Burnie, Tasmania & Melbourne

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First off, in case you may not know it, the island of Tasmania is one of the states of Australia. Just like Minnesota is one of the United States. So, same money, postage, language, etc., as the mainland of Australia.

Nisswa School: I haven't seen a Tasmanian Devil, but our lecturer says they are carnivorous, so I guess I am glad I haven't run into any!

The crossing from Sydney to Burnie was the roughest we've had it. The ship creaked all night long. I came down with a horrible cold (headache, sore throat, cough, the works) so felt pretty miserable and wasn't able to go on the eight hour bus tour that was going inland to Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake, one of Australia's National Parks. I had really been looking forward to seeing what the countryside of Tasmania was like, so I am greatly disappointed. Instead, Mom and I took the shuttle bus from the port into the town of Burnie, pop. 20,000. It felt a lot like Park Rapids with a large downtown of mom and pop stores. No Wal-Mart, so all looked prosperous.
We wandered around a Woolworth's which turned out to be a grocery store. Always fun to see the different grocery items available in foreign lands. (Heck, I like to see them in other states, too!) One thing I noticed: the coffee craze has not hit Australia as the shelves are full of instant brands with only a couple bags of beans available. (Not the place for you, Cindy!) Then I realized there weren't any coffee bars around either. Not even in Sydney, come to think of it. I guess the Aussie's are too smart to pay $3.50 for a cup of coffee!

Our ship was docked next to a mountain of wood chips. Apparently that is its biggest export. It is also an agricultural state that supplies all the french fries for McDonald's throughout Asia. It was quite lush with lots of trees covered with magenta blossoms. I wish I could have seen more. A Scottish band, complete with bagpipes and drums, seranaded the ship as we sailed away. Apparently Tasmania has a strong Scottish heritage.

We sailed overnight to Melbourne and awoke this morning to the view of a huge Celebrity Cruises ship, the Millenium, parked in the berth next to us. It carries 4 times the passengers we do. We looked pretty old and dinky in comparison. But I'll take that any day. At least we look like a ship, not a floating skyscraper!

I'm feeling much better today, so Mom and I took the tram (light rail) into the city, about five miles from port. We visited the National Gallery, our first brush with culture on this trip. A beautiful building with a better collection than the Institute of Arts, I thought. We were both really impressed by the wall of water at the entry: a 30 foot square glass panel with a steady stream of water running down it. Just like Turcotte Bros. Grocery in Brainerd 80 years ago! But I digress... We also visited St. Paul's Cathedral (Anglican) -- big, with great windows. It was lunchtime in the city so we were swept down the sidewalks with the hordes of office workers. We ate at a McDonald's (what is a trip without at least one stop there?) and took the tram back to the ship. The weather today was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and about 78 degrees. We can see a haze in the distance from some of the wildfires that are still burning. There are donation boxes everywhere to help the victims of those horrible fires.

One thing about a cruise: you only get to have a small taste of each place you go. It is frustrating not to be able to do more in each port, but I guess I'll just have to come back someday to the places I've liked.

Next stop, Adelaide.

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