Tripping with Judy

Today is a day of rest and optional activities.  We have walked and walked…usually 4 miles a day but 6 miles yesterday…and learned and experienced.  I’m pooped! I lingered at breakfast this morning rather than rushing off.  Several people were going on bus tours, but I felt it was a duplication of woodlands and villages we saw in Tassie.  Another couple was on an 8-hr bus tour along the ocean, but I saw lots of that in Tassie too.  Today is for me! I had posted another blog this morning after writing for a while, had breakfast, and then headed to the Immigration Museum built in the former Victorian Customs House.  This massive building’s Great Hall was once the center of imports and taxation.  It now houses an amazing and comprehensive history of the colonization of Australia and the dispossession of the aboriginal lands without the natives’ consent nor payment for them! After the prisoner transports ended, England had a “white Australia “ policy...

We have a guided tour of the Royal Botanical Gardens this AM.  We discover plants the aborigines used for tea and healing.  The Oak Garden is a large expanse of grass and red oak trees planted by the English settlers since they didn’t like the Australian ones.  They wanted a place to gather and entertain  “like home”.   I love the tulips and flowers blooming!  As we walk the “tan line”…a 1 1/2 mile beige dirt track in the park frequented by joggers, strollers, and dog walkers…to catch our tram, you see an iconic picture of the park with the skyscrapers downtown. Our guide told us her story and family history.  Her aunt was tracing the family genealogy and discovered her grandmother was a full blooded aborigine.  Our guide’s father never told his children this about their culture.  When he and his siblings were been raised, it was dangerous to identify as aboriginal.  His mother had always told her children to claim their heritage and...

We are hiking the major attraction in Launceston, the Cataract Gorge.  It’s a beautiful park with a chairlift to the top and numerous trails.  The Tamar River starts here where two rivers converge carving the gorge over centuries.  We watch wallabies feeding, several with joeys in their pouches, and also peacocks.  What a screech a peacock has! Our afternoon is free so several of us head to thrift shops.  I’m searching for earrings since I’ve already lost 1 1/2 pairs!  Plus, it would be interesting to find items for my shop.  I should be looking for warmer clothes! The Victorian Museum has an exhibit on the aboriginal people and culture.  Just like America’s Native Americans, they were very innovative.  I am amazed with the water jugs created with seaweed kelp, filled with sand to create a bowl, and dried. It hardened into a waterproof carrier with sticks and rope attached. Our guide, John, invites us to his room for a pre-dinner party....

The duckbill platypus house is a rescue organization for monotremes…platypuses and echidnas.  These are two of Australias most unusual animals!  Someone said, “It’s as if God had a bunch of leftover parts and threw them together”! The platypus has a leathery duck-like bill and web feet, fur and breathes air like a mammal, lays eggs and has internal organs that resemble a bird, and produces soft shell eggs and has bone structure like a reptile!  Males also have a sharp spine on their back foot connected to a venomous gland.  Each individual platypus has a unique neurotoxin venom so there is no anti-venom.  If a human is stung by a platypus, the affected area will swell about 3-4x normal size and is extremely painful.  The only treatment is a nerve blockage and the venom’s effects can last for weeks!  I have learned to NEVER pick up a duckbill platypus!  OR at least make sure it’s a female! This funny animal swims like an otter dipping and divin...

We were told to be prepared for temperatures ranging from the 30’s to the 90’s.  I had been watching the weather in Australia for weeks before I left home and was more concerned with the heat than the cold.  I don’t get cold often so I thought I would be fine, but this has been a wet and windy chill even with lots of layers.  I’m wearing the same outfit every day which are my warmest clothes! I’m glad it’s not just this southern gal who thinks it’s cold.  We have two people from Wisconsin, 1 from New York, 1 from Minnesota, and 2 from Alaska! There are abundant sheep and dairy cows along our drive through the countryside.  It’s spring and new babies are everywhere!  There are two main types of sheep raised…Rommeys for meat and Merinos for their wool.  Sheep are sheared once each year in the spring. Periodically we see dead trees painted bright blue.  Some are small and others are very large.  Here is the story…  A father and son we...