TravelStream™ news feed for member gse20085220 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/gse20085220 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:30:20 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1207741560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1207741560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1207741560/tpod.html Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:30:20 -0400 Off to Tasmania 2008

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Hobart, Australia

What's in a name? Well in Tasmania having the name Jim Bacon means I'm famous! Or at least my namesake was. Jim Bacon was the Premier of Tasmania from 1998 to 2004. Whereever I have gone on this trip I have been reminded of this fact...so who is he?

Jim Bacon was the Premier of Tasmania from 1998 to 2004. He was a member of the Labor Party and known for his liberal and often heavy-handed politics. Apparently Jim was quite a charater - a popular political figure and generally well-liked. A good bloke as they say here.

Though a good guy, he certainly was colorful and at times controversial. Jim was once a Maoist student leader. He was deeply involved in labour unions. As premier he brought casinos to Tasmania. His wife's name was Honey. And Jim was a smoker. Sadly, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in February of 2004 and passed shortly thereafter the same year. Before he died he did his best to educate people on the ills of smoking. A foundation was set up in his name to provide help to cancer patients.

So while I'm used to people greeting me in the States and asking me if I'm related to Kevin Bacon, I have now spent my entire 15 minutes of fame here in Tasmania as the former Premier of Tasmania. It's been a blast really. Everyone should be so lucky to have people greet you with a smile and laugh simply at the mention of your name!

I'm glad to have shared my name with this one.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1207646760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1207646760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1207646760/tpod.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:19:40 -0400 Off to Tasmania 2008

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Burnie, Australia

Hard to believe but our Rotary tour is almost over. On Saturday, we will sadly say goodbye to our amazing Tasmanian hosts. Carol, Jim and Brian will fly back to the States while Sarah and I will head north separately to check out different parts of mainland Australia.

The last week-and-a-half has been full of adventure. First off, I'm sure I will shock all those who know me by saying I actually rode a 20K bike ride for a Rotary fund-raiser. Yes, I put on lycra shorts, gloves and a helmet and pedaled away on a bike borrowed from a host family. I was proud to keep up with a husband and wife in their late 50s who rode on a tandem bike. Men in their 70s whizzed past me. Clearly I need to bump up my fitness regimen when I get back home. My Group Study Exchange team members also participated in the ride. Brian did the 20K with me, Jim did the 45K (check out the picture with Yosemite Rotary Club mascot Yoro) and team champion Sarah did the 100K! After finishing the bike ride, which was near Launceston, we continued up the northwest coast, stopping at the cute town of Penguin.
Everything is all penguin all the time.The garbage cans are painted with penguins, the local cafe is the "Groovy Penguin," sculptures of penguins line the streets. Apparently there are real penguins there, but I never saw them. I'm told they can only be seen at night or early in the morning.

We finally made our way to Smithton for the Rotary district conference, where we heard inspiring speeches about service projects and got a chance to meet other GSE teams, including the returned Tasmanian team from India.
We hit it off with these "blokes" and ended up dancing the night away with them at the main dinner event and then wandering the streets of this small town trying unsuccessfully to find an open pub.

On Monday, I visited The Advocate newspaper, a 20,000-circulation daily in Burnie, which turned out to be my favorite vocational visit of the trip. Editor Jason Purdie was very organized and set up a great schedule that allowed me to meet all the department heads. I loved sitting in on the news meetings where the editors talk about the stories of the day. I had to laugh at the story about how the Tasmanian government is encouraging citizens to use their cell phones to snap photos of litterers that they can turn into police. It just goes to show you how Tasmania has no problems. I think in California we're more concerned with more basic problems, like keeping down car thefts and burglaries.

Today, we visited one of Tasmania's most famous sites- the gorgeous Cradle Mountain national park.
While Jim and Sarah chatted with park officials, Brian, Carol, our Tasmania hosts Ken and Mark and I went on a 90-minute walk around Dove Lake. We got beautiful views of the mountain and were happy to enjoy the forest.

Throughout the trip, I've doing my best to answer questions about Modesto. Most of my host families haven't been sure where it is but they are happy to wear the California Tour bike race T-shirts I've given them with the city prominently displayed.


Hope everybody is doing well. We're looking forward to seeing you again soon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206422760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206422760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206422760/tpod.html Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:11:37 -0400 Off to Tasmania 2008

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Scottsdale, Australia

Hello Everyone - greetings from Tasmania!

I apologize for being remiss in posting any entries in our travel blog so far... I have been so busy with my vocational visits and exploring this beautiful land. We have 5 weeks here in Tassie, but I could easily spend 5 months!

My vocational visits have been great. The diversity and the quality of design in Tassie is inspiring, especially in the residential subdivisions, which are quite different from those in the states. Just about every house in the subdivisions here is unique (as opposed to the sprawling cookie-cutter boxes that seem to be popping up everywhere in the states). It's also impressive to see the extent of contemporary design here, even in the smaller, more rural and remote areas of the state. I have attached a few sample photos.

I have seen a couple of straw-bale homes under construction in the two weeks that I have been here, and I have talked to a couple of straw-bale builders about straw-bale construction in Tassie. There is not a large amount of straw-bale construction occurring here, perhaps due in part to the lack of availability of bales (evidently, straw is only available in a small area of the state where cereal grains are grown). Plus, the entire population of Tasmania is less than 500,000, which is a significantly smaller population than our Rotary district region in central California!

I have been thoroughly enjoying my time here, and I only wish I could spend more time studying architecture here, as well as checking out the 19 or so national parks in Tassie.

I will try to update this blog more often in the coming days, when I will, among other things, visit with the dean of the architectural program at the University of Tasmania in Launceston (I hope to find out more about their program to conduct a cost analysis of several different homes with varying degrees of sustainable design). I also hope to find out more about their energy efficiency rating system, which would be equivalent to our LEED program.

I encourage you to check out the other entries in our blog for some images of the beautiful land here, as well as more information about what we have been up to here in Tassie.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206773040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206773040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206773040/tpod.html Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:47:40 -0400 Off to Tasmania 2008

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Launceston, Australia

I got my first overseas byline this week. When I visited the Examiner newspaper, a 30,000-circulation daily here, I expected to just observe and listen. Oh no. Reporter Rachel Williams, who I was shadowing, had other ideas in mind. She brought me to a press conference in which a local politician announced the appointment of a gallery director to head an arts commission. When it was over, with no particular warning, she handed me the tape recording of the interview and the press release and told me to write up a 20-centimeter story. It was a little tricky since I didn't know some of the terms but I put something together. After the editor "Australianized" it, it ended up in the paper. The headline was "Summit to give a voice to Bass." I'm still not exactly sure what "Bass" is.

I've also had the chance to explore the wilderness. Earlier this week, Pepperbush Adventures took our team on an evening bush excursion. The owner and his wife drove us out to a shack in the middle of nowhere and then cooked us up a gourmet feast on a barbecue grill. I'm talking appetizers, fresh fish, fresh kangaroo meat (which I declined as a vegetarian) and lots of beer and wine. After the sun went down, they gave us hand spotlights that we could flash to see the wildlife. We ended up seeing kangaroos, quolls (kind of a cross between a cat and a squirrel) and wombats. It rained the whole time and it was chilly but none of us minded because we were having so much fun.

I also surprised myself by swinging between the trees with Hollybank Treetops Adventures. Yes, I and most of the other team members were crazy enough to strap on harness equipment and slide across cables hung between trees up to 90 feet tall! You travel from "cloud station" to "cloud station" getting an eagles'-eye view. It's basically like traveling on a ski lift except you're alone on a kind of swing. Amazingly, I never saw my life flash before my eyes. It was actually pretty relaxing. The guides do a good job of making you feel comfortable and they let you practice sliding on the cables low to the ground before you get up in the air.

Finally, I saw a community theater production of the musical "Blood Brothers," which I have never seen before. It's the story of twins separated at birth with one brother going to a rich family and another going to a poor family. It was good with some strong performances. It reminded me a lot of the shows I've seen at Playhouse Merced because the actors were about the same talent level and the theater was about the same size - 300 seats with stadium seating. An even better production was "Les Miserables," which I saw in Hobart in southern Tasmania two weeks ago. I would say that was in the top tier of any local productions I've seen in my five years as a theater reviewer.

Well, talk to you next week. Until then, check out the other blog entries from my teammates.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206767580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206767580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206767580/tpod.html Sat, 29 Mar 2008 02:03:41 -0400 Off to Tasmania 2008

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Launceston, Australia

I'm continuing my shopping and seeing amazing sights here. The pictures are from a boat trip around Bruny Island that was spectacular. I was traveling in a speed boat between the rocks in the picture. We saw dolphins, seals, fairy penguins and LOTS of different birds.
Everyone from the Tasmanian Rotary clubs has been extremely generous and kind to us. I cannot possibly tell you how wonderful this has been
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206491340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206491340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206491340/tpod.html Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:47:26 -0400 Off to Tasmania 2008

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Scottsdale, Australia

Goodday from Tassie!

We are now two weeks into the trip and I've been fortunate enough to have visited 6 of Tasmania's 19 National Parks. Though Tasmania is the smallest state in Australia, a full third of it (2,477,314 hectares) is protected land including reserves, national parks, and forests. Perhaps the most notable of which is Cradle Mountain / Lake St. Clair National Park, home of the Overland Track. Cradle Mountain is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area located in the southwest of the state and covering nearly 20% of Tasmania. This area includes the four major national parks of Tasmania including Cradle Mountain / Lake St. Claire in addition to Southwest, Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers, adn Walls of Jerusalem National Parks. The Tasmanian Wilderness Area was designated as a World Heritage site in 1982. World Heritage is a UNESCO designation. Yosemite is also a World Heritage site.

So far I've visited Mt. Field National Park, Hartz Mountain National Park, Tasman Peninsula National Park, Maria Island National Park, Freycinet National Park, and Mt. William National Park. I'll hit a few more along the way with Cradle Mountain concluding the trip.

My impressions thus far are that these parks are extremely well run and organized making the most of very limited resources and staff. It appears that an emphasis has been placed on providing will designed and appropriate facilties - not in abundance, but carefully planned and well intended. There again, other than Cradle Mountain and few other sites, visitation to Tasmania's national parks is quite low in comparison to Yosemite and some of our other national parks in the states. Interestingly, crowing and related visitor use impacts have reache problematic levels at Cradle Mountain and the Overland Track. So a reservation system and significant use limitation has been implemented. It costs nearly $200 to hike the entire Track. These measures have met with wide public approval and understanding. As a result all those undertaking the trek are ensured a positive experiene.

That's all for now, more to come. Check out a few photos from the different sites.

Thanks for checking-in! Good on ya!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1205644020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1205644020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1205644020/tpod.html Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:42:05 -0400 Off to Tasmania 2008

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Hobart, Australia

We're here! After a 13.5 hour flight we arrived in Sydney on Tuesday morning around 6:30 in the morning local time. We took the scenic train around the airport, just to see the sight really, we wanted to jump-start the trip. Finally, we arrived where we started at the international terminal and grabbed our bags. Carol had to arm wrestle two bushmen just to get her seeds in the country, she won handily. Finally, we jumped our puddle-hopper over to Tassie arriving in Hobart around 10:30 local time.

We were greeted by our hosts. A good bunch. Had a scare though, Brian's bag didn't turn up at the baggage claim. Came through later though. From the airport we loaded up in cars and headed out to have lunch and meet up with host families. I think every one of us went for the driver's side door thinking it was the passenger seat, our hosts had a laugh. Still trying to get used to being on the wrong side of the road!

We got settled into our homestays and had a day off to kick the jet-lag. Thursday and Friday were vocational days for us. Poor Brian's been hit with the most rigorous and exhausting schedule, but he's getting through. The rest of us have been taking our time and enjoying our visits.

Gave our first presentation on Friday night at the Parliament House. We learned that Jim Bacon was a popular and reveared political figure in Tasmania until he died in 2004 from lung cancer. It's made for some interesting conversation and Jim was the subject of a lot of jokes at our first club meeting. Nevertheless, the presentation went well. We panicked for not having the right plug and cable, Carol turns up, takes one look, and points out the proper adapter. There's a reason she's the team leader!

So our presentation went off finally without a hitch and we came to the end of our first homestay. We switched to the Kingston Rotary Club on Saturday after a morning at the Salamanca Market - a weekly farmer market near the waterfront.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1205680200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1205680200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1205680200/tpod.html Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:41:23 -0400 Off to Tasmania 2008

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Hobart, Australia

We've been in Tassie almost a week now and have nothing but good things to say about this gorgeous place. Hobart, the main city, reminds me a little of Marin County. It's got a beautiful harbor, cute shops, lots of tourists and a ton of charm.


Yesterday we got to wander around the Salamanca Market, which is a giant street fair held on Saturdays. Imagine the Modesto Farmers Market times 100, with stands selling everything from fresh fruits to hats, jewelry, books, stuffed animals, bags, clothes and more.




We've been treated like kings and queens by our host families, with one amazing dinner and party after another. Aussies like to drink so we've been enjoying a lot of Cascade and Boag's beer. Today, we're having a party on Kingston Beach. It's a tough life but somebody has to do it.




As part of the Rotary exchange, we go on vocational visits and I've already been on two. I went to the Mercury newspaper, a 50,000 circulation tabloid that is Hobart's main daily and to ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company). I was struck by how similar the Mercury's operations are to the Modesto Bee, where I work. I feel like I could jump in and start working right now. Everybody talks about the same issues- like a lack of communication among the staff, scheduling difficulties and how to best incorporate the Internet. ABC was interesting because they are a "tri-media" organization. The same staff handles TV, radio and online reporting. Tomorrow, I visit Tasmania 40 degrees South, a lifestyle magazine.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206162480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206162480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206162480/tpod.html Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:05:32 -0400 Off to Tasmania 2008

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Orford, Australia

This week, I got my first close-up look at kangaroos and Tasmanian devils. I saw both at the aptly named Tasmanian Devil Park. They let visitors feed kangaroos right out of their hands! They are such cool creatures- a cross between deer and rabbits. I couldn't believe how gentle and calm they were with us. The devil is more of a cross between a pig and rat- nothing like the cartoon we all grew up with.
I saw kangaroos again a day later when we took a sail boat ride out to Maria (pronounced Mariah here) Island. Maria Island is an old penal settlement that has been converted into a wildlife reserve and camping area. Our team leader Carol and I were walking down a trail when suddenly she noticed several eyes staring at us. Just like deer, the kangaroos blend in with the forest and are easy to miss if you don't pay attention.

Another day, local Rotarian BJ took our whole team on a drive through area logging operations. We walked on the Wielangta trail named through lush rain forest.


Another highlight was visitingTasmania 40 Degrees South Magazine, a glossy quarterly run out of a man's house! Owner/editor Warren Boyles was friendly and asked a lot of questions about American politics and viewpoints. He said most Aussies are closely following the presidential election.

I gave Warren and the other media types I've been visiting cards with the Modesto Bee mascot Scoopy. I've also given some people Scoopy temporary tattoos, which have proved to be a big hit. I'm getting a lot of requests for them. Check out the picture of my second host family- Paul and Cheryl Jack- wearing them.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206056880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206056880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gse20085220/1/1206056880/tpod.html Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:02:47 -0400 Off to Tasmania 2008

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Hobart, Australia

After Leaving the Salamanca club we moved on to the Kingston Rotary club. We were still in Hobart. I moved into my new Host Families home David and Danni, there house is just across the street from the beach, We enjoyed a couple of rest days at there place. The first afternoon, Jim, Lisa and my host families all enjoyed some nice Tassie beer and wine on our front porch, which led into dinner at Lisa's families house. Danni and David were quite pleased they somehow avoided having to cook even one dinner at there place.
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