Week 43 - Australia

We spent Sunday planning the next week and playing here on the farm. There is plenty for the kids to do without even leaving the property, which was a nice break for me as well. 

Collin helped with choosing activities. They were both interested in horseback riding, so we set that up for Monday. We booked second COVID shots and flu shots for Tuesday. We researched several other options for activities and decided to play the rest of the week by ear, since we weren't sure how they'd be feeling after their shots and how rainy it would be. We were hoping one day would be spent picking J up from the airport. The host here is so nice, she even left a Lego set in the boys' room for them to play with. They worked hard on it Friday and Saturday and finished it Sunday.

Monday was our horseback riding day. It was a bit of a drive towards Cradle Mountain, but boy was it beautiful up there.

The air was so fresh and clean and pine smelling, we all just loved it. We stopped for a picnic lunch on the way home, and then stopped by a chocolate factory for dessert. Horses and chocolate make for a pretty good day, and along with books, make up my three favorite things. 

Tuesday was a mostly fun and productive day. 

We did some school things first off, C had a zoom violin lesson and I worked with S on math and reading. Then we headed into Burnie to get second COVID shots and flu shots for the boys and a flu shot for me, since it's now flu season in the Southern Hemisphere. We were late because I forgot the passports and had to turn around and go back. We don't have an Australian health care number so couldn't fill out the form completely, and the record of the kids' first COVID shot is in French. All that in addition to S's usual shot shenanigans. If I had been in the states I would have gotten a lot of grumbling and possibly not been able to get what we needed, but here everyone was completely nice and helpful. You can't get any documentation on-site because the information gets uploaded overnight and goes through a different agency, but overall it was a really good experience.

After that was done we went to a platypus reserve where we could eat our packed lunch at a picnic table and watch the platypuses. At first we weren't really sure if we were seeing them — they stay under water and you often just see their backs — but once one came all the way up I realized we'd been seeing lots.

After that we went to a park with a playground where the kids had a lot of fun.

S was too short to reach the thing you hang on from the platform, but was not at all deterred.

It was a beautiful afternoon and we all enjoyed it.

As easy as getting vaxxed was, the process of getting the documentation is a little bit harder. Normally it can be done online with an Australian Medicare account, since everyone has Medicare. Since we're not Australian and don't have Medicare, it's been difficult. I spent quite some time on the phone (toll-free for Australians, but charged on my Verizon international plan) and we took a drive to a government building, and at least now I think I understand what I need to do, but I can't do it until the record from Tuesday uploads into the system, and apparently no human can speed up that process. The folks at the vaccine clinic did tell me to come back if it doesn't upload and there's another clinic Saturday so I decided to try calling Friday, and go Saturday if no luck. 

After that, we had time for some more fun. We went to a beach called Fossil Bluffs for a picnic followed by a great geology lesson. Actually, thanks to J, they know as much about geology as I do, but it was a chance to see some things we hadn't actually seen before.

We all kept saying J would have loved it. There are huge boulders covered in fossils, but any that were small enough to carry off already had been, so we were looking rather than collecting. We did find some pretty pebbles that I think might be jasper. You can see the layers of basalt below the sandstone cliffs, and the sea water has carved sandstone boulders into cool shapes.

After that, we checked out another playground. It's been a while since we've been able to get to playgrounds regularly and the kids had a great time.

I think I wore them out.

Thursday was rainy all day long, so we stayed home. The kids did go out and play in the rain for a little bit, but mostly we caught up on school. S did long division and read a chapter of a new book, C did algebra with J over WhatsApp, and I made treacle tarts, which we've all been curious about since reading Harry Potter. I can't make them in the US because we don't have golden syrup. Neither kid actually liked them, but I thought they were pretty good. Maybe I can share some with our hosts.

 J and I spent some time on the phone planning our next move. We decided that the kids and I will definitely go to Uluru next week as planned, we only really have three days there, but it's a non-refundable room. After that, the plan was to go to the Cairns area to see some of the reef, but I don't want to do that without J. It's something he's really interested in, more than the rest of us, and I don't want to drive in a busier area on my own. We found out that the kids can go to New Zealand even if I don't succeed in getting proof of vaccination, so we may just all go early. We checked the Airbnb reservation in Cairns, and it's free cancellation until right before we go, so we have some time to wait and see, but a back up plan is in place. 

Friday was a fun day. I did my chore of calling the immunization registry and got a little more information about how to proceed. It's complicated, and I won't bore everyone with the details, except to say that though the system itself is cumbersome and overly reliant on technology to the point the any deviation from the norm is almost impossible, all the workers are extremely friendly, and helpful to the best of their ability.

Once that was done it was time for fun. The kids did a great job of getting ready while I was on the phone, and we got an early start. We only got a little lost and again, the drive was beautiful. We went to Gunns Plains, in the mountains about an hour away.

Our first stop was a Wings Wildlife Park. They rehabilitate injured wildlife, mostly native to Tasmania, and release when possible. We got to see many small mammals, reptiles and birds, as well as bandicoots, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, and wombats. You can walk right in with the wallabies and hand feed them. 

Echidnas

Tasmanian devil

Wombat

C fed the wallabies while S kept his distance. This little one was driving his mama nuts continually jumping in and out of her pouch.

Didn't want to get in this time, just getting a snack.

There were a few albino wallabies, but they were shy and wouldn't let us get very close to them.

After touring through the park and watching the Tasmanian devils get fed we had our picnic lunch, then walked through a separate section of the park that was for farm animals.

We enjoyed the farm animals, but also the beautiful surroundings.

Next stop was a cave tour. We've done several caves, but this one was one of the best. The guide was an older man and good with the kids, in that he didn't talk down to them at all but made some fun jokes that they had to think about and shared plenty of information. The formations in this cave were neat, and there is a glow worm colony. We were asked not to take pictures of the glow worms, but they were really cool. They're bioluminescent fly larvae that live on a ceiling and glow to attract water insects from the stream below. They have long strands of web that hang down to capture the insects, then the worms stay in place and eat the whole meal, web and all.

We stopped by our favorite park on the way home, which was a good way to break up the ride and get rid of any wiggles that remained after our busy day.

Saturday C attempted a violin lesson, but the internet was too weak. We went back to Burnie to the vaccination clinic to see if we could get any proof of vaccination. They found the forms and let me take a picture of the part they filled out. One suggestion I got from the phone call yesterday was to get some kind of paper record from the clinic and take it to a pharmacy. They don't offer paper records, but I can try with the photo. The nurse in charge also sent an email to Hobart to try to help speed up the uploading process, so there will be two more steps I can try on Monday. While our nurse friend was looking for the forms we went to the park for a picnic lunch. This time we walked to the waterfall there.

It had rained in the morning, cleared up and was beautiful when we were at the park, and was getting rainy again, so after our picnic and second, well technically fourth, trip to the vaccination clinic we went to a little museum in Wynyard that has a bunch of antique cars and bikes. 

I didn't get a picture of C but he was actually the more interested and read every single placard. If was a nice day, and we're maybe a baby step closer to getting proof of vaccination.

Next week will be interesting, and by the end of it we should be reunited with J, either in sunny Queensland, or in cold New Zealand.