Cradle Mountain and lake Tasmania

G'Day folks.

Well our trip to Australia is over. It was a great time as always. You won't find too many cities like Melbourne at least in this hemisphere. Our time spent there was split between visiting animal parks, shopping and eating. As always the food, beer and wine were excellent. Gary made sure the supply was plentiful. Allie and Gary are great hosts and Lachlan is a handful of fun. Gary's family and friends joined us at various points during the trip making it a second home. The girls loved their cousin Lachlan's new puppy Mika. A tiny little Saint Bernard! Gorgeous animal with a sweet disposition. The only dog that would allow Lachlan to yell "dog! Dog!" then launch into a perfect rugby tackle. Lachlan has good form for a two year old. After Melbourne we ventured to Tasmania.

Tasmania, what can I say WOW! Absolutely a beautiful place. If I was to be an expat well ol'Tassie is on the top of the list. Definitely worth a second visit.

What? Not convinced. Ok, sure some think Tassie is the back woods, hicksville of Australia. Which by the way is very odd considering they have places like Alice Springs and Darwin. Anyway, Tasmania has mountains for climbing and some skiing (some only because they are anti development so no infrastructure but I could imagine the back country-TELE-HO!); the entire west side of the Island is virtually uninhabited and accessible only by foot, horse, 4x4 or hilo. I find that prospect very cool. Lots of trekking possibilities. Oh and did I mention the beer...mmmm. The Boags brewery tour in Launceston is an absolute must. If you like to sail or dive it appears to be a paradise for that too, particularly at Hobart. The kelp forest and large protected bays make it good for cold diving and day sailing. Hobart reminded me a lot of Monterey California. Including the Salamanca Market. A weekly street market resembling a flea/farmers market. Id o have to Tasmania has all these things but since we were travelling with four children 6 and under,and a pregnant Aunt Allison we (minus Allie and the kids) drank beer and wine while talking about all the cool things we could be doing! Oh well that is for the next trip Cheers!

Tamar River Skywalk

Ballarat Wildlife Park (scene of Carolyn's infamous kangaroo kicking incident; not to be outdone, Lachlan launched another perfect rugby tackle on a momma and her joey. The joey quickly scrambled back into mom's protective pouch! LOL!!)

(More photos to come.....)