Day 3: Launceston

Opps, posted too many photos on the other post and didn't have room for Launceston. So now, I'm starting a second post on Day 3.

We only had 5 days total in Tasmania and the way it worked out, it was Good Friday when we made our way to Launie. It was SO quiet when we drove into the city, hardly any cars on the road and even the Coles (major grocery store) was closed. To make the situation worse, we had no idea how to get our hostel. We forgot to pack our iPhone charger and couldn't use the GPS on it (darn!).

Launceston is the home of James Boag's brewery.


Catarat Gorge.



We found a guy at the hostel with a computer and iPod charger so we were able to get our phone to work! Good thing b/c we needed to get up early (again) to drive back to Hobart.

Day 3: Freycinet and Launceston

We got up super early Friday morning, loaded our bags into the Elantra and grabbed a couple skinny caps to go. We had a long day planned, first to Freycinet National Park and then all the way to Launceston.

We were the first car to enter Frecyinet that morning, at least according to the park ranger. Yes, we woke up that early! We decided to hike up to the Wineglass Bay look out and from there, all the way down to the beach.

My first wallaby!


Checking out the view from one of the look out points up the mountain.


Wineglass Bay.


The beach of Wineglass Bay.



Lighthouse in Freycinet.

Twilight in Sydney

You were probably expecting to see a photo of Sydney Harbour at twilight but instead, you are getting a post on the Twilight craze I am experiencing here in Sydney.

I remember when I first heard of the book Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. It was during one of our Monday cooking nights when Lauren mentioned that she started reading this book about vampires and high school romance that her 8th graders recommended (she was an 8th grade math teacher at that time). She couldn't put it down and was smitten by Edward the vampire. We all laughed and teased her about the book. We are pretty stuck up when it comes to our Young Adult literature, think The Golden Campus and the Gemma Doyle Trilogy or Harry Potter. Even The Black Jewel Trilogy and The Darkangel Trilogy (thank you Corrie for introducing that one to me).

Little did we know that we would all fall in love with Twilight and the subsequent books to follow. Each one of us devoured the books and couldn't wait for the release of Breaking Dawn. It is one of those books that you simply cannot put down. The chapters are so short and the writing so simple that you tell yourself "just one more chapter" and before you realize it, it is 2am. By then, you only have about 1/4 of the book to finish so you stay up until 5am doing so. Don't get me wrong, it is true that the writing is simple, but it is really the characters that draw you in and keep you from sleeping at night. They are so extreme yet similar at the same time. Stephanie really makes you feel for them. You end up loving or hating them and feeling frustrated by something they did or didn't do. You find yourself reliving your high school romances and realizing they were nothing like the love between Edward and Bella. You may feel a bit down for a while, then you realize that you cannot compare modern high school boys to Edward. At least not any of the boys from my high school!

But I digress, the point of writing this post was to comment on the Twilight in Sydney. When I first moved in July, Twilight was already huge in the States. Book 4, Breaking Dawn, was about to be released and the movie was to come out at the end of the year. All I wanted was to be able to see the movie with my girls (unfortunately, this did not happen but I did see it with my sister and cousin). I was able to pre-order Breaking Dawn at the Borders in Australia, and received it a couple weeks after it was released in the States. This was a long wait considering I am firmly planted on the Team Jacob aisle and I wanted to know what happened!

Borders was just starting to get into the Twilight craze. They had a small section in the front dedicated to the Twilight series of books and even a few posters set up. As time went on, I began to notice more and more posters and I saw Twilight or some version of the series everywhere I went.

Most of this occurred after the movie was finally released on 12th December. When I came back from holiday (trip to NZ and the US for Christmas), the city was blasted with Twilight paraphernalia. Twilight the movie was huge in Sydney. It graced the theatres all the way through March, just about the time when you could start pre-ordering your DVD in the US (we couldn't get our copies until April). In my opinion, the movie was what brought the fans over to Twilight and not the books. Over the next few weeks, I began seeing the books tucked in people's purses, on top of their work desks and even in the hands of a few guys. I never failed to see someone reading one of the books to and from work on the train.

We even started a Twilight book club at work. The first meeting was a couple months ago where we had a lively discussion of book 1 over lunch. Since then, we have had numerous group chats and will be holding our second book club about New Moon in the next week or two. We even did a group movie night and saw the movie at the theatre. That was my second viewing of the movie, for some of the people it was their 3rd, 4th and for one girl her 8th time! And I thought I was a Twilight fan.

The craze has died down somewhat. Borders Australia was really pushing the pre-order for the movie. I had my mother in law buy my Blue Ray version in the states (they are bringing it with them on Sunday, so excited!) since it was not available yet in Sydney and when it did come out, it was ridiculously over priced.

I still see the occasional Twilight or Breaking Dawn book on the train and it always makes me laugh.

FYI... for those who have not discovered Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse A Southern Vampire Series, you must go to Borders or Costco now and pick it up. Get all 9 books now b/c you will be running to the nearest Savons Drug store hoping to find the next book at 2am if you don't. If you are looking for a more adult vampire series, you must read this. I borrowed books 1-7 from Masha and I'm waiting for books 8 and 9 to come (again with the in laws. Hurry for Amazon and sunday!!). In case you didn't know, HBO has also made this into a TV series. Do not become discouraged if you've seen the show and do not like it. The acting is pretty poor and they did a horrible job casting, but for some reason, I still HAVE to watch it. Lol. Mahsa and I are pretty behind, we only have the season finale to watch and we better do it soon b/c season 2 is apparently starting soon. Anyways, the point is.. read the books. :)

Day 2 part 2: Bicheno

Out of all the places in Tassie, I wanted to go to Bicheno the most. The reason being that penguins come out of the ocean at dusk and come out onto the rocks. We drove straight from Port Arthur so I could see the penguins... we saw 3.

Blow hole.


Just thought this was a pretty photo.


The place where we waited for the penguins to come out. We waited a very long time in the freezing cold to see 3 penguins. Sorry, no photos of the cute fairy penguins. Can't use flash because it will blind the poor penguins.

Day 2 part 1: Port Arthur

We left Hobart bright and early at 7am to drive to Port Arthur. It was a chilly 10 degrees Celsius.

Port Arthur is one of the oldest settlements in Australia. Unfortunately, it was a convict settlement, a place where England sent their prisoners that they no longer wanted in their country. What they didn't realize is that Port Arthur is a beautiful place, lush greenery and surrounded by crystal blue waters.

Cat chained up at Port Arthur prison


Path through the settlement


One of the old buildings


The church

Quick trip to Tasmania

We had 2 days off for Easter so we decided to make a quick trip to Tassie. 5 days, 1 rental Hyundai Elantra, 7 cities/towns and the Kahlers.

Day 1: Hobart

We flew into Hobart in the morning and jumped into our new rental and drove the few kilometers to Hobart CBD. We were completely unprepared for this trip, we barely did any research. This meant that we had no idea how to get to our hostel. Somehow, we managed to find our way and checked it. We spent the rest of the day exploring the Harbour, eating fantastic fish and chips and checking out the city.

I just love this photo. A big red cargo ship docked at the Hobart Harbour.


We found a whiskey distillary and Ron just had to get a taste. He did a whiskey tasting for $6. Pretty good value.


This is the main shopping lane in Hobart.

Baking bread

As mentioned earlier, I suddenly developed an interest in baking bread. I have no idea how that happened or why but Ron and Jason seem to be enjoying it!

I have been experimenting with different techniques. Using either a biga or poolish starter, autolyse, envelope fold, no knead, proofing at room temp or in an oven, steam or no steam during baking... there is so much to learn.

One of the first loaves I made. A white and whole wheat boule.


Friendship bread is a fantastic cinnamon cake/loaf made from wild yeast. It is made by the Amish and tastes amazing. Make it sweet, chocolate or pistachio flavor, dryish loaf or super moist cake. The process takes 10 days to ferment with a feeding on day 5.


I thought the friendship bread starter would be similar to sourdough starter since they both involve fermentation and wild yeast. It turned out pretty tasty... although with a hint of sweetness instead of tang. Jason said it reminded him of Hawaiian bread. The sugar and milk in the starter gave the crust a beautiful shine and caramel almost burnt in places color.


This was made using a biga starter. The starter was made ahead of time and placed in the fridge for 1 week. This was Ron's favorite bread so far. Nice thin crust, decent air holes, soft crumb.

Views from my work

I've been meaning to post these for a while now but finally managed to get off my butt and do it. :)

Mid morning


Afternoon