In Bloom

Ben and I took an unexpected 2 mile walk today because we had to drop the car off for routine maintenance and it wasn't going to be ready for several hours so we walked home.  The flowers have really started blooming around here-it is almost spring after all, and luckily I had my camera to take some pictures.

I love the palm trees in the picture above.  They are lined up in the median to the road and remind me that we are living on an island now, even if it isn't a tropical island.  :)

Aussie Money

We've been fascinated with the money since we got here.  It is very unique.  The bills are made of plastic which means they can get wet and last 4 times longer than our paper money in the States.  Australia was the first country in the world to have plastic money and makes money for many different countries including Bangladesh, Brunei, Chile, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Western Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.  The bills are very difficult to counterfeit as well and each have a small clear window (see $10 bill with black arrow below) on them as another security feature.  There are the following bills: 100, 50, 20, 10, 5.

They are all different sizes from each other so that visually  impaired people can distinguish between the different bills.  They are also each a different color.  The coins are $2, $1, .50, .20, .10, and .05.  No pennies!  We are especially fond of the $2 coin. 

First Dinner Out

Ben and I have been enjoying cooking at the apartment after eating out so much in the previous weeks that tonight was our first dinner out in Launceston.  We found a fun tapas place called Manhattan.  We shared melted Brie cheese in thyme and red wine with crackers, tempura zucchini and cauliflower with beetroot relish, and duck spring rolls with plum sauce.  I think we will go there again sometime because there were several other things on the menu we wanted to try.  We hardly ever go to the same place twice so this is saying a lot about the restaurant.  Watching AFL right now and figuring out what we want to do this weekend.  I went for a nice 4 mile run today and did not get lost this time and was able to avoid the hills until the end.  I'm going to do a post soon about the money in Australia so be on the look out for that.

Monkeys!

Ben and I took a nice 3+ mile walk around Launceston today and found a great path for me to run on along the Tamar River with no hills! 

We also walked through City Park and saw the Macaque Monkey exhibit.  The monkeys are from Japan and have been in the Launceston City Park for 30 years.  We saw about 16 of them in the enclosure. 

Finding my Way

So I've gone on a couple of runs in our new town and it is so hilly here!  I am either going to have to embrace running on hills or really do some research into some flat places to run.  Yesterday afternoon I headed out to do three miles.  I found a nice park to run around and to avoid going back up a big hill took a "side" road and ended up getting lost.  I stopped 3 different places to get directions home and finally made it, but Ben was outside looking for me.  Today I think we are going to walk together to a trail I read about so I won't get lost again.:) 

We finally did laundry the other day.  Guess it's been a while since I went to a laundromat because I was shocked that it cost $4 to wash a load!!  I thought it would only be a dollar or two.  We had five loads and then had to pay $2 per 15 minutes of dryer time, so it was an expensive errand.  Still hoping for a washer and dryer in the next place.  We move in there a week from today. 

Seems like Ben's work start date has been delayed once again but at least we are here and ready when they are.  We're looking into maybe taking another trip to the mainland to see some more sites in the interim.

Cataract Gorge

Yesterday we drove about ten minutes from where we are staying to Cataract Gorge.  It is a beautiful area with trails, a suspension bridge, chair lift across the gorge, and even a couple of small cafes.  We did a short steep hike to a lookout over the gorge and ate a lunch we packed and brought with us.

We hiked back down and across the suspension bridge.

We even saw some peacocks wandering around.

The weather was great and there were lots of people out enjoying the day.  I am sure we will be back to try out some of the other trails.  Today is laundry day!  I am going to have to go to the laundromat since the laundry facilities we have here consist of a washer in a shed that only washes in cold water and clothes lines to dry.  With the temperatures only in the fifties it would take a while to dry all of our clothes.

No Hanging Chads, but Trouble in Oz!

Aussies woke Sunday morning to the prospect of a hung parliament for the first time since World War 2.  The election was held on Saturday and as an outsider, it's been a fascinating campaign to watch.

The Aussie election system is made up of a Senate and House of Representatives. Aussies don't directly elect their prime minister. Instead, the PM is the leader of the party with a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. As a rough comparison, in the States this would make Nancy Pelosi the President.

There are several parties in Australian politics. The Labor Party is currently in power and Julia Gillard is the Prime Minister. She took power in June when the prior PM, Kevin Rudd, was ousted by his own party!  The Labor party had swept into power in 2007 with a large majority, but was unable to capitalize on a strong economy.  The Labor party could be characterized as center-left.

The opposition party is the Liberal/National Coalition. Technically, this is two parties, but on a national level they always vote together. The leader of the opposition is Tony Abbott.  The Coalition is center-right.

Other minor parties include the Greens, an environmental/socially progressive party, and the Family First Party. The Greens are hoping for their first Representative seat in this election.

Aussies use full preferential voting.  When Aussies go to the polls, they rank candidates in their order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first preference votes, the candidate with the least number of first preference votes is dropped and those ballots are recounted using the second preference. Since this is a close election, results may take awhile to determine the final makeup of the House and the corresponding PM.

As of Sunday morning, the Coalition has a 72-70 lead over the Labor Party in the House.  There are 3-4 independents and 1 Green that were elected.  The rest of the seats are still undecided.  76 seats are needed for a majority in a House and neither party looks like they will reach that mark.  The remaining seats will be decided this week, then both leaders will try and woo the independents to try and create a majority.  This result seems to be a major rebuke of the Labor party and a "win" for the Coalition.

Stay tuned!