A New Environment

“Traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson

In December, 2009, I received an email informing me that I had been awarded a scholarship to undertake a PhD at the University Tasmania’s Australian Maritime College. After talking it over with Leanne, we decided that the opportunity was just too good to pass up. So in June, we packed our bags (all 350 lbs worth of them), saw our crate safely to the docks for shipping (another 700 lbs worth of stuff), said goodbye to Idaho, and jumped on the plane to Australia.

Geographically speaking, we couldn’t have moved much farther away from the northern US and still live on the same planet, but socially the changes were a bit less drastic. Aussies speak English (well, kind of), and other than nearly having a heart attack after seeing the price of gasoline and alcohol, the transition went relatively smoothy. We found a nice house to rent, bought a car, and did all those other things that accompany moving. I contemplated attempting to verbally describe some of our new surroundings and the feel of the place, but thought better of it and decided to let a few pictures do most of the talking:

The Tamar River as it flows from the city of Launceston, our new home. The Eucalyptus dominated forests and a bit of rain make the resulting winters here are quite green.

I’ve definitely been to worse cities, and all in all Launceston isn’t too bad. The Cataract Gorge (visible as the dark shaded area on the far hill) adds a nice feature by splitting the city and leaving hiking trails and some moderate climbing within walking distance. Our new house is situated on the hill to the left and is a 5 minute walk to hiking trails and climbing on the south side of the gorge.

The whole Tamar Valley is prolific wine country. We’ve yet to take a tour, but there are about 20 wineries within an hour’s drive so I’m sure we’ll hit them up at some point.

Our new place has a nice view overlooking the far side of the gorge. We’ve been able to furnish it pretty well, yet it’s been three months and our mattress still seems to be on the living room floor

A look at the forest just outside of town. I think of all the environmental differences, the forests and trees are some of the most striking in comparison to the States. There are some massive trees here.

Even with the mild climate, the topography allows for a sampling of what I know of as winter (i.e. cold and snowy). Just last weekend Leanne and I drove up to Mt. Barrow about 45 min east of the city. The amount of snow definitely wasn’t staggering, but at least it looked the part and it was decently cold as well.

The cloud pattern mixed with sun made for some interesting lighting that day. I was also surprised to see wallaby (read small kangaroo) tracks this high up in the snow. Apparently marsupials aren't afraid of getting snowed on

                                             

 

Well, that about does it for the first go around. I'll post another update relatively soon about our recent climbing trip to the Grampians National Park. Just need to get some pictures sorted. Till then-