Sam was right on time to meet me at the airport in Hobart. He gave me a big hug and a small kiss, par for his aversion to PDA. We got our rental car and headed off to our Tasmanian adventure. Despite living in Australia all his life, Sam has never visited the island, but the things he wanted to do I was totally aligned with. That is a big plus with him and I - we enjoy the same types of activities and appreciate nature in very similar ways, sometimes in uncanny ways like how we're both totally obsessed with driving through a canopy of trees. I had booked an AirBnB near Hobart but right by a southern beach. It is summer in December, after all. I also had the tiniest of hopes, more of a fun topic of conversation than a real semblance of probability, that if the Aurora spiked enough, we'd be able to catch a glimpse of the Southern Lights. Doing that the same year I first saw the Northern Lights would be quite a story! After getting our things into our room, I couldn't put off my anticipation any longer, and we walked the 100 feet or so to the beach. It was cool, being quite south it wasn't going to feel like a hot summer day there, but the sea breeze blew in the freshest air this world can offer, and I delighted in getting my feet into the frigid water.
We found dinner at a nearby pub and called it a night - it was a long travel day for me after all, and a short travel day but a travel day nonetheless for him and we were pretty beat. I was now traveling with my new CPAP machine but had to resign to not using it that first night because we couldn't get it to plug into my universal plug converter.
I woke up early and felt my asthma raging still from Milan, so I packed my bag to include my water and go go juice and left a note for Sam, and made my way back to the beach. For about two hours, I sat or ambled up and down the shore, taking big, deep breaths of that wonderful air and letting my feet get wet as they got used to the cold. No less than four dogs ditched their hoomans to approach me either for pets or to throw their balls or sticks for them. It was very sweet and filled me with joy. I eventually decided to sit on a bench a little ways away from the water to attempt to photograph the magnificent birds that were colorful when they flew but rather bland when perched. Only a short time later, Sam came down the path and I met him on the beach. We enjoyed it together for a bit before heading back to our room to get ready for the day.
First stop was a small mall to look for another plug converter so I'd hopefully be able to utilize my CPAP. Sam expertly navigated the stores to find exactly what we needed. Then Sam drove us up to the summit of Mount Wellington to take in the views. It was even colder up there for obvious reasons, and a little windy. Still, we took our time to enjoy the scenery before heading into town.
We stopped at a brewery Sam wanted me to try, and even though Sam claims he doesn't like beer, I expertly picked out two beers for myself that I thought he'd like and he was surprised how much he enjoyed them.
The Museum of Old and New Art, or MONA, did not disappoint. Neither of us are big on museums, yet when something so significant or unique exists, we'll give it a go. There were some strange and unique exhibits, and the unique feature that there are no placards in the walls; instead, guests are encouraged to use the museum's app to identify nearby exhibits and learn about them that way. After a bit, I was ready for a break and inquired about a very exclusive-looking club. They let us in and then entrance alone was an experience. It's hard to describe but basically you're walking on a raised platform but the lighting is such that you don't realize there is a drop in the floor. It just looks my like the pathway is perpetually framed. And it is a trip (no pun intended - so be careful if you go)! The food and drinks menu were also pretty fascinating. And then I noticed a woman - a patron? a performer? a terrorist? - walked in wearing a full ski mask, and stared at us. Later, she jumped on the counter, which greatly improved my confidence that my hypothesis of her being a living exhibit was correct. She struck various poses around the restaurant and stared at people.
Two exhibits particularly stood out for me. The first was a machine which replicated the human digestive process from "eating" which smelled like a garbage disposal, to "pooping." And that's it.
The other exhibit was more of a performance, but I tied it back later to a greater artwork and messaging. I was literally invited into a room, lured by the promise of champagne and chocolate, but was told it was for women only and Sam could not accompany me. He encouraged me to go and with that I was whisked behind a curtain and into a room noticeably with busts of penises on the wall and two men in the center, delivering a speech apologizing to women for all the double standards and unfair burdens impressed on women by their fellow men. I was handed my champagne and joined in listening to the speech already well underway alongside about a dozen other women. The speech was over shortly after, and not two beats went by before the next performance commenced. This one was less intellectual. One of the men simply announced he wanted to apologize with his body, and the two went to work shaking their booties, giving lap dances and stripping off their clothes. The women in the room were screaming and recording and dancing. I personally had both men dance on me, and I took a few pictures and a short video but felt weird recording such a show. After a bit, I excused myself and saw that a long line of women had formed to enter. Upon rejoining Sam, I noticed that the wall immediately next to the curtained room from which I had just left had busts of vaginas on it, and there were comfy looking lounge chairs facing that display and lush rugs in between. I took it to mean that the sexuality of men is out in the open but that of women is veiled. It works on many levels. Well done to the artist!
We then returned to the digestion machine for the demonstration of it "eating" which was, in my opinion, anticlimactic and not really noteworthy other than that it indeed happens to assure anyone who may not believe the origin of the poo at the other end.
Earlier, Sam had mentioned the possibility of going to the Taste of Tasmania that was going on. After we were done in the museum, I suggested we could still go and he didn't see as enthusiastic but decided we had to eat dinner anyway right? We walked around and scoped out all the options before selecting some food and drink and secured a couple seats at a table to eat at. It was a very full day so it was great that we were able to squeeze some cuddle time in before crashing.
We were up early the next morning for our drive north. We stopped in a small town bakery to get a sausage roll, meat pie and a pasty. It was pretty late in the afternoon when we finally arrived at Cradle Mountain. Sam specifically wanted to do a little hiking around Dove Lake, but the route to drive anywhere near it was closed to traffic. We parked at the small lot for the interpretation center and walked towards it in the rain. I figured out we could pay for a shuttle to take us there, but it seemed like we had to go back to the main Visitor Center that looked like a parking noghtmare. I tried getting them online to no avail but then found a ticketing machine. I got stumped by the when it asked for our registration number and was about to give up. Sam interpreted for me - that meant license plate. So with our teamwork, we managed to not only catch a shuttle to Dove Lake, but we kind of hacked the system by parking there instead of the main Visitor Center area. We indeed hiked around a bit and took some nice photos. It was overcast and drizzly which dulled both of our moods a bit and made for less than spectacular scenery, but we still enjoyed it.
Satisfied with our hiking adventure, we took the shuttle back to our car and drove back towards a small town called Deloraine which Sam kept teasingly mispronouncing as Delorean. We had dinner at a pub there and then made our way through some pretty remote and wild roads to our AirBnB for the night. I spotted three wallabies on the way! There, we checked into "The Eyeful Tower".
After settling in, I started some laundry which I had planned to do here to minimize how much I needed to pack. With no TV (gasp!) we first had some deep conversations - where are we in the relationship, etc - and then entertained ourselves with some trivia until it got dark enough to stargaze. We didn't go far because of how dark it was, but we didn't need to. Being in a completely dark sky area, the night sky lit up even from behind the cloudcover. Jupiter played hide and go seek with us and part of the Milky Way was visible for a bit. Sam was in awe - he had never seen a sky so clear (and this was not as clear as it could be, not by a long shot)! I enjoyed showing him the planets and stars and discussing meteor showers - he and I both saw a quick flash that may have been a meteor. I shot some poorly angled pictures, missing my tripod, before we headed to our separate beds. I took the master upstairs with it's glorious views and Sam cozied up next to the wood burning fireplace that the owner had lit for us.
I had a spectacular view to wake up to, and I leisurely took a shower and got ready before heading downstairs. Sam got ready and we were on our way out in no time. Our next stop was easily the photographic highlight of our Tasmanian vacation, if not the actual highlight - Tasmania Zoo. Sam had found out that we could have our picture taken holding a Tasmanian Devil and that just sounded like something we both needed in our lives. We made our way into the zoo and bought the extra experience for noon. In the meantime, we covered the whole grounds admiring almost all of the animals of the zoo, including albino and regular kangaroos, lots of colorful birds, different types of monkeys, meerkats, lions and tigers (oh my)! and two beautiful giraffes. The wombat mostly eluded us - we were able to see that he was in a hidey hole on his backside but could only really make out one little foot in the air. We saw and learned about the binturong. And of course, we were so excited to see the little Tassie Devils out and about. We returned to the waiting area for the experience and were not disappointed - an adorable baby Tasmanian Devil was handed to us one at a time and we were able to take pictures on our cameras and pet the little guy before the next person's turn. Once the complimentary photos were printed, we visited the gift shop and headed out.
As we made our way back towards Hobart, we made a couple fun stops. Sam had grown up eating hazelnuts from Turkey which produces 70% of the world's hazelnuts. There was a hazelnut farm on our route so Sam wanted to stop, hypothesizing that they couldn't possibly be as good as those from Turkey. He was pleasantly surprised at how good they were, and I got to try my first hazelnuts. We ended up buying a few packs before departing the nut house.
Next, we stopped at a cheese place I had seen on our way up - called Wicked Cheese. We got to try some samples before I bought a small block for us to enjoy with our champagne for New Year's.
Sam wanted some solo exploring time for the evening so he took the car and I listened to my audio book and took a stroll down the beach and along the park pathway nearby.
Australia does two fireworks shows to ring in the New Year - one around 9 pm so that children and families can partake before bedtime, and one at midnight. Sam identified a great viewing area to watch the Hobart fireworks from across the water. After the show, we watched some TV and then rang in 2025 with champagne, cheese and crackers, and a kiss of course, in our room. It was perfect.
The next morning we packed up and headed to the airport for our midday flight to Sydney. Sam got me to my hotel and we went to McDonald's before he took the train home to celebrate New Year's with his family. And so concluded our Tasmanian adventure. I feel like we are closer than ever now and we cleared up some things that needed to be said between us. I adore him and can't wait to see him again tomorrow night - I surprised him with tickets to Hamilton!
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