On the Bottom Half

Lazy Days

After the Walls, things have settled down a bit. Charmaine and I got all organised-like and went to see The Brothers Grimm... not bad; highly entertaining, but I found the dialogue hard to understand. I think I'm spoilt by the DTS theatres we are graced with back home and the 'small' screens and non-digital sound I watched BG in threw me off... Or something like that. Maybe I'm going deaf.

Charmaine's airport shuttle was scheduled for 1830 and we got out of the movie at about 1810... lots of time! Anyway, we got to the transit centre just fine, then she left.

After that, I just tooled around a bit... On Tuesday, I did a lot of postcarding, so if I have your address, expect a treat in the mail in 20 days or so. If I don't I've sent an e-mail asking for it. If you didn't get that e-mail, then Shaw crossed wires again and if didn't get to you. In that case, e-mail me with your address!

On Tuesday night, I went to see Harry Potter & TGOF. Fantastic, but I won't talk about it because endless superlatives get boring. Wednesday was spent at the Cadbury factory. In my dreams alone, have I imagined such a place (plagarised). I felt like Charlie in his Chocolate Factory, but Cadbury doesn't mix their chocolate by waterfall... There were endless samples and fascinating machinery - we ate 20 minute-old Turkish Delight... Then the tour ended and I was let loose in the chocolate store... About 2 kg heavier and $18 lighter, I left it happy and high on coco. When chocolate blocks are under or overweight, they are rejected, but Cadbury wisely packages these bars in white paper, and sells them in packs of 3 for $5. Dangerous for someone with a palate like mine. A dentist's nightmare...

After that, I went to see Peter Jackson's King Kong. It was also highly entertaining, even moving in some scenes, but was still silly. I'm certain that's the way Mr. Jackson intended it, however, so I can't say that it was a bad thing. It was well casted and the effects were good. I was expecting more vestiges from the Lord of the Rings to be apparent, but they were not. I suppose that speaks to his versatility as a movie man. However, I'm certain I spotted my kiwi tour guide that I had when I was there last year... He was one of the ships crew on Skull Island.

Thursday was an interesting trip of hours on the internet. Mom, Bob, Quinn, Shiela, and I were all able to connect at the same time in a Messenger window and we chatted for a long time. Enjoyed that - Thanks Microsoft...

Also, I've been formally offerred those scholarships. I've been thinking that I will take the awards and work by little patutie off so that the project doesn't take any longer than 3 years from this coming June... I'll let you know when I've decided finally.

Other than that, I go off to Melbourne tomorrow evening to reconnect with Bruce and Helen and family. I'm looking forward to that as I've missed them. It will be a pleasant Christmas. Then, I think I'll be off in Perth direction. However, the glory of independent travelling is that I lazed in my room until 1100 this morning listening to music with full knowledge that I wasn't missing anything and didn't have to be anywhere in particular. That means that Perth may change, too, depending on what happens between now and some time later.

Now pictures...

This (the first) is fairly typical of the cool temperate rainforests that I've spent a lot of time hiking through in Tassie. Those are tree ferns (Dickinsonia antarctica) that are probably about 3 meters tall (on left) and 1 m tall (on right). The trees in the background look like sassafras, but could be gum trees as well.







The second is a swamp gum - these are the tallest hardwoods in the world and also the tallest flowering plants in the world. This tree is about 75 m high or so. That's me dwarfed by it.















The third is a section of the Overland Track from the top of Barn Bluff, a mountain we climbed on the second day. That little snaking line is the duck boarding that covered some sections of the track. That terrain is fairly typical of the Track...









The forth is the West Wall, in the Walls of Jerusalem. Notice the low green mounds... those are cushion plants and they are warm to the touch.
















The last is my shaggy & lopsided self, Adam, and Charmaine. I've now hit about 1400 pictures, so I just can't share everything... It will have to wait until I'm home!

Update Complete! Miss y'all a whole bunch, love ya lots, Merry Christmas!!!

Oh, any picture requests? I'll post them next time, just let me know.

posted by Kyle @ 19:24