09/30/08

We left our home in Noblesville, IN USA on June 29th of 2005 and have come to our new home via a circuitous route.  Before we left home, the situation in Queensland with "Dr. Death" had altered the certification process there to the point that they were no longer processing applications.   The day we left, it was decided we would go to The Royal Hobart (hospital) in Hobart in the state of Tasmania instead.  While we were in the air, Tasmania altered its certification process and when we landed we were told that the process would take about six or seven weeks to make it through the various boards.  While this was more than a little disconcerting, we decided to make the best of it and travel to visit friends and see some of the wonderful country that is Australia.  Photographs of our travels can be seen in Rogues Gallery.  We are now (as of September 6th) ensconced in Hobart or more accurately, Battery Point, the old part of Hobart where a succession of gun batteries once stood.  We overlook the harbour from the front of our apartment and to the rear, we look out on Salamanca Square where the famous Salamanca Market is held each Saturday.  The square is lined on one side by the original, stone buildings that made up the warehouses of the waterfront in the nineteenth century.  Beyond the square is Mount Wellington which looms above Hobart.  As of September 13th, our visas to stay in the country and work were approved and applied to our passports.  On the 14th, Mary made the national news on ABC as they announced an anesthetist from America had arrived to work at the Royal Hobart!

Hobart is on the 147th longitude and the 43rd parallel in the southern hemisphere.  Our apartment is at 42 degrees 53 minutes and 10 seconds and 147 degrees 20 minutes and 7 seconds in case you want to check us out on Google Earth.  If you travel east from here you will come to Christchurch, NZ, Esquel, Argentina and then you will come back again crossing a lot of ocean in your travels.  If you were to travel north from here, you would go to Sale, Victoria, Australia, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Kuril Islands, Siberia, the North Pole, Kap Edvard Holm, Greenland, Ilha Fernando De Noronha, Brazil, Dixon Island, Antarctica, the South Pole and back again. 

View from our verandah of Hobart Harbour	Our breakfast area and view
A very modern kitchen.......	and a very sparse, but modern living room
The view from our bedroom, looking toward Mt. Wellington - This is where the Salamanca Market is held each Saturday from nine to three.	These old warehouse and storefronts are now restaurants of all ethnicities, shops, galleries, cafes and offices.  It will take quite a while to explore them all!  On September 13th, we woke up to snow on the mountain!
Front of the Silos. Our apartment is the second from the right in the top row of bronze verandahs	Back of the Silos - These were originally wheat silos!
There is a park near here on the grounds of an old cemetery. The wisteria, rhododendrons, azaleas, tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, cherry trees and camellias have been blooming for weeks!	Saturday, October 1st at the Tulip Festival in the Royal Botanical Gardens
This is part of the Peruvian band we talk about so much.  They call themselves Aurauco Libra, Freedom to Araucania.  Their music fills the market and it is joyous!  We always have to stop and listen when we walk by.	This is the east end of the market just outside our window.  It goes for about five or six blocks up the street and ends at Davey Street.

              Here's a map of Tasmania so you can have an idea of where we are and where we are traveling
 

Here's where Mary works.  This is the front of The Royal Hobart Hospital.  It is currently undergoing construction and this entrance is not being used.  The curved balconies and sculptures take you back to the fifties, don't they?