March 4 - Burnie, Tasmania, Australia
I love Burnie! (Not to be mistaken with "I 💓 Bernie" mind you) The port is nothing to look at since it's another working port, but once you get away from that it is a delightful town. Clean, neat, very little traffic and wonderful people. There are no typhoons or earthquakes, and even no nasty bugs like cockroaches. The population is only around 20,000 in the town, but it services nearly 140,000 in NW Tasmania. Hobart, the capital, is about 4 hours south by car. The largest employer is the medical system with roughly 1,400 employees. There used to be a large paper mill here, but that closed in 2010 and most of the 3,000 empoyees went on to greener pastures. But those who stayed have made a lovely place to live.
Our first stop was the little town of Penguin 20 minutes away. It is very popular with retirees since their money goes further. Of course, everywhere you look are penguins. Unfortunately, the real ones in the area went back to the sea about a month ago so we didn't see any. They are very small and it's a real show most evenings when they all come back to the beach after feeding all day to tend to their nests.
Next up, after a bit of sightseeing, was a stop at the Burnie Regional Museum. This is a fabulous little museum consisting of things that one man collected over a lifetime and donated to the museum. They have set it up as a typical street in Burnie from the 1920's.
Then off to the Maker's Workshop where we learned a bit about the local cheese factory (with samples) and hand crafted paper. We had a demonstration of how it's made using cotton alone in different colors or white. The papermaker gets old sheets and towels from hotels for white paper, old blue jeans from charities that can't sell them, and rags for multicolors from various sources. He has even made paper adding kangaroo, wombat, and bull poop. Of course, we had to buy samples for the grandkids.
We had another mission so we elected to stay in town and find a post office - again. This time it was to mail packages to the grandkids. And more index cards for Michael. He tells me that he should have enough now. During our wanderings, we saw this beautifully kept PT Cruiser - rather unexpected here where it seems every car is Japanese. As we were walking along, a very nice local woman apologized for the poor weather which wasn't showing Burnie at it's best. Wonder how she knew we were visitors? Could it have been the matching Regent Seven Seas jackets we were wearing (thanks to Regent) and the map in our hands? Egads, we stick out like sore thumbs. After a late fish and chips lunch at the Octopus Fish Shop, we caught the shuttle back to the ship.
Tonight was an Australian buffet at La Veranda. There was a kangaroo ice sculpture, the waitstaff was dressed in out back gear (shorts, shirt, bush hats complete with hanging corks to keep the flies away) and the food was very good. There was no kangaroo on the menu, but we tried emu which was interesting - good, but with a hint of liver. There were also meat pies and those delicious lamington cakes.
The show tonight was an Australian comedian named Scott Williams. He was fun with nice, clean humor. Some of his show was showing funny pictures and cartoons on the screen while he commented, but it worked.
Our first stop was the little town of Penguin 20 minutes away. It is very popular with retirees since their money goes further. Of course, everywhere you look are penguins. Unfortunately, the real ones in the area went back to the sea about a month ago so we didn't see any. They are very small and it's a real show most evenings when they all come back to the beach after feeding all day to tend to their nests.
Next up, after a bit of sightseeing, was a stop at the Burnie Regional Museum. This is a fabulous little museum consisting of things that one man collected over a lifetime and donated to the museum. They have set it up as a typical street in Burnie from the 1920's.
Then off to the Maker's Workshop where we learned a bit about the local cheese factory (with samples) and hand crafted paper. We had a demonstration of how it's made using cotton alone in different colors or white. The papermaker gets old sheets and towels from hotels for white paper, old blue jeans from charities that can't sell them, and rags for multicolors from various sources. He has even made paper adding kangaroo, wombat, and bull poop. Of course, we had to buy samples for the grandkids.
We had another mission so we elected to stay in town and find a post office - again. This time it was to mail packages to the grandkids. And more index cards for Michael. He tells me that he should have enough now. During our wanderings, we saw this beautifully kept PT Cruiser - rather unexpected here where it seems every car is Japanese. As we were walking along, a very nice local woman apologized for the poor weather which wasn't showing Burnie at it's best. Wonder how she knew we were visitors? Could it have been the matching Regent Seven Seas jackets we were wearing (thanks to Regent) and the map in our hands? Egads, we stick out like sore thumbs. After a late fish and chips lunch at the Octopus Fish Shop, we caught the shuttle back to the ship.
Tonight was an Australian buffet at La Veranda. There was a kangaroo ice sculpture, the waitstaff was dressed in out back gear (shorts, shirt, bush hats complete with hanging corks to keep the flies away) and the food was very good. There was no kangaroo on the menu, but we tried emu which was interesting - good, but with a hint of liver. There were also meat pies and those delicious lamington cakes.
The show tonight was an Australian comedian named Scott Williams. He was fun with nice, clean humor. Some of his show was showing funny pictures and cartoons on the screen while he commented, but it worked.
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