On a Happier Note

So, I've been depressing lately. This is not entirely accurate to how I'm doing on the whole. But, somehow, this turned in to my other blog in disguise. Not that that's bad, and not that they should necessarily be separated, but I was reflecting the other night on how this blog hasn't really included much of the normal activities of my life.

Last weekend we went to Tasmania. If you don't know (I kind of didn't) Tasmania is actually a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, not a separate country. I had to wear shoes on the way there, which was disappointment - in the last three weeks I've worn shoes twice. I quite enjoy being barefoot - which is hilarious, because I used to abhor going anywhere without shoes.

Anyways, the reason I had to have shoes was that we were going on a tour of the Cadbury Factory. So, not only did I have to wear shoes, but also a hairnet and a snood for my facial hair, since I haven't shaved in something like three weeks. The ridiculous apparel aside, the tour was alright. The chocolate, however, was fantastic! I have all kinds of chocolate to bring back, if I don't eat it :-) My favorite is the individual triple-layer bars I got: milk chocolate, white chocolate, and raspberry from the bottom up. It's pretty much the most fantastic thing ever.

After that we went to Mt. Wellington, which overlooks Tasmania's capital city of Hobart. We did a lot of rock climbing and exploring while we were up there. We took pictures and talked funny and screamed a lot, and it was marvelous. If the internet didn't hate me, I'd have had that week up right now, but it took me two hours to get three weeks ago up, so I got lazy and stopped. Maybe later...

We went to the Royal Botanical Gardens after that, and then back to our hostel in the middle of the city. We ate at a seafood place right on the wharf called the Drunken Admiral, and it was some of the best Salmon I've ever had.

The next day we went to the Salamanca Market, the largest and best Market in Australia. While we were there it was crazy busy - although that's not surprising, since it's only open on Saturdays. We spent several hours there just walking around and browsing through little shops. The highlight was definitely a musical group called Mangus (his cd was called Bare Feet, and I smiled). He played the digereidoo, the guitar, and a percussion box and tambourine at the same time. We bought several copies of his cd just because we were so impressed!
From there I went to the Tasmania state art gallery and museum, and it was pretty cool. They had an Antarctic exhibit out, and it was interesting.
We went and had seafood again that night :-D

The next day we went to church at St. David's Anglican Catherdal, and it was fun to have a huge group of us instead of the normal 3. St. David's definitely doesn't see as many tourists as St. Paul's does - they had the books out for the liturgy instead of having the whole thing printed in the service program. They were good about explaining most of it as they went, but a couple times I got fed up of trying to flip pages and just recited it from memory, where it was appropriate. I really enjoy being able to do that - I'll miss the liturgy when I go home! After that Michelle, Becky, Jeremiah and I walked around and explored the route that Jeremiah and Ellen had been on the day before. We walked something like 6K on gravel, and I was barefoot the whole time :-D
We stopped at a park and I climbed a 60 foot cliff face - maybe not smart. I would have died had I fallen, but providentially I did not. I was ok most of the time, but right at one precarious moment Becky came around the corner and screamed and it was not helpful in the least. I got up and around after 45 minutes or so, and vowed to lay off rock climbing for a while :-) We'll see if that actually happens.

Monday we went to Port Arthur, a historical site dedicated to the beginnings of Australia as a convict society. I'd just written a paper on the topic, so I didn't find it highly informative, but it was neat to see everything in person nonetheless. We snuck up into the belltower of the cathedral, but left after a short time because we didn't want to get caught ;-) It was pretty fun though.

This week has been mostly homework and hanging out around Kingsley, except for Wednesday. Michelle and I spent the morning and afternoon at Werribee Park, home of enormous mansion, a winery, and the State Rose Garden. After that we celebrated Jeremiah's birthday, and took him to the World cafe for dinner. It's easily his (mine as well) favorite place to eat; and that just for the FANTASTIC cheesecake. I had some Moroccan spiced penne and a piece of Bailey's cheesecake and almost melted into pleasure.
Then we went and met up with Becky to see the Melbourne Chorale perform the Lamentations of Thomas Tallis - AMAZING. We were the only people under 60 or so again, but you get used to that after a while :-) I got a cd of some of their work, and it's wonderful - I miss choir, I'm excited for next semester!

Today I've just chilled and read a book and put pictures up. The newest set is from a couple weeks ago when we went to Wilson's Promontory, the southernmost point on Mainland Australia. Enjoy!

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