Saturday, March 19, 2011

Tasmania Part I: In Which We Drink Beer and Look at Flowers

Last weekend, I had four days off, so Ethan and I took our first trip out of state. We chose to go to Tasmania, because it’s starting to be fall, and we figured that the weather there would get worse earlier.

Tasmania is really neat. It’s the second oldest colony in New South Wales, and was also part of the penal colony program. It reminded us a lot of Alaska, both from the weather aspect and also from the size of the towns.

Cascade Brewery, in front of Mt Wellington
The first day, we took a tour at the Cascade brewery. We found this pretty interesting, since we’ve been doing lots of homebrew. Of course the best part was the three beer tokens we got at the end! Cascade beer is okay, but it tends toward the Aussie tastes, which are lighter than Ethan’s and mine. There was only one stout, but we did enjoy the First Harvest, which used fresh hops and is only produced once a year.


In the afternoon, we walked up to the Royal Botanical Gardens. On the way, we passed the site of the Beaumaris Zoo, which was only open a few years in the 1920s and 30s. They are planning to restore the site. I really liked the sign, which was made of a tile mosaic and pounded metal animals.


The Royal Botanical Gardens were awesome. I thought they were better than the Botanical Gardens in Sydney. Every piece of the garden was well planned for a mix of colors and interesting views as you turned the corners. Our favorite was the Japanese garden, but the conservatory and the edible gardens were also really well done.

Harry Potter's Goblet of Fire?

Two Chinese lions and an American idiot

Japanese Bridge

The Conservatory

It was also at the Botanical Gardens that Ethan got the laugh of the trip when he told me a giant spider was on the bench we were sitting on (there wasn’t). I think I set the new record for the long jump when he said that.

To be continued…

4 comments:

Andria Crowjoy said...

All of that green, so very lovely to my eyes right now!

GV said...

Love that caption "Two Chinese lions and an American idiot".

linda in Alaska said...

I really love reading your blog. The facts an the human side are so comingled. Makes life interesting. Good pics too.

L said...

Andria, Tasmania seemed surprisingly brown when we were there, because it's autumn so things are dying back. I don't know if I just gravitated toward the greener pictures, or what!

Thanks GV and linda!