Burnie, Tasmania

Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania founded in 1827.  The city is the base for an important paper manufacturing facility, serves west-coast mining operations and is famous for its fine cheeses and other dairy products.

To get off the island, it is very expensive to get to the mainland, either by air or ferry. A round-trip ferry ride with two people and one car and a nondescript bunk bed state room costs $900.  The ferry leaves at 8 PM and doesn't arrive in Melbourne until 7AM the next morning. 

After a relatively flat crossing of the nasty Bass Straits, we arrived in Burnie.  We did not have any excursions on this overcast day. And that was just fine because Lillian went on one and saw the same things we did, only she paid $129 and we paid zilch. She was not very happy about that.  The folks in the small towns we visit are among the friendliest and helpful people one could  ever encounter. They greet us as we step onto the pier with a shopping bag, a map and a souvenir pin. Some places have a choir singing or aboriginals with their didgeridoo.  The town organized shuttle buses to take us around to the sites; it was like a hop-on-hop-off bus.  We went to the Makers Mark craft center where they sold handmade items.  This is where you can make poo paper, paper made from kangaroo droppings (that has been cleaned up a bit). Last time we were in Burnie, I did make some poo paper and brought it home. I have not used it. I was able to make a FaceTime call to Deborah and Isabelle, and it worked like a charm. It's amazing, to have a video call with someone halfway around the world.  

Michael walked down to the waters edge looking for penguins, which we were told nested here. Upon not finding any, he came back and asked the local ladies where were the penguins.  They told him that they don't return until 9:20 PM, which Michael thought was hilarious. Being a smart ass he asked, "How come they don't come at 9:25 PM or 9:30 PM?"  They replied, they come exactly at sunset which happens to be at 9:20 PM tonight. So the last laugh is on Michael.

We reboarding the shuttle and then headed toward the museum stop. I was not interested in going to a museum and I wanted to save my knees for walking around town.  Friends got on the shuttle who had been at the museum and described it this way:  "a five minute visit for five dollars."  We stayed on the shuttle and proceeded to stop number three, which was the center of town.  We walked around and came across this fish shop.  Here in Australia they call this humongous crustacean a crayfish.  In our country, it crayfish is generally about five or six inches long; these behemoths weigh in at about 5+ pounds or more.  These are really in the lobster family but they have no claws. 

Next, we wandered up the street and found a Kmart. Michael needed some sore throat lozenges and I was looking for an appliance to straighten my goddamn permed hair which looks like a big frizz ball when it gets humid.  I found one but paid a shockingly high price from what I'm used to paying at home.  We boarded the shuttle and returned to the ship because there was nothing else to see and nothing else to do.

    You can see the ships smokestacks in the background from the downtown area

We ended the day with dinner, a short bridge game to pass the time until the Beatles show began.  And then we rocked the boat.