Tassie: Epic Adventure

The highlight of our Tassie trip was a kayaking adventure on Lake St Claire with Dad, Rhyanna and Zachary. It was gorgeous but tough going as we only have sit on top kayaks which are not built for speed. Plus we had an extra person and our attempt to just have them as a third person in the 2-man kayak ended in a desperate bid for land as the whole thing became submerged in the middle of the freezing lake. Instead Zachary braved the 3-hour hike alone and met the rest of us at Echo Point on the famous Overland Track. Justin and I slept in the bush hut while the other 3 put tents up on the little beach.
The tents on the beach:



Cooking tea next to the hut:
View from the jetty at Echo Point:


Dad and Zach taking a break after a bit of a hike:
The next day I did the hike back and was surprised to get back before the kayakers. Unbeknownst to us there was a wind warning out that day for small craft. Zachary and Rhyanna in the single kayaks had slogged their way through the waves to make it to the meeting point, having lost sight of Dad and Justin an hour before so we sat on the beach waiting as the sun got lower and lower in the sky. It turned out they had been forced to abandon the 2-man kayak after having to pull over to tip the water out every 100m. In a move that would make Survivorman proud they hid it in the bushes, hacked a piece of life jacket off with a pocket knife to mark to location on the track and then hiked back, with Justin wearing only Aqua shoes on the track that was rocky and involved lots of clambering over tree roots and muddy pits.
We topped off the grand adventure with a drive home at dusk as hundreds of wallabies threatened to leap out on the road at any moment!
It managed to snow up there the day after we got back but a few days later Dad was able to go up with a friend and his boat and easily retrieve the hidden kayak.

Tasmania - Part 2

It's great to be back in sunny Australia where even in the supposedly rainy state of Tasmania it's still normal to dry your washing outside on that great Australian icon, the Hills Hoist.
Less power consumption + fresh smelling clothes = win!


We went for a roam around Cataract gorge in Launceston, where the peacocks roam wild having been introduced in the early days of settlement. Apparently they'll snatch the food off your table if you're not looking.


My sister Philippa was feeling less sunny. She went to bed feeling sick and ended up at the hospital a few hours later with appendicitis! I did take photos of her looking sad in hospital but I'll be a kind sister and not post them on the internet for all to see.

Tassie Part 1

Farmers Union Ice Coffee. It's a South Australian thing, but they have plenty of it in Tasmania. And it is good.


Since our last visit Kate's parents have "adopted" a young Wallaby. It is blind and wandered into their yard and now it lives in a shelter and is content eating the grass and fruit in the backyard.

Kate and I hiked to the top of Ben Lomond, its more known for its skiing in the winter, but it has an easy track to the top in the summer. It's very cool at the top, rocks, moss, lichen and lots of small streams and puddles to hop around.

The trail is denoted by these weather-beaten mossy poles every 50 yards or so.

Towards the summit there are a few old cabins from before it was a national park, you can see one of them peaking out behind Kate.

Sunny Sydney

Sunny Sydney! Made it to Australia intact, with minimal jet lag. Warm weather, sunshine and Adam Lemmey abound.

Hung out and checked out the sights of Sydney with Adam. After a thanksgiving/Wisconsin 3 weeks of meat mania we were extremely grateful that 1. Adam is a vegetarian and 2. He knows of some amazing vego restaurants.

He also is proud owner of a 1979 (or maybe 1981) Toyota Corolla. Sometimes I had to hit the engine with a hammer to start it, other than it is in great shape. Here is Adam before our road trip to the Blue Mountains.

At the visitor center there was an old candy crane game from 1909 (made in France). We all won two pieces of candies.

The Blue Mountains are home to the steepest grade of train in the world (they claim anyway). It can be scary.

The Blue Mountains

Adam also knows the location of a Rambo arcade game. It is a wonderfully good time pretending to be Rambo and shooting 4,000 guys and increasing your rage meter.

My RAGE meter is Heroic.

Back In Wisconsin

Had an exciting time in our last few weeks in Wisconsin. Got to catch up with a lot of people, go to some shows, cook lots of food, eat lots of food, stand out by some fires, and on and on.

A few highlights included a bike trip from Madison to Baraboo with Aaron, something we both have wanted to do for a while now. It was supposed to be sunny and warm but ended up being foggy and cool. Still we had a blast.

In line for the ferry



Also celebrated my Wisconsin heritage in the basement with Chris and James.



We had a big Thanksgiving meal, I ended up being so full I felt sick. Because James and I won't be in Wisconsin for Christmas we also had a Christmas celebration over the weekend as well. As you can see I splurged on my brother, the 99 cent can of Lost Lake.


Went to a show in the small town of Roxbury with my parents and Kate. It was a cool bar (Roxbury Tavern), Lake Louie on tap and cheap eats, oh and the band was pretty good too (The Dang-Its). Nice to get a little folk-country-americana show in before we depart.

Chris and I wrapped Madge up like a baby…. stunts like this could be a reason for her dislike of Chris...