Hob-nobbing in Hobart

So, I'm in the down under of Down Under, staying in Hobart and working with Beth at CSIRO. It's a lovely place to work - apparently the seals and occasional dolphins outside the window are a bit of a distraction, but the view over the harbour is quite lovely. In fact, the whole of Hobart is quite lovely. It's a very pretty town, but in ways that are hard to really pin down - there is no spectacular single feature like Table Mountain, although the river and harbour are stunning. There is a mountain - it was eight days before I even saw it, but once the clouds cleared it was pretty impressive. But Hobart has a more subversive attractiveness - there are continual glimpses of very nice scenery, whether it's a particularly handsome Victorian house, a little snatch of a sailboat on the Derwent, or a view of Mt. Wellington over the rooftops. Each glimpse is not hugely remarkable in itself, but as you walk down the streets you can't go 30 seconds without seeing something pleasant.

I'm staying with Andrew and Verena, Christina's aunt and uncle, and their house is up on the slopes of Mount Nelson in Sandy Bay, just south of Hobart city centre. It's a pleasant enough walk to the city centre, about an hour's stroll from the house, although walking back involves a pretty stiff walk up the hill. I shall be pretty fit by the end of this week. There's apparently some decent climbing on Mt Wellington, as well as loads of good crags around Tasmania in general, and a strong outdoor-centred culture on the island. Of course, it also has a good deal of Green Party activity, and sometimes the two philosophies coalesce into permanently forest-dwelling hippies, but the're harmless enough, and at least they're hearts are in the right place. Beyond that, Tasmania isn't quite as full of calamities of nature as one is led to believe. Pleasant streets, a lovely harbour, delightful market on Saturdays, and only the most occasional reminder of the hazards of low genetic diversity.

The work this week hasn't gone exactly as planned, with Beth being sick with what she terms "bacon flu", and the lead programmer on the Atlantis team, Bec, was out of action until midday on Thursday, so getting into the code has been delayed. I've been using the time to learn ArcGIS and make a few pretty maps - it's not playing, it's science! The atmosphere around CSIRO is great, too - relaxed but focussed on the work, very nicely balanced. I was also delighted to see a sun-block dispenser - nice little touches for which smack more of concern for welfare than over-pampering. The last week has also featured almost continual rain, but yesterday and today the sun poked its face out and walking to CSIRO became much easier. The rain has resulted in some pretty serious flooding in some parts of Tas, but here the biggest problem has been the mountain of washing which has accumulated. The path from the house down the mountain has been transformed to a mudslick in several patches, so my cerebellum has had a good workout while negotiating my way down in the mornings.

Christina came down with me for the first weekend and to introduce me to the family, but then had to go back to Melbourne to work. It does seem a little hard to be in separate cities again after not even being back together again for a month, but at least this time it's a lot shorter. She's gearing up for her next presentation to the schoolkids, and for her 6-month review - two opportunities for her brilliance to be showcased, as far as I'm concerned, though she seems to be a little anxious about them for some reason.

Must sign off now - I think there might be a brief break in the rain so I need to try and get some laundry done...

Out and about at Wilson's Prom

Just back from a splendid jaunt into some of Victoria's wild natural splendour. We went down to Wilson's Promontory, a national park at the southern tip of Victoria. We spent the weekend with Christina's colleagues from CAS, with 16 of us staying in a house which is designed to squeeze in 6 at a pinch, so it was cozy! (Although, to be fair, Andy and his girlfriend pitched a tent behind the house, so we were only sleeping 14 in the house). Actually, it's just as well it was cozy, because it was also very windy with a serious nip in the air.

We drove down on Friday afternoon in a car that we had borrowed from our friends Luke and Joanne. We met at the Centre at Swinburne and loaded a full shopping cart of food into the car and headed off, and with a few enlivening diversions down partially-signposted roads with incomplete directions we made our way through South Gippsland. Apparently it was a scenic route. We were told that the countryside was lovely. We had to take that pretty much on faith, though, as it was pitch black and cloudy for most of the drive. As we neared the house I saw a brief flash of eyes glinting in the branches overhanging the road - maybe a koala, but I can't be sure.

Waking early the next morning, the countryside had been transformed magically into glorious rolling green farmland, with cows grazing peacefully in the dawn light. With everyone else still firmly slumbering, we couldn't make breakfast, so Christina and I went for a walk through the woods near the house. The eucalyptus forest was a beautiful tangle of greenery, but we saw no creatures other than one which had unfortunately had a fatal encounter with a car in the night. I assumed that it was a young kangaroo, based that it was fairly small, but I didn't realise at the time that wallabies look pretty much like smaller versions of kangaroos, and based on a quick google image search I think it was actually a swamp wallaby.

The rest of the day was wet, windy, chilly and throughly splendid. We took a drive into the national park for a hike up Mt Oberon, but the top half of it was covered by cloud so we took a longer and gentler walk to Windy Saddle. The whole area was still showing very clear signs of the devastating wildfires of last summer, but most of the blackened and charred trunks had bright green branches sprouting from them. The saddle was aptly named - the wind was intense and it was freezing, so we did the only logical thing and headed for the beach instead!

To the nearby Squeaky Beach, to be precise - a light rain was falling intermittently and it was still overcast, but the coastline was gorgeous. The boulders also had outstanding climbing potential, but the slick granite and cold fingers made it very foolhardy to attempt any of the routes, so we headed back to the house before it got too dark. (In retrospect, the names of all these places are like something out of a Hardy Boys novel: Squeaky Beach, Windy Saddle - I half-expect to see a Smuggler's Cove or Leafy Forest around here...) On the way back, to our great delight, we saw wildlife! As in, both wild (unlike the cows) and alive (unlike the wallaby)! More specifically, a wombat and three kangaroos - that's gotta be two of the big five on this continent. I guess the other three would be wallaby, dingo and... well... not koala - maybe cassowary? Have to think about that. Still want to see an echidna and a platypus, but I guess those would have to be somewhere in the little five...

The evening was supposed to involve a barbecue, but it was an outdoor gas grill and the wind kept blowing the flames out, so we shifted it to an indoor meal, which also saved us a long session turning burgers in the cold wind. Instead, the evening was dominated by a dramatic game of Risk, which preceded, accompanied and followed dinner. I was content to be a fairly vocal bystander, arbitrarily dispensing stategy to all and sundry - the result was a complex and seriously interesting game.

After another very cramped night we woke to the promise of pancakes for breakfast - what better way to start a Sunday? The drive back was lovely too - we could see the countryside which had been but a dark blur on Friday evening, and it was very picturesque, with more rolling green farmland full of sheep and cattle.

Otherwise, not too much news - the thesis continues to consolidate, and I'm heading off to Hobart this Thursday to spend two weeks with Beth learning about Atlantis in more depth. Christina's coming for the first weekend, which will be splendid. More adventures!