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 ar...