42 degrees south

Hobart is 42 degrees south latitude, farthest south I've ever been, and has a climate not unlike New England, except much less snow. Tasmania or "Tassie" as the Aussies call it, is about 250 mi south of Melbourne and 200 miles end-to-end. The center and west are mountainous and mostly uninhabited, the east and south has some farmland.

They have been having a very wet spring and indeed it is raining this morning, but forecasts for the next few days is partly cloudy , highs around 60, nightly lows in the 40s. We do have lots of warm cloths, and Nan is welcoming the change.

The original plan was to spend 2 nights in Hobart and then spend 3 nights in a very nice mountain lodge in the NW (Cradle Mt. National Park), but yesterday I realized this would involve a 6 hr drive each way, and given the dubious weather, and the fact that we have seen lots of Mts in recent travels, we decided to cancel, which to my surprise I was able to do so without incurring any penalty...making me very happy.

Now we have 3 "free" days with no plan except to explore the area around Hobart. The architecture looks to be quite interesting, much from the 19th century, which is very unusual for Australia. Many of the buildings in Hobart are built of granite blocks, which reminds me of Scandanavia, including the outdoor cafes along the waterfront, with outdoor heaters, and people sitting around in their winter jackets.

We will spend some time learning about Tasmania's history as a penal colony, and of course I will be looking for birds unique to Tasmania. As some of you may know, I have become somewhat addicted to birding..is there a Birder's Anonymous? If it wasn't raining and cold this morning I would be out at the Hobart Water Treatment facility, which is known as the best birding sites in the area, offering up a handful of Tassie endemics. So far I've seen 176 new birds in Australia, which is a fair fraction of their 850 species. On the Internet I did see where one of the well-known bird tour groups had seen 500 species !! in only 2 weeks.

Caio!