Seattle-L.A.-Mebourne-Hobart

We made it. We are now settled into our Hobart hotel room absorbing the lessons of the day. Little Hobart sits on the south shore of Tasmania which sits off the south shore of Australia. So far we have discovered two claims to fame.
1. It began as a penal colony for the British convicts that were too unruly to live in the penal colony in Australia. (More on this later as we tour the prisons tomorrow.)
2. It is the finish line for the annual Sydney to Hobart sailing race.
I’m sure there is more but that’s all we have so far.

We have also learned:
• That “sticky date pudding” is quite good even if you don’t like dates.

• It’s alleged that “Fosters” is the export beer. The locals prefer their local brews. In the case of Tasmania Boags or Cascade are the preferred blends.

• Tasmainians refer to their home as Tassie.
• Australians like “soggy” rather than crisp bacon.

We are looking forward to our first full day “in country.”

Flying to Australia
Delta flew us to L.A. in a Boeing 717 (think old Douglas DC 9) which they picked up at some used plane auction. They had refurbished the interior and, hopefully the engines, and installed the industry’s smallest tray table. The surface are barely fit a drink glass and a Kindle reader.

I was not looking forward to the long flight on the Qantas Airbus  380. It is an ungainly double decked monster. However, I must confess, once you are on board you have no feeling for the scale of the plane. All you see is your deck and the ride and features were very customer friendly. Good job Qantas.

Luck put us on a second Boeing 717 for the last flight of the day. For airlines, “pitch” is the distance from seat to seat on the plane. I must have been “pitch perfect” for my knees were pressed against the back of the seat in front. Not a great way to spend 90 minutes but we made it and are glad to be here.