October was jam packed with so many wonderful things. We hosted Thanksgiving at our place which was a lot of fun! Everyone brought amazing dishes to share and we enjoyed an afternoon of yummy food and great company.
Michael also celebrated his birthday with Mexican food on the day and a trip to Tasmania on the weekend!
We’ve been wanting to visit Tasmania for a long time now, but preferably wanted a week or more to drive around, go camping and visit the national parks. However, the timing hasn’t ever lined up for that amount of time, so we decided to go for a long weekend and limit the trip to just Hobart. And we are super glad that we did!
Hobart is such a lovely sleepy seaside city. We now understand why people love Tasmania so much. Being by the lakes and Tasman sea surrounded by the mountains felt very much like the Okanagan valley. It was such a lovely callback to home that made us feel calm and peaceful.
We rented a car for the weekend to maximize our time and itinerary. On Saturday morning we ventured to the Salamanca Market to check out the local goods. The market was so impressive with incredible things to get! We really wished we had a checked bag to squirrel away all the goodies for purchase.
Once we had our fill at the market we drove out of town into the wine regions of Hobart. They’re known particularly for sparkling, riesling and pinot noir. We visited two different wineries and enjoyed them both. We were blessed with fabulous weather so no complaints here!
It would be a sin to visit Tassie without having some fresh and locally sourced seafood. We tried the yummiest seafood chowder and a grill platter at the Drunken Admiral. We toyed with getting lobster, but we’re still a bit too cheap to splurge on what we consider to be fancy food. The chowder will do!
Sunday was reserved for our hike to the summit of Mt Wellington. In future, we’d want to do a lot of hiking in Tasmania and explore a lot more of their national parks. But for the time we had, Mount Wellington is only a 20 minute drive from town and easily accessible. We did the pinnacle track which took us just under 3 hours up and down. I consistently underestimate my cardiovascular fitness, and Michael is usually way ahead sitting on a rock waiting for me to catch up. It’s humbling, but always worth it.
A hike wouldn’t be complete without our traditional celebratory beer at the end! We had the opportunity to visit Cascade Brewery which is one of the oldest breweries in Australia, which began brewing back in 1824! A really cool piece of Australian history to enjoy together.
Monday was our artsy day spent at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). The property hosts the museum, vineyard, tennis court, restaurants and more. This isn’t your grandmother’s museum. There is no Monet or Picasso. Instead, there are exhibits to shock you, challenge you and make you do a double-take. The vagina wall is perhaps the most notorious exhibit at MONA. There’s got to be at least 50 casts of female’s pelvic regions on display. If that doesn’t give you an idea of the museum, there’s also a whole tube contraption representing the digestive system, with feeding times and elimination times. Life-sized installations, sensory rooms and more. And did I mention that the museum in 3 levels underground?
I was aware that the museum was underground and I thought I was prepared for that reality. But I was wrong. We started on B3 and planned to work our way up to B2 then B1. We walked down the spiral staircase all the way to the bottom and was greeted with an ‘adult content’ warning sign and a ton of somewhat edgy/pornographic art. Jumped right into the deep-end!
We finished looking through one section and continued to go deeper into the museum. At one point I realized how nauseous and light-headed I felt. It then clicked that my claustrophobia bells were ringing and my body was warning me about the fake danger I was in. I quickly looked for the little man on the exit sign and made a dash for it. After a short burst of speed walking I found myself in an exhibit with a sun tunnel to the outside. Here I could pause and recalibrate. I decided I could try to venture into the next part of the museum but overestimated my ability to control my fight-or-flight response. I quickly came back to the sun tunnel exhibit and deliberated my next move. After a while of loitering and not feeling any better, I sent Michael on his way to continue through the museum. Eventually an employee came through the room and I immediately got her attention. I explained my situation, as irrational as it was, and she was the kindest and nicest human about it. We came up with a plan to walk through the next section together and she would show me the quickest path to the exit. After memorizing the exit route I was able to stay in the museum and almost calm down enough to enjoy it.
Unfortunately, the rest of the day I was high on cortisol and adrenaline feeling antsy and sick. It wasn’t until partway through the following day that my body felt better.
I would still recommend the museum and I still enjoyed it, but I should’ve addressed my claustrophobia instead of downplaying it.
Term 4 has been zipping by with 18 thousand things to do. Work is an absolute slog right now with exams, graduation, early commencement* and my VIT project.
Early commencement is a thing they do in private schools where for the last few weeks of the school year after exams, you are technically the next grade and get your next years teachers and classes and start the new content. I haven’t ever done EC at a school before, so this is a new one that I’m trying to understand. It seems like a ton of stress and effort for not a lot of gain. What kid is going to remember anything they were taught before the summer holidays? The end of the year is meant to be chill. You’re supposed to watch movies and go outside and have field trips. Not panic plan for the new year and push content. Seems ridiculous.
Last weekend was the Melbourne Cup long weekend, which is 4 glorious days off. Now while I am anti-animal racing, I absolutely enjoyed not being back at work until Wednesday. We got some fab weather with heaps of sunshine to take advantage of. We rented a car and headed to the Yarra Valley for the day to have a wine and lunch together. On Monday we got some friends together for a bbq in the park with some beverages and lawn games.
As much as this move has tested us, it has also rewarded us in unexpected ways. I have found that people here are so willing to be social and extend their social circles. This is a stark contrast to how Kelowna was. We struggled with the cliques and inability to break into new friendships. Here it seems very natural the way people open their homes and share their time. It’s been refreshing to be a part of.
Only 35 days until we say Aloha to Hawaii and 39 days until we land in the Peg (not that we’re excited or anything)!
I already have my teaching load for next year so I can start planning what 2025 will look like. We’re hoping to squeeze in a cheeky trip to Sydney before school starts and planning a trip to Japan for the term 1 holidays. Lot’s of time to see what next year will bring.
With love,
Alex & Michael
