In October, Carolyn and I flew from Melbourne to Tasmania for the Australia Mixed Ultimate Championships. I played with MDAC (Melbourne Dating Advisory Committee). I couldn’t have asked for a greater group of people to play with. A great mix of talent and people who know how to party. Some classic moments include Lester setting off the fire alarm on purpose at a Hobart pub, Lester saying “Touch me touch you.” to this guy who started talking to the team while we were eating our Chinese food. And who could forget drinks with JimmyToddHill. Hobart is a beautiful city. We spent a lot of time around Salamanca which was an amazing spot, especially on Saturday when the huge Salamanca Market is in full swing with street performers allover. It reminded a lot of the Halifaxwaterfront.

The tournament was going great right up until I busted my foot reaching for the disc. It was a strange injury. It was extremely painful when it happened, then went away, then started to swell an hour or so later, then an ugly bruise showed up later on in the day and it was very sore. I was done playing. I got X-RAYs than night while everyone was at the party and was cleared. No bone damage, just torn ligaments. The doctor said I should walk on it as much as I could, though it would be very painful. This was great news, as we had booked a tour (with Bottom Bits) for a few days after the tournament which would involve quite a bit of walking. With a bit of painkillers, I didn’t have much trouble getting around, even doing some hiking.

Our tour really consisted of 3 day tours out of Hobart. The first day we visited Port Arthur, an old prison. Convicts sent to Tasmania from England that reoffended were sent to Port Arthur. It was probably the most interesting part of our Tasmania trip. There were loads of convict stories and the historic buildings were fun to explore.

The next day, we had a new tour guide with a funny accent, Chris. He grew up in Alaska but has lived in Darwin, Australia for ten years or so. He had just moved to Tassie a few months earlier. Turns out his dad is a botanist, so he had loads of information about the local ecology and turned out to be an excellent guide. We toured a Mt Field National Park first, then went up a dirt road to Lake Dobson at alpine elevation where the fauna changed completely. Later we visited a wildlife sanctuary (for animals that wouldn’t survive in the wild) where we saw some tasmanian devils, golden bushtail possums, and lots more.

On the third and final day of the tour, we headed for Freycinet National Park but stopped by the convict-built Spiky Bridge on the way. The construction of this bridge was both impressive and baffling (why the spiky rocks?). In Freycinet National Park we make a long hike up to the Wineglass Bay lookout.

On our last day in Tasmania, we had a delightful breakfast at the unique Machine Laundry Cafe in Salamanca Square. And yes, there were actually people there doing their laundry while we had breakfast.

I absolutely loved Hobart. It comes a close second to Melbourne as my favorite Australian city.