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| A boat anchored on the Huon River with a hazy mountain backdrop. |
We’ve begun to think about packing, particularly me. Yesterday, for the first time in many moons, I ironed two of my shirts and one of Tom’s. Why did we ever buy anything requiring ironing? We thought they were “wash and wear” based on the washing instructions at the time of purchase.
I’m getting low on clothing, with many items having worn out, so I’ve resorted to ironing my two items to add to my limited wardrobe for the upcoming cruise in four days.
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| Vineyard in Tasmania. |
Tom is down to six shirts, plus the one white dress shirt I ironed yesterday, suitable to wear to dinner in the ship’s main dining room. During the day, he wears tee shirts. His wardrobe is also shrinking along with mine.
In three months, we’ll be back in the US with a plan to purchase a few new clothing items to replace those we’re ready to toss. But, unfortunately, there are no clothing stores in Huonville other than two second-hand shops, and it makes no sense to replace our old clothing with someone else’s old clothing.
Over these past six weeks, I haven’t felt well enough to go shopping in Hobart, which has a few malls and many shops. For me, it’s been tricky buying clothing in Australia when sizing is entirely different, pants are too short, and styles suitable for travel aren’t necessarily available.
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| A typical country road. |
We prefer solid colors since they may be worn with any of our pants, dressy or casual. In most of the stores here, shirts are more colorfully patterned or flowery, which has never been quite my style. Nor does Tom care to wear brightly colored or patterned shirts.
I’ve begun packing a little earlier than usual with this illness and during the heavy antibiotic dosing period, which has made me feel a bit lethargic. So a little packing each day seems to make more sense right now.
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| Haze and humidity in the hills of the Huon Valley. |
I’ve had some improvement (day four of seven on the medication), but I’m definitely not 100%. However, much to our enthusiasm, yesterday I was able to eat a normal-sized portion of our entree and a small salad which I hadn’t been able to do since early December. So maybe it is improving.
Tom never packs until the day before we depart when it becomes necessary to weigh our luggage to ensure we don’t exceed the 23 kg (51lbs) the airlines allow on the first checked bag (each) with a premium paid for our third bag containing necessary supplies.
We’re flying to Sydney on Virgin Australia, which only charges AU 35, US $26.85 for the third bag, an amount we’re thrilled to pay instead of considerably more on other airlines.
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| The wild vegetation is growing along the river bank. |
Tonight, we’ll watch the final episode of season 6, Game of Thrones, having loved every single episode. It’s been a nice respite from thinking about my condition when we’ve watched a few episodes each evening. We can now cancel our month-to-month HBO subscription (ending on the 26th) and re-join to watch season 7 once we get to Costa Rica next August.
While in the US, with six weeks spent in Minnesota and three weeks in Henderson, Nevada, we won’t have time or interest in watching any shows or movies other than perhaps a movie or two with the grandchildren in MN.
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| Single lane bridge in the countryside. |
It’s hard to believe we’ll arrive in the US mainland on May 15th, less than three months from now. Two days later, on May 17th, we’ll board the Alaskan cruise, which ends on May 26th in Seattle. From there, we’ll fly to Minneapolis. We’ll be arriving in MN on Friday evening of Memorial weekend, a busy travel period.
Once I upload this post, Tom will do the proofreading while I get ready to go out. This will be the first time we’ve been out since Monday, very unusual for us. We’re heading to Huonville for a few grocery items and a new batch of probiotics to avoid running out on the cruise.
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| Pasture on a sunny day. |
But for now, we’re anticipating the less than two-hour flight from Hobart to Syndey in a mere four days. So my prepping and packing will continue at a snail’s pace over the next few days, which this time, I don’t mind a bit.
Have a lovely weekend, wherever you may be!
Photo from one year ago today, February 25, 2016:
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| This “piece of art” in New Plymouth is playfully typical of Kiwi’s great sense of humor. For more interesting New Plymouth, New Zealand photos, please click here. |