I think my favorite thing about being in Australia is the nothingness that lasts forever, the miles of emptiness that feel anything but empty, the way you can feel so humbled and so empowered at the exact same time. This is a place where humanity hasn't won. No one is going to come plow down the trees to make room for a high-rise building complex or a strip mall. This land must know what it feels like to get a good night's sleep.




After an action-packed 3 1/2 days in Tasmania, we were given the afternoon to explore on our own. Naturally for me that meant grabbing my camera and exploring Hobart on foot. I went with a friend and we had every intention of finding the botanical gardens...but somewhere in transit things went horrible awry. I take full responsibility for the situation in which we found ourselves: smack-dab in the middle of what we called the Compton of Hobart--the sketchy outskirts that left no choice but to either turn back or cross the freeway. We chose the latter, assuming that the gardens were on top of the large hill in front of us. Well, we made it up the hill...but the gardens didn't. It was a delightful walk nonetheless, and when we finally made our way back down to the bottom we were rewarded with a rose garden. Nevermind that all the roses were inundated with thousands of aphids. They were still pretty. The roses, I mean, not the aphids.