March 14 - 15

March 14 - 15: Open Seas Cruising & Hobart, Tazmania

We spent Wednesday at sea. In the morning Kim and I walked a good three miles. But then a lot of the day was spent with dense fog - see picture at right. It was a bit erie as the fog horn went off every four or five minutes for the longest time. Kim asked if I was concerned about them navigating the boat, and while it was a bit unsettling to see nothing but dense fog I told her that they seemed to do just fine navigating in the pitch black at night so I'd bank on their computerized instruments in the fog. The fog lifted late in the day and we had a good evening.  By early morning we were arriving in Hobart, Tazmania - the most southern state of Australia. I thought it was interesting / amusing that we were told had we not stopped in Hobart and continued on course, our next port would have been Antarctica :) It had been our impression prior to the cruise that Hobart was a quaint little town, and well worth the stop. But, there was not going to be a "wow" experience today - it was just a chance to see another part of the world and what was important to the locals here in their little corner of the world.  We were up early to have coffee and then off the the bus transport around 8:30 am. The weather called for an 85% chance of rain and temperatures only reaching the low 70s by mid afternoon. So we both went equipped with jackets that were rain resistant. As it turned out though, the morning was quite pleasant and the sun even tried to break through a couple of times.

Our first stop on the bus tour was an overlook of the town. We passed over the bridge which connected one side of Hobart with the Central Business District. As we approached it was pointed out that the bridge was missing a support - you can see the gap in the bridge towards the right side when you watch the video. Not only were a dozen people killed when their cars went plummeting into the river, but for two years the two sides were "disconnected." They did put in a ferry and there was a bridge some distance down river; but still as you looked at all the homes and businesses on the one side separated suddenly from the other side it had to be such an inconvience. One postive that came out of it however was that the side across the river from the CBD got some malls and businesses which might not have sprung up without the bridge having been knocked down. In the photo below, from the lookout, you can see our ship - the Radiance of the Seas - docked on the left and the downtown area just to the right of the waterfront where we are "parked." 

The next stop was at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Our guide for the day, Grahame (you can see and hear him in the video) offered for those interested to walk around the garden and point out some highlights. We both thought that sounded like a good idea; and as it turned out that would be one of the best decisions of the day as it turned out the gardens were to be the "big event" of the day! Not being a big "garden guy" I have to say that it was impressive and really "lovely" (as they say in Australia) to see all the colors and varieties of plants. There were three very interesting tales that Grahame shared with the small group that followed him around. The first came when we were in the Conservatory. It was a nice enough building with wonderful flowers, etc. But what made it unique was when we were told that weddings were held here frequently and often people had their ashes spread among the plants - and that all of Hobart held the conservatory as one of their most cherished spots. And I thought to myself that it wasn't so much that it was a cool building or collection of flowers so much that was important to visiting here, but that this spot meant a lot to the locals. When people come to visit us we can take people places that are not that exciting, but the reason we show off the places we do is because they mean a lot to us. So that made our stay here all the more meaningful. 

The second story that was quite interesting involved the wall around the original gardens - the brick wall you see above. Not only is it the original wall from the early 1800's, but this story Grahame shared was really unique....... Originally when the gardens were built the designers wanted to keep plants from all climates, but what to do with those that needed to grow outside, but were not suited to the winter climate that comes each season to Hobart? So the brick wall was designed with the center hollowed out. In the winter, when the temperatures dropped, the caretakers of the gardens would build fires WITHIN the wall. The heat would radiate to the bricks which would act as a warming agent. And all of the plants which required the heat were always planted near the wall. Very clever :) The view from the gardens out to the river - see above - was very impressive as well! 

And the final story from the gardens that was of interest came when we walked into a small vegetable garden. The garden itself was about half the size of our back yard and seemed pretty inconsequential until Grahame began his story. To Australians, for many, many years there had been very popular television show known as "Pete's Patch." In each segment Pete talked about gardening, cooking, etc. And this very vegetable garden had been where he grew his vegetables and filmed his weekly show. Again, like everything else about the gardens, it wasn't so much that "Pete's Patch" was something internationally famous like the Sydney Opera House or Harbor Bridge; but knowing that for decades Australians followed the adventures of this gardener/cook from this spot made visiting it a unique experience. 

Our final stop was supposed to be Mt. Wellington. However with the continued low cloud ceiling we would have seen nothing but clouds, so we were taken to an alternate lookout - not quite as high, but well up in the air - and in a different part of town where the skies were clearer, Mount Nelson. (Pretty sure it is NOT named after the famous Mr. Jeff Nelson - administrator at Cypress Bay High, but you never know the extent his popularity reaches!) 

At the top of Mount Nelson it was explained how the early residents utilized a flag system for communication. Mount Nelson overlooked the mouth of the river as it opened into the open waters of the ocean. When a ship was incoming it could be identified and through various flags run up the poles, news would be sent along into town. Interesting that a drive from Mount Nelson to the center of town would take 90 minutes - but the information sent by the flag system the early settlers had developed could get the information downtown from the lookout in FOUR MINUTES!

The final segment of our "Hobart Highlights" tour took us through three well known sections of town. The first was through "Sandy Point" which is the most exclusive section of town. The homes here go for the multiple millions in price, one had sold a couple of weeks ago for $8 million plus. They were not nearly as big as some of the mansions you'll see for example on the waterfront in South Florida, but with the limited land available and the limited land with a view, it is a case of supply and demand. In the video I have a clip of the view the residents have of the harbor. The last part of the tour took us through what is known as "Battery Point" which is an area that is like a village within the town. Homes are very expensive, but not as much as those in Sandy Point. The draw here is that it seems as though you are in your own little village and not a part of the urban world of greater Hobart. The most interesting house we saw (in the video) is a home that was owned by a sea captain. Though the home itself is big and something to see, it was the fact that the entire upper floor was devoted by the captain to his model trains that made the home interesting! 

The most interesting story we heard all day was about the air quality. Someone had asked Grahame about how "clean" and "sweet" the air seemed. There are organizations that measure the air quality around the planet, and for many years now Tazmania has had the cleanest air on the planet. The rationale comes from the fact that air systems on the planet Earth move from west to east; Tazmania is located farther south than the southern most tip of Africa - I didn't realize that....actually looked on a map to double-check it! So if you head off to the west to see where any polluted air could come from into Tazmania, you'd have to go all the way to South America to reach another section of land! Obviously with all the water to "filter" the air, they get the most "pure" air on the planet here!

Tonight as we leave Tazmania we are leaving Australia and headed for New Zealand. The captain came over the P.A. to tell everyone as we were preparing to leave that the weather while at sea tonight and into tomorrow afternoon will most likely be foggy, windy - with winds up to 40 to 60 mph gusts! - and high seas making for a lot of "motion" to the vessel. The fact that he talked about how "there is nothing to worry about.......a ship like Radiance of the Seas can 'handle' this kind of weather" was a little unsettling, but as nightfall descended and we truly were rocking around noticably, you just had to figure it's part of the deal when you are on the open ocean......I mean after all, we are at sea. The fact that it is almost always so smooth you'd think you were in a hotel is pretty amazing. 

We will be "dark" in terms of our journals and photos until Sunday when we arrive in three "sounds" in New Zealand. Should be very similar to crusing through the glaciers of Alaska we think.