[Note: This travelogue is still being constructed.]

Feb 9th: I flew through L.A. airport where I encountered this group of students on their way to OZ to study (that would be me on the left there):

Then a L-L-O-O-O-O-N-N-G night into Sydney, where it was the 11th! I lost a day! Then I immediately flew across to Devonport, in the island state of Tasmania, by way of Melbourne. I met up with my friends Sandra and Adrian Smith, who I knew from their visit to NY a couple of years ago. Here's their lovely house and a view from their porch overlooking Devonport and the ocean beyond:

(Sandra and Adrian will wonder why their late summer grass looks greener and where the utility poles went, but that's the magic of digital photos! I SWEAR the sky really was that blue, though!)

We had pre-planned to drive south down through the whole State (a couple hours) to Hobart, Tasmania's largest city, for a visit to the Australia Wooden Boat Festival. Here's your "side trip" to the Boat Fest:

After the show, we did some touring around Hobart, which is quite a cosmopolitan city. They even have a new concert hall, which is the odd brass-sheeted "hat box" you see here, beyond Sandra and Adrian who are in the foreground:

There was a "bush fire", presumably set by some stupid people, happening in the mountains to the West of Hobart, which you could see clearly at night. During the day, the fire just sent up a plume of gray smoke, that blended with the low clouds:

Sandra, Adrian and I had a very nice lunch at an outdoor cafe, with salad, home-made bread, local wine and sandwiches:

On the way back to Devonport, we stopped by "The oldest bridge in Australia", since 1823 still used for highway traffic. Notice that back then, they considered foot traffic (or maybe horse traffic) along the riverbank to be worth its own little archway on either side of the bridge.