats flying above our heads. happy birthday bridge.

on monday lyd's and i hit up the downtown again. lydia did the opera house tour while i walked around the quay. after her tour we met back up and walked across the sydney harbour bridge, and then climbed up the bridge's southern pylon to get the view. note: "tin monkeys" who helped to fasten the bridge together using rivets did not wear safety harnesses/wires. only two fell to their death.

with the bridge conquered we took a train to sydney's olympic park. we thought it was a good idea to check it out as our outdated guidebook says that sydney will be hosting the olympics soon! in all seriousness, the olympic park was definitely worth the trip. we lucked out and were the only two who signed up for the tour on-site, and as such, we were given a personalised tour of telstra stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies took place, as well as track and field events (100m, 400m, etc). today the building allows afl, cricket, soccer, rugby league, rugby union and world cup games in the 83,000 capacity stadium. highlights of the tour were standing on the actual podium used for the medallists at the olympic games, standing underneath the olympic flame and beside the torch used, going backstage into the locker room, warm-up room and medical facilities used by the teams, and lastly, coming through the tunnel and unto the field while our tour operator had the crowd noise simulated. i felt like becks at old trafford.

we booked our surf safari up the coast to byron bay. buying a shark talisman before i go.

finished trainspotting - the account of young scotsmen twisted on junk. moved on to do androids dream of electric sheep?

that'll do, punter.

sydney v1.0

last day in hobart saw us needing to rest our legs after v1.0 and v1.1 accents of mt. wellington. we visited the botanic gardens and then split up. lyds went into the downtown and i walked for a few hours exploring the neighbourhoods of battery park and sandy beach. it was emotional visiting the errol flynn reserve where he learned to swim. it remains his only monument in hobart. sad news from the academy of motion pictures that they have turned down a request made on behalf of his family for a posthumous oscar to be awarded to him for his lifetime achievement. after over 50 films he never even attended the oscars. back to the house for our last night at the clarkson's. time for a last great dinner and table talk, a few beers, and some going away presents. up at 4:30am the next morning for the red eye to sydney. the clarkson's insisted on driving us there. we cannot even begin to express our gratitude to them. they made us feel like family. finished in hobart was my copy of man on fire and for the term of his natural life (a story about a convicted felon in tasmania). goodbye baron.

nothing wrong with the bird except the early flight time. we arrived in town with no plan except meeting up with sarah around 6pm. note: sarah is lydia's friend from back home who has offered to put us up for our stay in sydney. as we arrived at 8am, we had some time to kill and elected to use it. lyds came up with storing our bags at the train station, and buying a week long metro pass for the subway. both excellent notions. now bagless and armed with a metro pass, we ate and called home. after we went to the top of the sydney centrepoint tower to get an introduction to the city. at more than a 1/4 of a km above sydney (260m) the 360 degree view provided an excellent orientation. you could see the distant blue mountains and all the beaches. note on sydney: the countries biggest and flashiest city, sydney sits midway along the coast of the most popular state, new south wales. the cosmopolitan city has grown since 1788 to a modern metropolis buzzing with 20% of the national population (3,775,000). cafes and sailboats everywhere, with overhead, silent monorails making the city appear more out of minority report than the southern hemisphere. down from the tower we explored the central business district including the queen victoria building built in 1898. back to southerland (40 minutes by rail south of central sydney) to meet up with sarah and micah at their flat. an early night after the day's events were in order.

the next morning we went online and booked our tickets to new zealand, and then went back into the city to visit the sydney aquarium. highlight of the visit was not the collection of sharks and underwater tunnels, but when an absent-minded visitor dropped a cellphone into the seal tank. apparently you could see the seals swimming around, one with a cellphone in its mouth. they had to send in a diver to retrieve the phone, and bribe the seals with fish to get them to release the phone. it was eventually retrieved, albeit in pieces. then back to the flat to make dinner for micah and sarah.

in the morning lydia and i decided to do our own things. i ate a meat pie on the way to seeing sydney's powerhouse museum, the "hippest museum" in town. i think the a.i. computer had a crush on me, as we had quite the lengthy dialogue. after the museum it was time to see the sydney opera house from its position on bennelong point. note on the opera house: the building took 14 years to construct with a final price tag of $102 million (the budget was for $7m). it was finally opened in 1973 to a false fire alarm and over a million self-cleaning cream and beige tiles adorning its roof. along the way bureaucracy and political issues forced the the architect jorn utzan to divorce himself from the project. he took with him all his plans for the interior, and perhaps as a result, 1400 spectator seats were set up in the wrong direction. after the opera house tour, which is basically a must do, i checked out the adjacent sydney harbour bridge which has been the visual symbol of the city since being completed in 1932. an impressive latticework, massive and grand.

for st. patrick's day we visited the beach of cronulla during the day, and the orient hotel at night for drinks and dancing. a lot of drinks, and a lot of dancing. before the orient we crashed -5, a bar where everything is made of ice (including the glasses) and the temperature inside is negative 5 degrees. you had to wear a parka and gloves inside. us canadians felt right at home, but it is a novelty for the aussies. we had a wonderful oasis moment singing wonderwall with a bunch of aussies from north sydney. a sad note though that there is a very strong racist undertone in the city. one of our friends, rk, was bounced from the orient hotel later that night. the bouncers told us it was because he was intoxicated. now before i get into the argument that kicking someone out of a bar for being intoxicated on st. patty's day is like handing out speeding tickets at the indy 500, i want to assure you he was not drunk. he was the most sober amongst our group, and the sharpest dresser. he was bounced because his family is from india. crazy that in such a modern city such prejudice still exists.

happy st. patty's day to everyone all over the world. go kansas.

hobart v1.4

2 days ago lyds and i climbed mount wellington. hell. it was in our backyard. we had to.

in general people from tassie tell you that you can experience four seasons in one day. around the start of the trails we could see several warnings to trekkers that the weather and temp can change dangerously quick. we wore several layers, and brought extra water and food. we left early. it was a tremendously challenging and satisfying day. 4.5 hours through dense trails to the peak and we only ever saw one other couple. the terrain and conditions we rough. we often encountered rivers, felled trees, dense brush, hard climbs, cold temperatures and slippery rocks. we didn't have a map, but had studied one along the way to pick the most challenging trails. one section of the hunter's trail we called the sea of rocks as the trail was composed of about a km of nothing but rocks to navigate through. there was no path to follow, only a marker which would stick up every 50 feet or so. when we couldn't find the next marker lyds would wait at the last marker so we couldn't get lost. we felt totally secluded on our mission to the top. as we approached the peak the weather turned worse on us. i started calling the mountain "mt. doom." when we reached the summit we resembled a deep space exploration team in a sci-fi film. you know when in star trek 2 when they show that plant that khan lived on? it was like that. our emergency rain ponchos whipped painfully around our heads and the rain had soaked through our layers. we couldn't hear each other unless we shouted, and the wind almost knocked me over. of course no one else was up there, but we were all smiles as we took pictures of each other in a rocky pose. with the fog we could have been anywhere, but we knew we were on top of the world. as the conditions were so bad we took shelter in the lookout station lyds found. we called the clarksons to tell them we were ok, and waited for the storm to pass. from the barren peak, 1300m above sea level, you are supposed to be able to see half the peaks in the state. however, there was zero visibility with the fog. with no let up in the storm we followed lyds' suggestion to follow the road down to the treeline and then hike back down the rest of the way along the trails. we jogged down the road, singing to stay warm. by the time we made it to the bottom it had been an 8 hour hike. awesome. what a feeling of accomplishment. we earned the view we didn't get, not like the people who come in cars (lyds calls them the "antique-y tours"). it took sir charles darwin 2 tries with a guide to make the peak, but we did it in one without a map. we got back just in time for me to celebrate my fitness accomplishment by hitting up the rsl with nikki's dad for some beers.

we are climbing it again tomorrow.

yesterday saw us on top of mount wellington again, this time by van and merely for the decent. we rode down the 20km from the peak to downtown hobart on mountain bikes. our group was led by guides who travelled with the bikers as everyone made their way down at their own pace. we would routinely stop along the way to re-group, get tips, and receive a briefing on the oncoming road we would encounter. lyds and i were in it to win it. i made it down in third just behind our guide and two euros who sport bike all over. later the guide told me that my speed was just under 40km/hr. what a rush. kms went by in the blink of an eye. your hands freezing. your eyes wide open to the wind as you scanned the oncoming road. i felt like i was in the tour de france with my dad watching at home, and i had even worn my green fila sweater that resembled the green jacket. lyds did awesome and was first down of the girls. she even surprised herself through the turns as she pushed herself not to brake. it was a great feeling fo speed and freedom.

back in downtown hobart, glowing from the adrenaline and our decent, we by chance entered an internet cafe. it ended up being run by the head of the errol flynn society and was a wealth of pictures and movie memorabilia. i even got to correct him on a picture he had labelled wrong, and this seemed only to make him more interested in my questions as if i had proven myself to be a worthy fan. we talked for over 20 min. one more instance of happenstance.

king of the moutain out.

hobart v1.3

the south. we spent the day exploring the tasman pennisula and port arthur (about 90 min east of hobart). on the way to port arthur we would stop to see the pennisula. one of the towns we passed through was called "dootown." all of the shack-like homes here are named with the word "doo" in it somehow. examples were "doo nix," "doo me," and "doo f*#k all." i'm sure you get the idea.

just before we reached eaglehawk neck we visited the tesselated pavement, a natural platform of sedimentary rock suffering from unequal erosion from the salt. the result is grooves criss-crossing the rocks giving the appearence of tiles or planned brickwork. as we entered the tasman pennisula we passed through eaglehawk neck - a severe narrow connecting the pennisula to the rest of the island. it was at eaglehawk neck that soldiers and guard dogs were stationed to foil convict escape attempts. note on escape attempts: one convict named billy hunt attempted to cross the narrows on may 17, 1832 by donning a kangaroo skin. his hopping managed to fool the soldiers, but, unfortunatley for him, the soldiers started to shoot at him as kangaroo meat was an important supplement to their rations. billy was forced to throw off his disguise and call for a ceasefire, only to be taken back to the prison.

past the neck we took in the tasman blowhole and arch and saw the devil's kitchen - beautiful lookouts upon eroded siltstone battered by the surf into twisted shapes. the main attraction of the pennisula was port arthur, the recognized cruelest and most inhumane of the convict colonies. 250,000 visitors see the site annually, and it is tassie's most popular attraction. the site is worth a visit even for those we do not like history - steep cliffs, rolling green lawns and gardens, and ruined standstone buildings around a deep natural harbour. in the middle of maingon bay you can see the isle of the dead where 1,100 prisoners were burried, and accross from port arthur is the remains of point puer boys prison. you can even visit the site at night for their famous ghost tour, but we declined. port arthur is also infamous for the events of april 28, 1996 when a gunman killed 35 people before being arrested by authorities. there is now a memorial to the victims around the foundation of the cafe where it happened.

back to the house for dinner, beers and table talk.

hobart v1.2

on the weekend nikki took us to salamanca market to take in the sunday market. it was all artisans and crafts. we walked around the harbour and saw more penguins. at night nikki took us to the casino and treated us to dinner in the revolving restaurant. we arrived just in time to catch the sunset view from the top of the casino tower, and as we ate the darkness came out and the lights of hobart came on. after dinner we played the pokies for almost 3.5 hrs. we all had a great time and lost a combined $13 dollars.

in the morning we travelled to richmond, a sleepy 1870's b&b and antique town 30 minutes ne of hobart. they have kept an old time feel to the streets and structures. we walked the streets and had i had a lime milkshake (no worries dad) before seeing the oldest bridge still in use in australia. the bridge, very different from the one spanning the river kwai, was created from sandstone by convict labour in 1823. after the bridge we toured the richmond gaol built in 1825 which housed a generation of convicts, aboriginals and bushrangers. one of the inmates, ikey solomons, was the inspiration for dicken's fagan character in oliver twist. to end our richmond experience, lydia, nikki and i raced through 2 life sized mazes made of wood. the goal was to reach the centre of the first maze, and then to find the entrance to the second maze. once in the second maze again you had to find the centre, and then find your way out again from both mazes. in the centre of each maze was a code word you had to memorize. i came first as i was the only contestant to run the whole time. it took 20 minutes to reach the second centre, however, it was 20 minutes of dead ends, fun, and dizzyness.

after richmond nikki took us to meet up with her parents at their cottage on oppossum bay for an aussie bbq lunch. we spent the rest of the afternoon in the sun drinking beer, eating bbq, and looking out for parrots in the trees and metallic blue ants on the ground. back at dusk following a walk on the beach to catch the hawthorne vs. calton afl match.

yesterday nikki, her mother, lydia and i visited the cadbury chocolate factory - one of hobart's most popular attractions. no sign of wonka (wilder not depp), charlie, grampa joe, or a glass elevator but i did have the songs from the movie in my head the whole time. plus, it was my first experience wearing a hair net. picked up a bunch of cheap chocolate too.

the chocolate tour was for the ladies. the cascade brewery tour that followed it was for one male - me! note: the brewery was built in 1832 by one mr. degraves who drew up the plans while in prison for debt default. it is the oldest brewey in australia and produces 800-1000 bottles a minute. the adjacent garden is a famous wedding photo site. but enough of the history. the end of the tour had the most important attraction: a beer tasting and bottle shop. i took most of the girls samples and walked off with a case for a souvenier.

in other news our aussie lingo continues to grow and infiltrate our normal conversations. we now use words like grotty, loo, choc-a-boc, drongo, and brogan. lydia and i have also taken to singing the proclaimers when we are walking about.

"when the going gets weird the weird turn pro." - hunter s. thompson

hobart v1.1

we awoke early in the morning to mrs. clarkson making us brekkie and telling us of the things she had planned. apparently lydia and i have also lucked out with a personal chaffeur and tour guide! we started by taking a drive through hobart. it is a beautiful town framed between the bay of sullivan's cove and the mountains. all of the houses are old, and unique, and non are very tall. they dot the landscape in their pastel colours from on top of their hills. it reminds me of bermuda very much. lydia and i took an immediate liking to it. although mining has helped keep hobart alive, it has never been huge or complicated. as you near the outlying moutains and hills (15 minutes from the central business district) the houses mingle with open green fields. not far from the clarkson's is a house that has horses grazing.

our first stop on the mrs. clarkson tour was errol flynn's primary school. mrs. clarkson had called some people at the hall of records in the morning after hearing what a fan i was. they did not know where he had lived specifically, but they did know his school in sandy bay. it was nice of her, and pretty cool just to say i saw it. we then drove for about 2 hours se from hobart towards the end of the world. the scenery is beautiful, lush and hilly. everything is green. we passed through kingston, huonville and geeveston. in geeveston i had my first meat pie with sauce (ketchup). it was delicious. we then entered the hertz mountain national park where we winded our way into the forest for 30km. after the drive we did the tahune skywalk through the southern forest. some trees were 1000 years old, and we had a great view of them as we walked 40m above ground through the canopy. mrs. clarkson even participated, a great feat as she is terrified of height. the walk ended with a view of the huon and picton rivers, and a helicopter ferrying supplies up the rivers. on the way back we stopped near the entrance of the park to see australia's biggest tree (weight) named the big tree. not original, but massive at 405 tons. i slept through most of the winding trip home, but awoke to catch the sight of the sleeping beauty mountain.

when we got back nikki's parents left for their cottage and lyds, nikki, and I ordered pizza and watched a movie with nikki's friend. we finished off the night by taking in a tutorial of the rules of the afl (australian football league). we watched the game between brisbane and melbourne and asked questions throughout. i think i could have been the peyton manning of the afl.

note: the oscars pretty much sucked. there was no one theme to the night and the speeches were terrible. i am also disappointed that the leafs did nothing at the deadline except sign yanic perrault. i hope 3 times is a charm with him.

hobart v1.0

in tasmania. now way down under. note on tassie: tasmania grew out of england's prison overflow problem in the 18th century. when prisons in new south wales also began to fill up the worst of the worst were sent to tasmania. tasmanians are forever getting teased about this now from aussies on the mainland. they are all supposed to have two heads from the criminal inbreeding. van diemen's land, as tassie was originally known, is actually the lushest part of the continent with one third of the island preserved as protected wilderness. though only 3% of australian visitors make it to tasmania, serious hikers and nature freaks come from all over the world for some of the best hiking in the southern hemisphere. mountains and the last great temperate rainforest in the world - those are tassie's main draws. that and errol flynn ....

lydia and i flew from adelaide with virgin blue airlines into hobart, the capital of tassie and australia's second largest city. at the airport nikki (lydia's friend) and her mother met us. the hobart airport has to be one of the smallest international airports in the world. any worries of them finding us were quickly brushed aside at the one baggage carousel and gate. we will be staying with the clarkson's our whole time here.

unfortunately, the weather in tassie has not been the best so our introductory drive from the airport to their hobart home was marred by fog and clouds. it was the first time lyds and i have been rained on since we left. the clarkson home looks southward upon the downtown area of hobart, and from their backyard you can see mt. wellington (1270m). we arrived just in time to catch mr. clarkson knocking off work, and he insisted i join him for a few drinks at the retired serviceman league (rsl). i barely had time to put my bags down before i had a drink in front of me - tassie started strong. her father and i got along famously had we had serveral drinks (cascade draught), laughs and lottery games. her father also was nice enough to introduce me around to the community of the rsl. we got back just in time for an amazing home cooked dinner. their family has been so kind to us already, like we were their own family. any feelings of unfamiliarity or caution disappeared during dinner. the talk flowed freely and only ended as some people had to be up the next day for work.

you could say that we are in like flynn for the rest of our stay here.

adelaide

we arrived in the "city of churches" late in the afternoon and found our hostel. note on adelaide: it is the first completely planned city in australia, and southern australia, the state in which it is found, was the first state not to be settled by convicts. one million people live in adelaide, but it is a quiet, sleepy oasis that seems very much removed from the east coast backpacker trail. there are tons of restaurants to try, new festivals to experience (right now it is the adelaide film festival and the fringe festival), and wines from barossa valley to sample.

lyds and i were not very impressed with our first hostel so we spent the night at a nice restaurant and splurged on some good food and beer (carlton). we returned back to the hostel after dinner for a needed shower in the gross bathrooms. what kind of hostel doesn't provide a towel and a garbage can? a bad one i guess.

the next morning we awoke early to do laundry and find a new hostel. lyds went searching for a new place and came up empty-handed, and i monitored the washing machines so no one would walk off with our entire wardrobes. afterwards we checked out the central market on gouger street (pronounced goo-jer). stall after stall of veggies, bakery goods, fruits, sandwiches, fish, meats, etc. we grabbed lunch while listening to the vendors bellow out how good their deals are to wandering shoppers. a hint is to come as the market is closing when the deals get crazy from vendors wanting to off load their stock. after the market i had a brainwave to check out a place that some irish guys (dublin and belfast) had recommended to me in st.kilda. we found it, and cooler still, found them sunburnt and staying there. after booking a room with them for the rest of our stay lyds went to the gym and i went drinking with some of the people from our new hostel. let me say again that these aussies can drink, and that they like to buy rounds. everyone got caught up in the good times, and no one wanted to look the least generous. i got to sample a new beer, vb, and also got to revist some others (carlton draught, coopers). one of the guys, chris, was not someone i would usually have struck up a conversation with back in the world. he is 40 (looks 28-30), massive, has big tattoos on both his arms, and drives a massive harley that he had come from perth to pick up. think russel crowe's older brother. we had some great drinks and laughs, and finished off the night with a port and brandy drink and some pool. it just proves that appearances can be deceiving. i was almost an hour late to meet back up with lyds, but she was cool and understood. note on drinking in australia: pitchers of beer are jugs. hence, to kill a pitcher is to skull a jug. aussies don't get twisted or hammered, they get paro (as in paralyzed).

by the time we moved into our new hostel we fell in love with it. it was an old heritage building that had been converted from a b&b to a hostel. guests are all young. internet is free. the kitchen is open and has a huge wood slab of a table across from an antique open fireplace. just outside the kitchen is a spanish-style courtyard when everyone congregates. during the day it is full of people lounging about reading or typing on laptops. as dusk comes it is the perfect temperature for cards and chilling under the xmas lights. everyone cooks their own meals and lydia and i have begun to do so to save money. we enjoy it. i could have stayed in the courtyard until my visa expired. i think this was the reason we saw so little of adelaide.

when lydia again went to the gym i visited the adelaide gaol which was built in 1840 and operated till 1988. 50 people were hanged at the gaol (1840-1964), and these inmates were burried within the walls. coolest part was sitting on both sides of the visiting room barrier and reading the graffitti in the cells. shutting the door on myself in the solitary cells was spooky and dark. i had the whole place to myself, and at the backpacker's discount too.

lydia and i also visited the rodney fox shark museum when we vetured to glenelg (beach community) by tram. rodney fox is famous for being attacked by a great white as a young spearfisherman, and is in ripley's believe it or not museum for surviving his injuries. the museum is a must for shark enthusiasts, as he is now the leading expert on great whites and hollywood's shark consultant. he has been behind the camera on several films and documentaries, including jaws and jaws 2. you can see the signed copy of jaws from peter benchley thanking him for introducing him to sharks, and other jaws memorabilia. unfortunately, lyds and i decided not to book to cage dive with great whites with his company as it was so expensive. however, i found another company that goes out in june and we may do that.

while in town we also explored the brickworks market, and met the craziest cabbie who was an australian olympain for tai-kwan-do. we also went to a comedy night with one of the staff named emily, and the rest of the people from our hostel. we made friends with a dutch guy we called gerry as no one could pronounce his name (we skulled a jug together in diplomacy). lydia organized to meet her friend tom who runs his own tour group, and we may do his tour when we pass through alice springs. my forearms are still marked from twisting off beer caps like aussies do (tom taught me).

the only downer of our stay in the hostel was that we had a bed bug incident. note: bed bugs are common in hostels and are not just part of a rhyme wishing you to sleep tight.

the casualties from this trip continue: lydia's flip flops; lydia's pajamas, my flip flops (x2); my non-perscription shades. much of our clothing is stained pink from pj pants we bought in thailand. my fsu hat is in critical condition and it does not look good. i finished reading the world's first bio-degrating book (a time to kill). as you finished a page it came out in your hands.

got to go ... the flight attendand is saying that in the event of a crash over water the whistle attached to my life vest is great for attracking sharks.

tazzy next.