Bring on 2011!

2010 is drawing to a close, and to be honest, I'm glad to be done with it. It's been a pretty average year for me. I spent a very nice chunk of this year being very, very ill. Actually, to be fair, I spent about 3 weeks being very ill, and then about 4 months recovering. I've worked harder and longer this year than I can remember doing for a long time, and I am tired.

The year has redeemed itself a little as Christmas has rolled around, but I'm more than ready for 2010 to be over and done with, and for 2011 to bring better health and more importantly, my first real holiday!

I've been on trips before, of course, but this will be my first trip as an adult that wasn't my honeymoon. The only other trip I've been on was to Queensland a few years back, and I got so sick while we were there I had to fly back home and KJ had to drive the two day trip home alone.

It's sad, really, considering that I'm 28 years old.


We're heading overseas - to Tasmania. I like to call it an overseas trip, because to be fair, we do fly over the sea, and the mainlanders kind of deny that Tasmania is a part of Australia. Sorry Tassie.

We'll be spending 6 nights touring the south east region, staying in heritage accommodation and giving our cameras a serious workout - they've been locked away at home more often this year than I would really like.

I've booked all of our accommodation already, and for our first night in Hobart we'll be staying in the 'Presidential Suite' at Rydges. Now, while that may sound swanky, at the price we paid for it, I highly expect that 'Presidential' might refeer to the president of the local show committee, or maybe the President of the local fishing league. Either way, I can only imagine it will be memorable in its tackiness.

We'll be visiting the Cadbury Factory, Touring the Cascade Brewery, shopping Salamanca Market and visiting the Port Arthur Historical Site and I can not wait.


I've wanted to see Tasmania for quite a while now. The only downfall of a trip to Tassie is that even though we're heading over in the middle of Summer, the maximum temperature will be around 22 degrees celcius. Probably lower considering what a cold, miserable Summer it's been so far. Couple this with the fact that Tasmania is right underneath a gigantic hole in the ozone layer (thanks people of Earth!), it makes being outdoors a chilly, but high burn risk experience. I think you need to have experienced the sun in Australia to truly appreciate the effects of the high UV levels. A nice sunny day in Australia will have even a resident of the hottest desert turning fluorescent red.


But I guess if I was after a warm, pleasantly sunny holiday I wouldn't have picked Tasmania - After all, it's about as close to Antarctica as you can get.

I picked it because I wanted a sight-seeing holiday, but one that was low stress. For six nights we'll be staying in B&B's, driving around in our comfy Audi A4 hire car, and seeing the sights at whatever pace we choose. We have seven days to do a total of about six hours of driving, so it should be relaxed and pleasant.

And the absolute best part? Our airfares, accommodation and car hire are all being covered by our Boss as a thank you for busting our butts to make his business run better than ever this year. I can't think of a better start to the New Year than that!