Spring Break (and other stuff)

We will start with the other stuff.  Sidney and Kimber received a fish tank from Kirk and Santa for Christmas.  It was a few weeks after Christmas before we got it set up but it is now up and running with seven fish.  The type of fish we have are cichlids.  We have three blue, two orange and one yellow.  We also have an algae eater.  He is made of steel as cichlids are not always very nice.  But Elvis (all our algae eaters have been the only fish with names and they have all been Elvis because of their fins) just ignores the cichlids. Sidney loves it and so does Shandy, the cat.  She spends hours trying to figure out how to catch a fish.  She tries from the stairs behind the tank but she can't see them as well and her whole body won't fit through the stair rail, only her head.  She tries from the floor in front of the tank (pictured) but she just isn't tall enough.  Or she tries from the chair near the tank.  She hasn't jumped on the tank yet because I think she realizes there is water in there and she doesn't like that idea.  It is great amusement and the fish enjoy taunting her.

Kirk and Sidney also got to go to their 3rd Father-Daughter Dance.  This was the first one at Sidney's new school, Shafer and I think they both really enjoyed this one.  They had a nice buffet meal, took some photos and made a cute hand print flower.  The flower is each of their hand prints on a stem and was made for the Father as a thank you. They played some games and danced (a very little). Kirk enjoyed the opportunity to where his kilt and Sidney got a new dress for the occasion.  She is getting fancier (and more expensive) in her need for clothes.  But I think we probably still have it easy compared to her friends.

Sidney is also getting a bit protective of her room.  She generally doesn't want Shandy in because she plays with Sidney's toys or sometimes gets left in there.  And Sidney continues to display a love for trash and recyclables.  She made a boat out of a Girl Scout Cookies box, an empty paper towel roll and the noise makers (those things you blow up and slap together at events) from a school event.  It is a little pontoon boat for her animals.  Of course it hasn't been put in water.  But here is also a picture of the note and envelope on her door.  Also, speaking of Girl Scout Cookies, Sidney sold more than 300 boxes and is selling more in the next week.  But we will be glad when cookie season is over.  The boxes had to be sorted and delivered.  That was serious work.





So now spring break.  We had commitments on both Saturday's and Sunday's around spring break so we had to take an abbreviated trip this year.  Sidney had not been to Louisiana so we went over to near Baton Rouge to visit a friend.  We stopped an San Jacinto Monument on the way there.  It is a 570 foot tall monument to the Battle of San Jacinto which is when Texas won her independence in 1836 following the unsuccessful Battle of the Alamo.  We took the elevator 490 feet to the observation floor and enjoyed views into downtown Houston, the ship channel and industrial and open land.  We had a beautiful cloud free but windy day to enjoy.  We also took in the San Jacinto Museum of History.  Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car and we had some trouble with Sidney's camera so we were only able to get a few pictures.  But we still enjoyed the side trip.



From San Jacinto, we drove on to Paula's.  She lives about 20 miles east of Baton Rouge.  It was a good bit of driving and we were ready to be out of the car.  We went out to dinner with Paula so Kimber could get a fix of boiled crawfish.  Kimber ordered the smallest size, 3 pounds, and it took forever to eat.  Kimber is not efficient at crawfish but they were good.



The next day we took a leisurely morning going for a run and visit to the playground.  Then we ate lunch out with Kimber getting some red beans and rice and spicy sausage along with a cafe au lait and sharing beignets with Sidney.  We took a drive along the river road stopping a few times for a stroll and then headed home. Paula made us a wonderful light dinner salad which we all enjoyed.



Wednesday was our plantation tour and swamp tour day.  It did end up being a long day driving (about three hours round trip to New Orleans) and in the bus (another three to four hours) but a fun day.  The plantation we visited was called Oak Alley because of the beautiful alley of 28 300 year-old Virginia Live Oaks between the Big House and 1/4 mile to the river.  The oaks were planted in the 1700's, long before the house was built, and have a life expectancy of 600 years.


We had a guided tour of the Big House which has a formal sitting room and dining room on the first floor along with an office from an era later than when the house was built.  The upstairs had three large bedrooms including a master, a nursery and a guest room.  Sidney was fascinated by the fact that the original beds were filled with spanish moss and had to be rolled each day for approximately 45 minutes per bed.  No one was allowed to even sit on them after they were rolled until bed time.  The rolling pin pictured would be stored on the head of the bed. Later you will learn what not to do with spanish moss.


The house was a gift from a wealthy sugar planter to his bride who was much younger and liked entertaining, so it was built much for that purpose.  It took three years to build and had a difficult history.  One original piece of furniture remains, and that is the baby cradle.  The original owners had 6 children but only three survived and eventually the family ran the plantation out of money.  The house and plantation had several owners after that who took varying degrees of care of the house.  At one point the house was used for animal shelter which ruined the original marble floors.  The final owners took good care of the house and left a historical society for its care on their death.


The house is now open for tours and education and other parts of the property are being rebuilt or restored.  The house has been restored almost entirely to period style and is truly beautiful.  The kitchen in that era was never in the house because kitchens tended to burn down which is what happened to the original kitchen for this house.  Also, there is a picture of a unique fan device in the dining room.  This was used to keep guests cool and flies at bay.  A servant would stand in the corner and pull the cord for hours very carefully so as not to blow out the candles.



I have also included a picture of the suitor candle, plantation bell and large sugar kettle.  The suitor candle was used by fathers to tell suitors how long they might have to spend with daughters.  The candle would be positioned high in the holder for suitors that met the fathers's approval and lower for those who did not.  When the candle burned to the top of the candle holder, the date was over.  The plantation bell was used for communication.  Each ring had a different meaning from announcing meals, lunch and break times, and plantation emergencies.

Several sugar kettles would be used to process the sugar cane.  The cane would be crushed with animal driven mills and the juice extracted.  The juice was then heated, clarified and evaporated in a series of kettles like the one shown (which was the largest and first kettle in the series).  Finally, the sugar would be cooled and if the process was completed correctly, would crystallize.  It was then transported in wooden barrels.  If the process was not completed correctly, the result would be molasses.  In addition, the plantation is rebuilding as close to original as possible, the slave quarters which at this plantation were unusually close to the main house.




We toured the rest of the plantation and ate a quick lunch. Sidney had a virgin mint julep and Kimber a real one.  We bought some sugar cane to try and got back on the bus for the afternoon tour of the swamp. On our way to the swamp tour, we got to see a bit of a police chase.  We are assuming drugs were involved as there were several officers searching the median after the end of the chase and several undercover police around.  A little more excitement for the day.

We boarded a 6 passenger air boat for the swamp tour.  The water is shallow and full of stuff so the boat is shallow and propelled by a large and noisy fan (hence air boat).  Control comes from louvers on the fan which can be moved.  The boat can however only go forward.  The main purpose of the tour was of course to see alligators.  In addition we learned quite a lot about them and the swamp.  Alligators have been endangered and are recovering now.  They are quite different that crocodiles.  Alligators live where they must hibernate which significantly slows their rate of growth compared to crocodiles.  They also open their mouth by dropping their bottom jaw rather than raising their top jaw and their teeth do not meet like a crocodile.  This makes them eater of things they don't have to chew (rule out humans).  They really are scavengers and prefer to eat something mother nature has already worked on.  They also don't do much due to the need to conserve energy.  Additionally, they were heavily hunted and suffer from loss of habitat.  So a baby alligator has a 1 in 50 chance of becoming an adult in the wild (over age 4 or about 4 feet long).  

So they are now farmed to some degree.  This has been very successful in their rebound because they transition from farm to wild without a hitch.  So the swamp boats will pick up eggs, being careful not to tilt the eggs and cover the breathing hole.  They will be hatched and raised on a farm.  In this situation, they can skip hibernation and have plenty of food so they grow roughly twice as fast as in the wild.  Before they are released at 4 feet in length, they are tagged and their tail notched to indicate farm raised.  At 4 feet they are usually too big to become another gator's or animal's dinner.

 



We also learned about the swamp.  We discussed why you should play with spanish moss with care (it is home to lice, fleas, and chiggers at least).  We learned about how the swamps were dredged and non-native plants and animals introduced.  We learned how at least the rate of loss of swamp has decreased. We also learned how to survive in the swamp if we were lost their.  We learned all swamp animals (yes all including snakes, birds, turtles and gators) like marshmallows.  And finally, we got to hold a baby alligator.  This was of course the highlight and the end of a super fast two hours.

Thursday took us back to New Orleans for a trip to the zoo and tour of a cemetery.  We parked away from the zoo and took street cars through New Orleans seeing some beautiful old homes along the way to the park outside of the zoo.  It was about 1.5 mile walk after that and tour around the zoo.  The park was lovely and we enjoyed the walk.  The zoo was only OK.  You could tell that it was an older zoo that had seen tough times (being in New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina).  The exhibits were very old style and there was not a wide variety of animals.  Sidney wanted to do the dinosaur tour that is at some zoos including this one.  The dinosaurs are animated and she enjoyed that part.  We then walked back through the park, stopping to play of course and caught a streetcar to where we could walk around a cemetery.  What makes the cemeteries so unique is that because of the high water table, the deceased are placed in crypts above ground.  Unfortunately the cemetery closed an hour before we arrived so we had to content ourselves with walking around the outside.

Now by this time were were both exhausted.  But no problem, we would catch a street car back to our car and be on our way.  Ha.  We were passed by 4 totally full street cars.  And so we walked.  We must have walked an extra 2 miles and finally caught a crowded car where we had to stand and bake for the last mile or so.  We still had a good day but man were we tired.

Friday brought us home.  Stopped and got a bunch of cajun prepared meat on the way and were happy to see Kirk and Shandy when we got home.

For those of you needed an owl update, we have put in a picture of the single fluffy baby that survived. He or she just recently left the nest and I think our friends are glad.  He was a sloppy eater, tossing to the front door step bits of mouse he did not want as well as owl pellets.  They had to clean up after him/her nearly daily.  He/she spent the last month or so alone, only receiving meals at night.  It was fun to watch him/her turn from the fluff in the picture into a big owl.

Finally, Kirk and Kimber continue to  prepare for the MS 150 bike ride from Houston to Austin.  It is actually close to 160 to 180 miles over 2 days (depending on your routes).  The ride raises money to treat and find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis.  Marathon supports a team of about 150 riders raising $175,000 dollars.  Kirk is riding about 55 miles once a week and indoor cycling twice a week.  Kimber is riding about 60 miles once a week and indoor cycling twice a week along with lifting weights and running.  We hope to get up to 80 ish miles before the ride.  The weather has not been helpful.  It has been windy every weekend which is the only time Kimber can ride.  The weekend days have had at least 12 to 15 mile per hour winds.  And Kimber has had a blow out on most of her rides.  We finally found a tire problem and the latest ride was without a blow out (but with lots of wind still).  Kirk usually can pick a day for his ride so he can choose a slightly less windy day.

The ride is April 20 and 21 and would appreciate your prayers for safety and favorable winds.

Since Australia

Life has been busy but not crazy since Australia.  Settling back in after getting back was tough.  It was some of the worst jet lag we ever had.  We made it back from Australia in time for Sidney to have one more week at summer day camp.  She only went for three weeks this summer since she was so busy and well traveled.

Sidney celebrated her 7th birthday on August 24.  We ended up taking her and a girl friend to the Houston Natural Science Museum.  They had a great time looking at the dinosaur bones and butterflies.  Sidney's favorite part of the museum is the butterfly exhibit.  She could spend hours in there.  We took Sidney out for lobster afterwards with our friend Theresa.  We went to Red Lobster but we bet she is back to raw oysters or sushi next year.


We had a small birthday party for Sidney on August 26th at Westwood Gymnastics.  They have a great facility and awesome group leaders for each party.  They run the kids into the ground doing activities in the gym.  Then we sugar them up and they run some more.  We sent them home with goodie bags filled with stuff from Australia which was a hit.  Score one for mom and dad.  Here is a picture of Sidney and her friends at the party.

We ended up going to dinner one other night in the middle of the week and gave Sidney one more chance to celebrate.  Here is a picture of her at La Finca having a sweet treat and Happy Birthday sung by the staff.

School started August 27 with Sidney starting 3rd grade.  It is amazing how fast time goes by.  She is in class with some of her best friends. She changed schools this year because Katy is expanding so quickly.  She was upset about the change before she started but that didn't last.

The only excitement of September was Kimber working on a Habitat for Humanity house and a quick trip to Reno for work.  We kind of settled in to not traveling and being able to make some plans. Because of the lack of travel we were able to host a small get together with some of our friends from work, church and school.  It was very enjoyable and we forgot how much we missed those opportunities.  Right before the get together we had our landscaping done in the front yard with the addition of nicer and more appropriate plants and lighting.

November brought back some travel but nothing exotic.  Kimber was in San Antonio for an audit the first week of November.  She spent a lot of time on the roads south and east of San Antonio and on drilling rigs.  Marathon is super busy in the Eagle Ford area.  It was amazing to see but a really long week.  The following week Kimber was back in Reno.  Marathon has a small pilot facility out there with some projects ongoing.  So she is a frequent visitor to the facility.  Everyone says it is very inconvenient to get too but after all the international travel, it doesn't seem so hard.

We also got to attend a News Boys concert in October.  What a great concert.  We had VIP tickets and were also able to get this great picture with them.  Sidney fell asleep before they ever made it on stage.  Who sleeps through a concert where the ground is shaking.  She has not made it through a concert awake yet!

We spent Thanksgiving in Colorado with Kimber's parents.  The weather was very mild and we were able to drive up Pikes Peak.  There was almost no snow up there and even up there the weather was mild.  Cold but just barely below freezing.  Surprisingly Sidney got really dizzy up there but she did have a very mild cold.  We got a good picture of the family up there though.

We also enjoyed a lovely hike around Seven Falls.  Compared to some of the falls we have been to, they are quite small but beautiful all the same, especially in a place without much water.  It was a wonderful and rare opportunity for us to hike as a family and we loved it.  Sidney of course led the way in her usual keep mom and dad running style.  The lack of air didn't seem to affect her that day.

Sidney also played hard and long each day.  There is a school near Kimber's parents that has the ideal climbing equipment for Sidney.  She climbed and did the monkey bars until she had blisters and a huge smile.

Like all good vacations, it had to come to an end though.

December actually gave Kirk a chance to travel.  He went to Arizona for a conference.  The poor guy rarely gets a break or escape.  That being said it was two long days as well.  Kimber and Sidney held down the house and had a fun two days.

As soon as Kirk got back, Kimber was off to Reno again.  Anyone see a theme here.  Kimber is actually hoping to get to spend a weekend there sometime and go up to Lake Tahoe which is only an hours drive (in the summer).

And them we finally made it to Christmas.  We went to Georgia to visit Kirk's folks.  We saw nearly everyone, Kirk's brother and sister and their kids, Kirk's aunts and some uncles and also Kirk's Grandpa.  Grandpa just turned 95 and is still ticking just fine.  It was great to see him.

There are other smaller events in our life.  We still get on an occasional bike ride as a family.  Kirk and Kimber will be doing the MS150 again this year.  But this year, we may get to train more together since Kimber's travel is greatly reduced.  We have signed up for a series of training rides and look forward to doing them and taking Sidney along.  We will be biking on one of these rides nearly every weekend between now and April 20.

Sidney has also been busy being her.  She is continuing Girls Scouts and having a great time.  She was a Fairy for Halloween which fortunately was really easy for mom this year.  And she has continued to loose teeth, looking a bit like a Jack O'lantern for a while with teeth missing here and there

Kirk also was busy one weekend adding another mural in our house.  We have two lovely long arts and crafts style tulips that he painted by the fire place.  But our ceiling are super high and the wall next tot he fireplace above the TV looked quite bare.  So he filled it with this.   While he worked on that, Kimber applied her sewing skills and made valences for the kitchen and study windows.



We also have put in a few pictures of a great horned owl that has taken up residence at Sidney's best friends house in her window box.  She moved in around Thanksgiving and has laid three eggs.  One fell out of the nest but one has hatched.  She is beautiful.  We wish her the greatest success as a mom and one of us drives by to see her every day. We call this pose her hanging out pose and it is usually how she is.


There is one last story that has not been told to many people except maybe a few people at Kimber's work.  This story involves one canoe, purchased on sale from REI by Kirk.  The canoe was then hung from the ceiling like our ten bikes in the garage.  As the bikes have taken up all the not above a car space, the canoe ended up above a car.  It was hung such that the garage door would go below it when the garage door was open.  This all happened sometime in the spring.

After one of Kimber's trips, she noticed the canoe had lowered slightly, probably due to the rope stretching slightly.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and it likely was from the hooks bending, event though the canoe did not weigh more than was acceptable for the hanging device.  However, we think the canoe was putting too much pressure on the hooks, ultimately bending one.  So after Kimber noticed it lowered, Kirk raised it slightly.  Sometime during the night, disaster struck.  Kimber went out to go to work and discovered the canoe on her car.  It had fallen off the hook in back crashing onto her car with enough force to significantly dent the roof and break out the back window.

We don't have any pictures, didn't really think about it in the moment.  The tow truck came and got the car, in the rain.... Through much trial and disappointment, Kimber has her car back.  The repair place was not the best in the world but we learned some valuable lessons.  And the canoe has gone to live with some other lucky family.

The Great Aussie Adventure - Tasmania

The majority of this post will be devoted to Tasmania.  But first the last day in Melbourne and the trip to Tasmania.

Day 15 - The highest priority in the day was Ikea.  Now this may be strange to some of you but both Kirk and Sidney love Ikea.  Sidney loves the play areas and Kirk loves to shop.  Then they top off thier time with a meal in the Ikea Cafe.  And by going to Ikea in Australia, we can say we have been to Ikea on three continents.  By the way, all of the stuff is basically the same, including the food in the cafe.  Sidney got her adventure in small land while Kirk and Kimber looked around.  Then we all went to lunch in the cafe.  The one different item on the menu which we enjoyed was salt and pepper fried squid.  It was very tasty. 

After Ikea, we wanted a Target.  We found quite a large mall with a Target and found a suitable parking space for the camper.  Parking was one major adventure with the camper. Many groceries and other stores had parking garages which were not suitable for a camper.  Or they had the smallest parking lots ever and we had to take up 4 spots.  We enjoyed walking around the mall.  Very civilized.  Target was also pretty standard although the kids clothes were different styles and characters.  Some were really cute.

After that, it was time to return the camper van.  We had to drive through Melbourne to do that.  Fortunately there weren't any problems and we were ahead of the worst afternoon traffic.  We took a taxi to the ferry terminal where we had a couple hour wait until we could board.  We did get to see three ducks being loaded.  These aren't "quack, quack" ducks, but Citroens.  We learned later that someone in Tasmania has a duck fetish and purchased three ducks to add to his colection.  Kimber loves ducks so she enjoyed seeing these. 

We had to wait until a large school group boarded and then we could finally get on the ferry.  The ferry was made in Finland and was pretty standard to the ferries we were used to from Europe.  We had a nice standard room at the front of the vessel.  Four fold down beds and plenty of room (slightly bigger than a closet, but hey it's one night).  We quickly dropped our stuff off and then went to get a meal of Tasmanian cuisine.  We were all really tired though and headed straight for bed after that.  We were more tired the next moring though because it was a rough night at sea crossing the Bass Strait.  The motion wasn't a problem for any of us even though the waves were 6 meters.  However, the waves hitting the ship sounded like metal on metal and were every thirty seconds or so.  It was so loud, only Sidney slept.  Kirk and Kimber didn't sleep at all. Rough night.

Day 16 - Arrived Davenport, Tasmania, exhausted but happy to be in Tasmania.  We picked up our car and headed south.  It was a cool morning and we all needed some hot drinks with our breakfast.  We stopped in Launceston at the city park.  The city park has a large troop of Macquau monkeys on display.  We enjoyed watching them try to warm up also as the sun came up.

After the short stop at the park, we drove over to Cataract George.  We actually enjoyed a nice hour or so of hiking and walking around some nice trails with lovely views there.  Part of our hiking involved walking across a quite safe but swinging bridge.  For those who don't like bridges or heights, you would not have been impressed.  We of course loved it. Sidney also got to do a little "tree hugging" while we were there.

We spent the rest of the morning walking around an old car museum with a surprisingly nice display of cars and motorcyles.  Additionally, they rotate their selection based on various themes.  The museum doens't actually own the cars, but people who live in Tasmania do and loan them on request to the museum.  Kimber, who spent much of her childhood around old cars, found this to be a bit of a trip down memeory lane. 

Lunch was fish and chips on the waterfront watching the cormorants fish.  It was quite warm and sunny and we had a nice time.  After lunch we drove to the east coast of Tasmania.  We stopped for ice cream in a town with logging history (Campbell Town) and tried to find an old water mill but we struck out. Just outside of town though we saw a flock of cockatoos in a field almost like you would see blackbirds in the US. 

We made one more stop to try to find Lost Falls before we reached the coast.  They were lost all right.  Lost in fog.  We very nearly couldn't see them but we enjoyed the short hike and chance to strech our legs.  We also encountered a funny sign to add to our collection of pictures of funny warning signs.

We also drove into Bicheno to try to see the little penguins who live there but you have to sign up for a tour to see them and the tours don't run in the winter.  We did get to see another blowhole before we drove down to Coles Bay and Freycinet.  Kirk and Sidney picked up 2 dozen oysters at a local marine farm.  The farm uses an honor box when they are closed so we took our oysters from the frig and dropped our money in the box.   We stopped at a small restaurant to pick up some pasta for Kimber and a bottle of wine and had a nice little dinner by the fire at our cottage.  And of course we watched some olympics.

Day 17 - We started the day with an odd breakfast of cereal and cheese.  At this point we are trying to use up things we have bought that we can't take home (mostly cheese and fruit).  Then we packed up and cleaned up the cabin before heading to Freycinet National Park to see Wineglass Bay.  Wineglass Bay is listed consistently as one of the top ten beaches in the world.

Our intention was to hike up to the Wineglass Bay overlook, which was about a 40 minute steep but not overly difficult hike including 330 steps (Kimber counted).  The view from the top was beautiful with red granite mountains and the beach's perfect crescent of white sand.  But we were feeling really good and the day was fantastic so we decided to hike back the longer way around to the car park.  The path down to the beach was more rugged than the path up to the overlook but not anything more difficult than some of the milder Norwegian hikes. 

After a snack on the beach and gathering some sand and shells, we continued our hike around to the Hazards. Not sure of where the name came from but Sidney found the hike slightly hazardous. There was a short section where you walk on a board walk.  It is only a foot or two above the surface and Sidney was looking back at Kimber while walking on this.  About the time Kimber said to not fall off the baord walk, down Sidney went.  Nothing injured and it wasn't even wet.  but we all got a good laugh out of it.  Our total walk that day was 11 kilometers (about 6.5 miles).  Sidney led the way for most of it and there were plenty of good hills.  Including snack stops and veiwing breaks, it was 4.5 hours.  Sidney kept a great pace that had Kirk and Kimber really proud of her.  What an awesome little hiker.

We were greeted by a wallaby in the parking lot before starting the drive to Hobart.  I think she thought the painting for the handicap space looked a bit like her.

We stopped at the lighthouse overlook for a few more great views before we left Freycinet.  On the way to Hobart we stopped at the Spiky Bridge.  The bridge was built by convicts but no one knows why it has all the rock spikes along the sides.

We arrived in Hobart in time for dinner.  After we checked into Custom's House hotel, we walked to the water front and had a two tier seafood dinner and Tasmanian wine at Mures Seafood restaurant for dinner.  The seafood was fantastic and we left stuffed and ready to rest up for our last Australian adventure.

Day 18 - This day starts with a bit of sadness knowing it is the last great adventure in Australia.  Tomorrow we will fly back to Brisbane and the next day back to the US.  So we are intent on making the most of this last glorious day. 

We start the day with a hearty breakfast at the hotel before we head to  he Tasman Island Cruise office to catch our bus to Port Arthur for our cruise and Tasmanian Devil Park visit.  The drive from Hobart to Port Arthur is about an hour and a half and we learn some history and interesting facts from the driver.  We learn some convict history including about an area that is a narrrow bit of land surrounded by water.  this land would have dogs chained at 6 foot intervals and the convicts would be told there were sharks in the water to delude ideas of escape off the souther tip of Tasmania.  We also learned much of the Tasmanian infrastructure including cananls and bridges were dug or built by convicts (by hand!)

We stopped for tea, coffee and muffins at a beautiful recreation area associated with Tasman cruises. One could easily relax away a week here on the beach and with nice walks, fishing and boating. After our small snack, it was time to get kitted out for our adventure.  Tasman Island Cruises provides wind proof oversuits for thier guests.  As usual they are one size fits most.  Most does not inlcude Kimber or Sidney. Kimber and Sidney looked like Oompa-Loompas with Sidney's suit nearly dragging ground in back.  Kimber felt like she was wearing a Norwegian survival suit again.

We boarded our boat, described as the 4 wheel drive of the southern ocean, then started a breathtaking journey.  We passed sandstone formations, sea cliffs and caves.  We even took the boat into some of the caves for amazing views.  We saw a yellow beaked albatross, a tern and a seal in the water.

We then went to the tall dolomite cliffs that formed when Tasmania broke off of Antarctica (no, it was not part of Australia originally).  saw seals, an unusualy cormorant, and a nesting pair of sea eagles. 

Additionally, there is a lighthouse on Tasman Island.  Operation of the light house used to require enough people to fill two 6 bedroom houses.  Families lived there and they had gardens and animals.  Trnasportation to the island was by boat. From the boat you threw things (groceries, clothing, etc) into a large basket and then got in with your kids possibly.  The a pulley system took your basket up to a landing point where you moved everything to a nearly vertical railroad for the rest of the ride.  And this happend in all seasons.  The lighthouse is now unmanned and maintenance personel arrive by helicopter.  Can you imagine the adventure of living on the island?



After the lighthouse we headed into "rough water".  This was a breeze.  We had the nicest 1 to 3 meter seas.  There are only a few days a year that calm.  Sometimes in rough weather the waves break over the 30 meter cliffs.  We also spotted some shy albatrosses in this area and enjoyed seeing the water crash to shore and go through blow holes even in the calm seas. 

Once we re-entered calm water back towards Port Arthur, we saw the Island of the Dead.  Over 1000 convict bodies are buried on this very small island.  All the kids, including Sidney, had the opportunity to drive the boat (with speed and power) around the bay before we docked. 

The weather was quite warm for Tasmanian winter but we were still glad to have the suits and were all a bit chilled once we got off the boat.  We had a nice soup and sandwich lunch at the penal colony museum before we headed to the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park.

Fortunately for us and especially Sidney, the park was very quiet.  I think when we arrived we were the only visitors.  We started by visiting the kangaroos, wombats, and wallabies for feeding time.  We didn't think this would be very exciting though as by now we had fed all of the above several times.  However, there was a park attendant who provided a lot of great information on the dynamics of the group of animals they have.  The largest kangaroo ate first followed by smaller kangaroos. Then came the wallabies and last the wombats.  There was a definate order to who ate first and this was the first time we had seen that.  Additionally there were the geese.  The geese ran the show.  There were two pairs.  One pair had active chicks running around and it didn't bother mom and dad in the slightest to chase, peck and yell at any one of the kangaroos.  The other pair had either smaller chicks or eggs and only one participated in the bossing of the roos.  It was hysterical and goes to confirm why Kimber avoids geese at all costs when running.  Mean birds!



After the roo feeding, we went to the devil feeding.  The two devils getting fed received the torso of a wallaby, bones and all.  Only one devil will eat a small catch like this at a time.  The lady devil won the prize and started first after a great deal of wallaby tug of war and growling and snarling.  They are "devils" at dinner.  She just crunched right through the bones.  They can exhibit huge amounts of force from their jaws. 






Here is the important part about the devils though, and why we had to go to a conservation park to see them.  They have become endangered.  They have developed a facial cancer that is transmittable.  The cancer is transmitted when they go about their "discussions" (the growling and snarling and nipping) over dinner.  The tumors that develop affect the devils ability to survive in the wild.  Therefore, parks and zoos are trying to maintain a population of cancer-free devils.  And you generally won't see any devils outside of the parks and zoos. 

After devil feeding we took in the bird show.  Show is a slight stretch.  Only two of the five birds could fly.  The first bird was the tawny frogmouth.  He has only part of one wing so he sits in the same place day and night eating what flies by quite happily.  We were able to pet him and he was very soft.  We also met a peregrine falcon who was missing an entire wing.  We had a cockatoo who danced and a parrot who would (in theory) fly to get a penny from your hand.  However he had a problem with Sidney's and Kimber's hair. He would land on their head rather than arm and then scratch them trying to balance.  Sidney was not keen on this.  The final brown hawk could fly and would fly in between peoples legs if they were standing on the ground. that was the greatest excitment in the whole show.  Oh well.

We ended our visit to the park by visitng the quolls.  We never knew such a creature existed.  We had not seen them in any zoo in Australia.  These are small carnivorous marsupials that are smaller than a possum. They are quite cute being gray with white spots on thier back and snoozing happily in thier tree.  However, when dinner (another section of wallaby) arrives, it is chaos.  They will jump off of tree branches or rocks to hang by their teeth from a bit of food until they get a peice off.  It was at least entertaining. 

After the quolls, we took the bus back to Hobart.  We were truly exhausted and a little sad.  We ate at Mures again but downstairs.  It was still very good.  Then we headed for bed (except for Kirk, who popped down to the hotel pub for a couple of the local Tazzie brews!).

The next morning we did have time to visit the Cadbury chocolate factory.  This was the second Cadbury factory in the world and the first outside of the UK.  We picked up some treats that they make thier including Freddie Frogs and Caramel Koalas.  Some of these went int the treat bags for Sidney's birthday.

After that we flew to Brisbane and spent the night.  The next morning we were back at the airport and headed for home. We arrived home at 3 am Thurday morning completely exhausted.  Then we all fought jet lag for days. Kimber even had the worst jet lag she has ever had. 


We are now fully recovered and back in the groove.  Back to work and school.