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.