42 – Our Number in Tasmania
05 February 2023
• Hobart Tasmania
by robin
Blog T1 42 – Our Number in Tasmania
February 4, 2023
Four weeks since arriving at Kings Pier have flown. We have navigated local dialects, learned how to connect financially and digitally, got around on foot and spoked wheels and opened doors.
42 is our berth in Kings Pier, 422 is our Post Office Box in the tall brick bell tower on Elizabeth Street and oh oops our Australian phone has no 2 in it. Berth #42 was the simplest to get. The Port Authority were the only group who responded energetically to Karl’s enquiries back in July. The other clubs and marinas offered on waiting list. A mailing address came with Berth #42, the Tas Port Tower, 18 Hunter Street, a slender mushroom shaped building that could be in a Star Wars movie. Next step was a phone number –solved at a Woolworths with sim card in my old phone. Now we with an address and a phone number we were ready to open a bank account so Fulbright could do something with my paycheck. While waiting for the bank card to show us at the Port Tower we needed to make regular trips to the bank and carrying cash . WE became frequent visitors at the Tower looking for our mail. The first sign of trouble was the new solar changer appeared at an office on other side of the river. Despite our patience, as advized by the bank, the pink Australian bank card simply vanished. Karl got a mailbox in the central post office with a carillon that rings ever 1 minutes. Thursday I turned the key to open the little metal post office box and there was the pink replacement card. We can spend my salary here now.
Opennng the doors at work also taken a bit of time. The background check took a while so I had to be escorted into the building – a challenge during the summer holidays. Arriving in January is a bit like arriving in August to a research institute in the US. The halls have been very dark with few people working. Australians actually use their vacation days. Fortunately, Bernadette, an oceanographer studying at heat fluxes along Tasman Sea, is just back from a Seabatical, a year long sailing voyage, and is short on vacation days. As everyone else disappeared, Bernadette could let me in to the building. The primary science institutes ring the Hobart harbor so my commute is a 5 minute bike ride. I cleared the background check and now have access to two of the three Antarctic institutes in Hobart. Next week I will give a science talk as school starts and people are trickling back. I am beginning to frame what I can accomplish in 5 short months.
Our weekends have been full of hiking and sailing with visits to the giant trees, alpine meadows and dolerite cliffs that greeted many of the early Europeans (Tasmin, Cook, and Bligh).
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