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#151
06-29-2020, 08:53 AM
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 None of them are my photos of course in case that wasn't obvious, my family's got a few natural photographers but not me, luckily we've got Google 
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#152
06-29-2020, 09:23 AM
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Those are really beautiful pictures of a beautiful place. It must be nice to be able to live somewhere that most would consider a dream vacation to visit.
 That lavender farm in really impressive. I have four lavender plants in my vegetable garden to attract bees, and at any time of the day many bees are on it or around it pollinating the garden. If there is a heaven for bees, I'm pretty sure it would look something like that picture.  How popular is cricket there? I associate the game more with India for some reason. It has similarities to baseball. Most people find baseball too slow and boring, but I am a big fan of the sport. You had mentioned "local cuisine". Are there any foods or styles of cuisine that makes Tasmania unique?
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#153
06-29-2020, 09:58 AM
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As for Cricket, it's the joint most popular sport in the country alongside Aussie Rules Football, they're both played on a large round oval so most of our big stadiums are shaped as so, most famous of which being the MCG. The biggest, most historic, most iconic and greatest sports venue in the country which I've been lucky to go inside   As you mentioned, India is the biggest cricketing nation in the world, there's about a dozen countries that play cricket seriously at the top level, most of which are former British colonies. In terms of the pace of the game I believe it is very similar to baseball. Someone throws the ball, another tries to hit it, rinse and repeat hundreds of times for however many hours or days. Too many rules of course to explain here and now about Cricket, as there would be about baseball I'm sure I do have a bit of a soft spot for baseball though, mainly because I'm a stadium fanatic and some of the ballparks over in the US are incredible! Off the top of my head, Yankee stadium, Wrigley field, Fenway park and Dodger Stadium all come to mind. There's a documentary on YouTube about their history somewhere that I found very engaging. The history, design, and character of many of these grounds is fascinating, and I'm sure it's amazing to experience up close! If I were to go to a sports event in America, it would probably be Baseball, or maybe an MLS game as that's the only sport of yours I'm overly familiar with so I'd know what's actually going on to begin with  Quote:
We have a pretty good Wine scene, there's some vineyards right here in the Tamar valley in fact, though I can't drink it so couldn't tell you from experience. The state used to be known as the Apple Isle, and we still do grow plenty of fruit so there's that, but it's nothing special really. There used to be (might still be) a Cadbury chocolate factory in Hobart that's quite well known, not that a Cadbury chocolate bar would be considered 'local cuisine' but there are some good places make their own chocolate. Seafood is another big one, from what I remember Oysters and Rock Lobsters are among what can be offered. Cheese I think is another one but again I'm not an expert on that sort of thing. Sorry that wasn't much or very specific, I don't really have a particular interest in this sort of thing so you'd have to ask someone who's more keen on it to get a full answer. Thanks for the question though, the engagement is greatly appreciated
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Last edited by Ben.Daly; 06-29-2020 at 10:27 AM..
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#154
06-29-2020, 10:48 AM
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It's truly a beautiful place. My older brother went to Australia when he was on leave in the military. My other brother went there twice on vacation and loved it. I'd go there in a heartbeat except that long flight time is very intimidating, especially for someone who isn't a spring chicken anymore.
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#155
06-29-2020, 10:52 AM
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You live in a beautiful place. I often watch documentaries about various places in the world so it’s a real pleasure to discover something new. I really don’t know anything about Tasmania so I’m pleasantly surprised at how beautiful it looks. Thanks for sharing!
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#156
06-29-2020, 11:01 AM
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I like to rate my ballpark experiences. Some cities are "baseball cities" where the crowd is very much engaged in the game and the stadiums draw large amounts of people. Having a beer and a hot dog is pretty much a baseball tradition. Each region of the country has their own unique selection of beer and the hot dogs can vary by region as well. So far, the best time I have had was a Friday afternoon game at Wrigley Field. The stadium was sold out like it is most games. The Cubs fans are pretty die hard. I normally like to buy seats as close to home plate as affordable, but for Wrigley Field I bought tickets for the bleachers behind the center field wall. They call them "bleacher creatures" out there and found out why. It turned out to be one big party. Chicago is actually quite a fantastic city with so much to do, and for the most part the people are friendly. The metro area is huge and the south side has always been considered dangerous. Now the city is extremely dangerous. To give an example, this last Father's Day weekend, there were 104 shootings in the city.  It's mainly drug related. The first runner up is Fenway Park. Boston loves their Red Sox and the city is pretty fantastic. They have preserved a lot of historical buildings and you can walk down cobblestone roads like they did when the country was founded. Those would be my two top picks. Yankee stadium is yet to come, but seats there are very expensive compared to the other parks. Dodger stadium will require more planning because while I am out in LA, I might as well catch an Angels game in Anaheim and take a road trip to San Diego to catch the Padres. Quote:
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#157
06-29-2020, 04:04 PM
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Last edited by Bamagirl; 06-29-2020 at 04:04 PM.. Reason: Automerged Doubleposts
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#158
06-29-2020, 06:43 PM
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I had never seen anything like that lavender farm. It doesn't even seem real. :O Thank you for sharing!
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#159
06-29-2020, 10:50 PM
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Here's some more of the Lavender farm   They also offer Lavender flavoured ice-cream and sell these small Lavender coloured teddy bears. They're a bit expensive but are very popular with tourists.  You do have to plan a visit there well though, the plants are only blooming as such for a few months and it can get very busy. So if you want to get some good photos without any disturbance you'll have to go at a well thought out time of day. Not sure how I forgot this on my first post, but there's also a historic site in the south of the state known as Port Arthur.  It's an old convict settlement, though there's heaps more to check out there as well. I went there on a school camp about 5 years back, I have a picture of it on my Instagram which I'll put up later, can't do so right now on School Wifi. Unfortunately if you are familiar with this place already it may be for the wrong reasons. There was a mass-shooting at one of the cafe's on the site a few decades back that I believe remains the largest of it's kind in the country's history. I don't want to go on about it in too much detail, I know that it had a big impact on gun laws here. Anyway, onto something a bit more upbeat... On the West Coast is the Gordon river which you can take a cruise on.  There's the Bruny Island Neck which is like an isthmus in the middle of the island on the south-east coast.  And an example of the Tarkine forest in the state's west  Now, this is an interesting one, and one of the more under-rated spots even for people who live here.  It's Maria Island, on the south-east coast, a bit smaller than Bruny Island. It has a fascinating history, I can't remember the exact details but from what I recall it was first used by settlers for Whaling, then as a convict settlement, then a Limestone quarry, then a cement producer I think, and now a conservation site as well as tourist destination. Here's a picture of what the factory used to look like And a picture from the point Bishop and Clerk, at the top of the island. When I was up there I sat on the edge of part of the cliff (just off camera here) which was apparently "dangerous"  In hindsight it was a bit risky but fun none the less! There's also the 'painted cliffs' on the island  When I was on Maria Island it was on a school camp last year. Everyone had to bring their own food, tents etc. One group unsuccessfully tried to prevent a Tassie Devil from breaking into their food at night  On the second-last day of the trip something rather bizarre happened. The teachers had organised a game of capture the flag, an absolute classic, which was made interesting with the geography of the playing surface. I get very passionate about these sort of games when playing them and ended up grazing my elbow when trying to free the jail, and I believe that left a scar which is still there. Anyway, at one point in the game a teacher on the opposition team was running out of our half with one of our flags, one of my teammates and I then both race towards him from either side to try and capture him before escaping, but he gets past us, and then...BAM. I collide heads with this girl and it momentarily knocks me out. Some of my mates described the loud 'bonk' sound made on the collision, though of course I wasn't able to remember it as I'd had a concussion. The girl wasn't affected as bad, I think she spent the rest of the night a bit grumpy with a headache and minor symptoms, but I'd just lost it completely  I spent the rest of the night sat down in a state of confusion, asking the same questions over and over again, if you've had a similar experience you'll know what I'm talking about, there's probably a more technical term for it. I can't vividly remember anything after or directly before the knock that night. So when I woke up in the tent in the morning it all sort of felt like a dream, so I asked my friend if what had happened was legit, it was a strange experience. Luckily there was medical assistance and people to make sure I didn't do anything too stupid in this state of confusion. It had happened to me before when falling off a swing as well. Anyway, it was a great trip with bush-walking, learning about the history of the island, climbing up the mountain, running around at night admittedly annoying people in their tents who were trying to sleep But that head knock just makes the whole memory of it feel surreal.Another long post, cheers everyone for taking the time to read the first one, I hope this reply is equally interesting
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#160
06-30-2020, 12:41 AM
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