Mark and I are always up for an adventure and we figure our boys are too. How selfish is that?! But really, we parent under the guise of, “roll with it/go with the flow.” Sometimes this works like a charm, others, not so much.
Our latest adventure brought us to the island of Tasmania. Tassie, as it’s affectionately referred, (because EVERYTHING is shortened in Australia – I mean OZ), is 150 miles south of the mainland of Australia and is the 26th largest island in the world. There are 500,000 people that live on the island and state of Tasmania. At one point, 10,000 years ago, Tasmania was connected to the mainland of Australia. Mark and I were thrilled to explore this part of the world that no one other than Aussie’s, or adventurous expats living in Australia, would probably explore. Just the name “Tasmania” invites a raised eyebrow, mainly because we all have a soft spot for Taz, the Loony Tunes carnivorous marsupial who like a Whirling Dervish spun his way into our childhood. But really the Tasmanian Devil is the size of a small dog, and looks rather harmless when not barring its teeth. However, the Tasmanian Devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial and is characterized by its foul odor, extremely loud and disturbing screech (hence Taz’s unrecognizable verbiage), ferocity when dining, and dwindling numbers.
Our flight into Hobart and first day were uneventful, except for the epic meltdowns; dramatic behavior displayed by both Abramowitz boys, and the FRIGID temperatures. The boys’ behavior was traumatizing in fact, and definitely goes down in the, “if you are questioning having children just spend a few hours with ours and you’ll be running to the OB or urologist for the definitive birth control procedures.” And that’s all I have to say about that. The weather on the other hand was shocking. We’ve been living in summer where the thermometer hasn’t dipped below 70, maybe 65 degrees, and stunningly we found ourselves in 45/50 degree temps – truly numbing. It’s amazing how one’s body adapts to temperature.
For our second day in Tassie we booked a boat tour through a company called Bruny Island Cruises. From our initial research we found this attractive excursion around Bruny Island would be teeming with seals, penguins, dolphins, amazing views of unseen cliffs and caves, and perhaps even a whale! Turns out, their marketing is superb. When we arrived at the airport in Hobart, while waiting for our luggage - after we had already booked the tour - a statue of a seal with brochures for the Bruny Island Cruises led the trail of baggage on the carousel – more brilliant marketing! My expectations were high, not the best way to start an excursion. In the brochures there were blue skies and calm water, NOTHING like the rainy, 50-degree weather that we set out in.
The day before our excursion – the unspeakable behavior day – we decided on a whim to buy beanies and socks because we were unprepared for the temperate weather. Thank goodness we did because it was 45 degrees when we left our “not-so-nice” quarters at the Graham Court Apartments in Hobart at 8am. We made our way south of Hobart in our hired metallic green Holden station wagon that the boys called our Simba car because of the Lion logo on the hood. We arrived in a town called Kettering where we would catch the bus that would take us to Bruny Island. We boarded the small 25-person bus in Kettering and loaded onto the car-carrier ferry that took us across Great Bay to the island of Bruny, and then it was a 45-minute drive across Bruny Island to the location where we caught the boat. Now, throughout this ferry ride and drive across Bruny Island it was raining off and on, and even HAILING at times. I like to think of myself as the eternal optimist and I kept thinking, “It’ll clear, the blue skies will come out and we’ll have an awesome boat ride.” But really, in the back of my mind I had visions of our screaming boys begging to go back to shore when we were only 1 hour into a “3-hour tour,” being doused by the elements: rain, hail, ocean spray, and worst of all, puke. Since my youth I’ve been plagued with car and sea sickness and I fear I’ve passed this trait on to my boys – even though Reid has only thrown up once from car sickness and Parker never – regardless, I still worry. My adventurous nature was saying move forward, go with it, all the while Mark’s skeptical eyes peered at me as if saying, “Are we insane?!” I responded with soothing eyes saying, “Let’s go with the flow.” I love how we often speak without words. The last thing we wanted the boys to know was that we were frightened.
As we stood in the queue to board the 40-person boat - that we shall call the Minnow - it was raining, and we were last in line. Everyone ahead of us was rushing toward the covered stern of the boat where the least rocking and rolling occurs. We had been fidgeting with the boys’ jackets, hats etc and ended up boarding the boat last. Commence the dark visions of puking and screaming. As we climbed on board Mark – bless him – told the captain, “We have small children and need to be in back.” The captain brought us to the stern and made people move so that we would have space. We pulled the kid card and it worked! We were sitting in the last row of the boat and had cover. As we found our seats we were given full body – head to toe – rain and wind parkas. Again, this was starting to seem like a bad idea.
The boat left the shore and I held my breath. The seas were angry that day my friends! The sky had opened – not just with rain, but also again with HAIL! I found myself sitting in the back of the boat, covered in a head-to-toe parka that was supposed to protect me from the elements, with Reid sitting on my lap. It was hailing so hard at times, and the boat was bouncing around uncontrollably that I billowed myself over Reid creating a cocoon of sorts trying to keep him dry, warm, and stationary. My fingers and toes were beginning to numb. People were throwing up around us; rushing to the side of the boat and hurling their guts out while their loved ones held on to them lest they fly overboard. After vomiting they would turn back around and embarrassingly smile at everyone who gazed at them with looks of shock and fear that said, "yuck," and "better you than me!" I was hanging on to the fact that the captain gave me ginger tablets before our departure. I also had visions of waves tossing us overboard and we weren’t wearing lifejackets. I was imagining how and where I would grab on to my boys to keep them afloat when the boat overturned. As I’ve said before, the drama is strong in me.
On the flip side, we were on a speedy boat jetting through waves and hail; bouncing and flying – it was kinda thrilling! I looked at Parker and Reid’s exhilarated faces as the engines roared and catapulted us over the massive waves. They had fear and excitement wrapped together in their wet, shiny faces - I’m sure the same emotions were draped on my own. I was torn by the experience! Was I having fun, or not?! At one point the captain said, “This is every school boy’s dream; the rough seas in a 900 horse power boat!” This did not instill confidence in me, but instead made me worry that an arrogant schoolboy having something to prove was piloting us. However, he was a 60+-year-old man who seemed seasoned and professional, but he did have an earring…
We saw caves, one dying seal, a fleeting pod of dolphins – which was really cool, but nothing spectacular. The entire 3-hour tour I was asking myself – what are we doing?! The kicker was that the boys FELL ASLEEP! When I booked the tour the woman on the phone said, “Oh, your boys will most likely fall asleep.” I thought, oh, you stupid lady, you know nothing about sleep training and the beauty of Weissbluth, our boys won’t fall asleep anywhere but in their beds. Well, I eat my words. They were both OUT! As the captain said, it’s the sound of the engines and the rock of the waves.
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| Coming into shore and snacking on a Tim Tam. |
After 3 hours of this harrowing, almost life-changing boat ride, we arrived back to shore. They had pumpkin soup waiting for us on the other side. Have I mentioned the Australians and their love of the pumpkin?! Well, the Aussie’s LOVE the pumpkin - in their salads, bread, soup, pasta – pumpkin is a winner here. Because my toes and fingers were numb I yearned for something warm to kick-start my circulation. Truly, I was just relieved to be off the boat.
The trip home was less vexing, but not entirely pleasing… Our bus ride back to the ferry was smooth, but they wouldn’t let our tiny bus on due to space so we had to run on the ferry, in the rain, as they were closing the gate. Have I mentioned it was cold?! All I wanted at that point was our metallic green Simba car and a Bailey’s and hot chocolate.
Another day, another adventure. Stay tuned!
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