Tassy Adventures by Sharon & Max

It was 7:28pm when Max picked Sharon up at the tiny Hobart airport. Max had rented a car and shopped for all the essentials before Sharon arrived, so they began their adventures stocked up and on the right foot. Leaving the airport they met Martin who was playing his drums on the side of the road. Max pulled out his guitar and they whipped out a funky jam while the sun set behind the mountains. After checking into their hostel, they enjoyed dinner with calamari and salmon, topping it off with a bottle of wine. They roamed around the streets of Hobart and after some minor shoe drama, they celebrated the beginning of their adventures at Irish Murpheys Pub. The next afternoon, they met Kat and Claire and made their way to St Imre Vineyards in Dover. Max and Sharon are working for Kat and Paul in exchange for free room and board in their lovely home. Claire is another helper staying from Taiwan- she's super cool.

(Alright now we are tired of talking in 3rd person. The following is recorded at 3:49 pm on Monday, February 2nd, 2009. We just learned of the Steelers 35 second touchdown to take down the Cardinals! It's too bad no one cares about the Super Bowl in Australia because it wasn't playing on any channels! Now back to our adventures...)

For the past week, we have been waking up for breaky (breakfast) at 9 followed by 4 hours of various tasks around the vineyard/farm. These include picking and planting potatoes, picking fruit, cleaning the house, and tending to the grapevines. After a late lunch, we spend the afternoon hiking and exploring the town. We were even lucky enough to get time off to discover Hartz Peak, Hastings Caves and "Thermal Springs," and the most magnificent.. Cockle Creek (the furthest south you can drive on Tasmanian roads). From there, we had to walk 2 hours to the southernmost tip of Australia. It can only be reached by foot and you can stand facing Antarctica with only the Great Southern Ocean between. So gorgeous. We ended the day with a nice Australia barby (BBQ to you septos.. Australians call Americans septos because it comes from septic tank which rhymes with yank as in yankie). We worked hard today cleaning the house and unfortunately only have 3 days left with Kat and Paul.We've been enjoying their food, conversation, intelligence, and company so much it will be hard to leave such wonderful people. Luckily Claire will be living and studying in Brisbane too, so we can still see her when we return in late February.

After Tassy we will continue to Melbourne (to catch a few shows) for the weekend and then visit Alice Springs. Alice Springs is in the center of Australia and is a sacred area to aboriginal communities. It's also one of the best places for stargazing in the world because it is so far from any city lights. We are so blessed and excited to see a completely different view of the universe! After a hopefully spectacular sunrise at Uluru Rock, we plan to head to Cairns for more adventures. We will be meeting the rest of the students from our study abroad program in Cairns, February 15th to begin Orientation and the school part of our Australian experience.

We are both healthy, well and loving hiking and being outside in this incredibly gorgeous part of the world. We are blessed to have this opportunity of exploration and growth and are taking every advantage to connect with the land, culture and wonderful people of Australia. More to come over the next 5 months,
~Max and Sharon~
P.S. Sharon will be setting up a travel blog as soon as she reunites with her computer when school begins... so this is really Max's Travel Blog, but currently being used to let both of our family and friends "in the know" with our adventures. Dont worry grandmas, we are wearing bug spray and suntan lotion!
All the love!