Tasmania

We have spent the last 2 weeks in Australia - 2 days (+1) in Melbourne and 12 days in Tasmania.

We decided to spend a couple of days in Melbourne to break up the trip to Tassie - 8 hours plus 2 hours. We thought we would be able to put Sam to bed when we got there in the morning, and then check it out for a day and a half. We didn't get our hotel room until later in the afternoon, so we ended up checking out the market and basically walked all over town. We had great pizza and pasta and froze our asses off. The next day we went to the aquarium, which Sam and Matt LOVED (I thought it was great too, but they LOVED it!). We walked around more of the city and met our friend Maria for a tour to/of the Botanic gardens. Gorgeous.

The next day we arrived in the Hobart area of Tasmania. This island is absolutely unbelievable - the best food. Great wine. AMAZING nature and hiking. Our first four nights were in the country - 6 km from the small historic village of Richmond and about 15 minutes from Hobart. Our B&B (Cornwall Cottage - completely recommended!) has 3 horses, a whole load of sheep, about 6 hens, a rooster, endless amounts of raspberries and so many stairs for Sam to explore. She loved the animals, and she loved picking raspberries and putting them straight into my mouth, see photo (she would never try them, of course). Peta, the owner, made us three loaves of amazing bread (Sam DID eat that - she couldn't get enough) and we had her homemade jam, hen laid eggs and fresh tomatoes as well. We had two bedrooms and a living room, so we could put Sam to sleep and not have to read on the bathroom floor (as usually happens in hotels...). Our next place also had two bedrooms, and we realised this is key to a nice holiday when your child prefers long naps and going to sleep at 7pm!

While there, we spent a day hiking at Mt Field National Park, where we saw some of the most amazing waterfalls I have ever seen (see photo) along with gorgeous views of mountains, beautiful trees, and one live animal (sort of like a possum but not exactly). We also spent a day on the Tasman peninsula where we did a bunch of short hikes and drove around. One hike along the coastline was especially gorgeous - started on the beach and then went through the trees, following the water. The absolute low-light of this was on our walk back to the car, where Sam and I were running and singing along the beach, and I noticed that we were about four feet away from a HUGE DEAD SEAL on the beach. I SCREAMED and ran (with Sam in a framed pack on my back) for a long, long time. Grody. We also spent an afternoon in the historic village of Richmond, just up the street. It was built in the early 1800s, and somehow the buildings are all still around (including the creepy jail for convicts from Britain from 1825). Sam loved the ducks under the bridge at the river and the slide at the playground. Matt and I loved the architecture and the quiche. We also spent time in Hobart - first to tour all around the gorgeous town, and then to go to the market on Saturday. Lots of local foods and goods. We also saw a reserve for the local animals (see the photo of Sam hangin' with the 'roos).

We then drove up the east coast towards our next stop in Bicheno (Bicheno Ocean View Retreat - great view, lots of space, but not too much personality). While there we had FABULOUS Italian food from a place in town and great bread from the bakery. We hiked a day in Freycinet National Park - doing a walk up to an outlook of Wineglass Bay, and having a great picnic at Honeymoon Bay, which was a rocky beach, which Sam loved climbing (see photo), with gorgeous green, clear water. Okay, we were still freezing, but it looked beautiful. We had dinner at the Iron House Brewery, where we enjoyed nice beer and great burgers (Sam loved the fries). We also spent a day up on the east coast, exploring the Bay of Fires and St Helen. The Bay of Fires is basically AMAZINGLY beautiful beaches, with white sand, reddish rocks and gorgeously clear, blue water. We were still freezing, but seriously, it was gorgeous. The photo where we're all looking over our shoulders is at the Bay of Fires. The one of Sam and Matt at the sand dunes is also in that area, near St. Helens as is the one of the three of us on the red rocks.

We then drove to a dairy to get some yummy cheese (Sam loved the vanilla ice cream - she was literally pulling my arm with the spoon to her mouth) and saw the cows getting milked. Sam learned what a cow says. We then decided to make a quick trip to these two waterfalls that looked super close on the map. One was pretty close to the dairy - the tallest waterfall in Tasmania. Beautiful. The next one, again, looked really close on the map...but it was about 17 km on some crazy steep gravely road. I was not very happy. Matt was loving it. Sam was eating her feet. We reached the top where there had been lots of logging, and there were beautiful views of the mountains and pastures around us. FINALLY we got to the next waterfall (which wasn't that cool, but Matt claimed it was. I think it was only because he wanted to not regret the drive...) (see the photo at Norm's Lookout). The 17 km back to reality was on another crazy road...so what we thought would be a quick half hour turned into about three hours. But we made it. We pushed on, through Launceston, the big city in the north, and drove up the Tamar River Valley to our B&B (Conmel Cottage - TOTALLY recommended). This place had us in a detached cottage, looking out on the garden with everything you could ever imagine growing (and eating!). They also had hens and fruit trees and lots of area for Sam to run around in. She loved touching the apples on the apple trees and the peaches on the peach trees. They also stocked us with amazing breakfast supplies (including yummy homemade cookies! and I made bacon - assuming this non-kosher thing will be coming to an end...soon...I thought I should try once! I was a Jewish natural). The place was on a huge hill with an amazing view of the wide Tamar River. Wow. The only challenge was that the sleeping area was upstairs, and stairs with a one-year old are never ideal. Also, there was no door to close at night, so we had to save lots of dirty dishes and did a lot of reading and whispering. Kinda cramped our style, but we're over it.

While up north, we spent a day in Launceston, including a great hike in the gorge - right in the middle of town! - out to the old power station. We spent a day visiting a few wineries, right near our B&B, and one of the first pubs in Tasmania. We took an evening to push Sam to stay up late - and we went to this National Park on the north coast at dusk to see wildlife. And did we see wildlife. We saw loads of wallabies, at least five wombats (they're HUGE! See photo), tonnes of pademelons (like wallabies but smaller and rounder). We didn't see Tasmanian Devils here (we saw them in a reserve down south), because 75% of those in the wild have this certain kind of cancer that scientists around the world are working to cure. They're really endangered. As per my personality, I was not too excited about keeping Sam up an extra 1.5 hours...and driving out into nowhere in Tasmania...but it was way worth it. It was SUPER cool to see all these guys hopping around. Sam loved it. She was pointing to all of them - but her screaming on the path in the forest didn't help us with our nature spotting.

We then drove down the old road from Launceston to Hobart - passing through a bunch of historical villages. We had a great lunch in a fantastic bakery in Ross, where Sam ate half of my sandwich. She didn't eat a half of it, but she ate the piece of bread that was touching the cheese on both halves. There were great old buildings - I can't believe it is all still there. Kind of creepy, but really beautiful. Matt was a super-dad with an unfortunate poo incident, and we all survived.

We made our way back to our first B&B where we arrived in time to say goodnight to the chickens, the horses, eat more raspberries, eat some pizza and go to sleep. Our entire trip until this point was perfectly smooth.

Our flight at 8:30am from Hobart to Melbourne was delayed for five hours, as one of the guys in the drivers' seats was ill. I mean, I'm all for safety, and I don't want a guy to work if he's ill, but don't we have back-up plans or something like that? We made it back to Melbourne around 3:30...but our flight to Singapore had left 3.5 hours earlier. All in all, we traveled for nine hours (including getting to and from the airports) just to get to a hotel in Melbourne, right by the airport. Sam was a total disaster. We made it onto the same flight to Singapore, the next day. That was 12 hours of travelling today. Yeah - we survived, but that part wasn't too fun.

Forgetting about the last two days - this was the best trip of our lives. Our honeymoon in South Africa was a close second, and some of our trips out in SE Asia have been cool, but really, nothing as fantastic as these two weeks in Tassie. Definitely part of it was getting away from regular life in Singapore and spending such great time as a family (only...). But add the food, drinks and unbelievable natural beauty, and it just doesn't get better.

So, since that was the best, and it was pretty challenging to travel with a one year old - I think we're done. No more travelling for us.

Just kidding. Off to Bali on Friday!

Walking - it's a different world

Sam is a totally different person now that she's walking. She took her first steps last Saturday, and within one week she's totally walking everywhere, and she does NOT want to be carried. She's been really cranky, and she is totally into different things. I think she aged a few months, or possibly years. She used to just sit by herself and read a book quietly. Not anymore. She's into anything that she shouldn't be.

Incidentally, she always has a phone (she has 2 plastic phones, 2 cordless phones that she finds sometimes plus 3 remote controls that double as phones) with her, and she usually talks (on the back of her neck) at least once every few minutes. I sure hope she's not learning this from Rose, but she is definitely not learning from me or Matt - we're almost never on the phone. I guess she's just super social with her imaginary friends.

Today she tried out this play gym thing where you pay, and she can go in for an hour and play with anything. She especially liked climbing up these soft stairs and then sliding down the slide on her belly, legs first. She still doesn't play with other kids, but she does take their balls and point to their balloons.

The video below is one of my favorites - it's from this past week. She LOVES peek-a-boo books (and peek-a-boo in general - she covers her eyes with her hands, and it's SUPER cute). Here are other recent photos.

Sam's walking!

Multi-faith Singapore

Chabad-ed

This past weekend was one of the most Jewish weekends we have had since we got here - and it was super nice and super community-y. After a super great shabbat dinner with friends, and shabbat lunch in a sukkah with other friends, we went to two sukkot parties today - at each of the two synagogues in Singapore. You may recall that we moved here from a VERY Jewish life on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, and generally we have been a little low key for the last 4.5 years.

Interesting things to note about the sukkot -

They were both totally huge. Like we're talking at least 70 people huge - possibly more.

They both had fresh fruit hanging from the ceiling. In one that seemed fine. In the other, there were casualties all over the ground - and it was bizarre. There was everything from pomello to pineapple to mangosteen to apples. Sam loved pointing to them. I just wanted to sit below the small ones.

They are both attached to the synagogues (Chesed El and Magen Avot) that were built around the same time, look very similar inside and are totally gorgeous.

Upon our arrival at the second sukkot party (the orthodox community...after we had been with the progressive community...), we saw a lulav and etrog. I said, "Sam - look - that's a lulav and an etrog. Do you want to touch them?" Chabad saw this as an opportunity, and Mendel moved in. He asked Matt if he would like to show his daughter, and then he slipped in there that he could say a bracha too. I absolutely can't believe that Matt got chabad-ed and ended up saying a blessing over a lulav and etrog! I have never seen him do anything like that - ever. There are two reasons this happened.

1) He plays basketball with some of the chabad boys here, and he genuinely likes them and probably didn't mind too much, since he had a relationship with the guy.
2) He wanted to show off for his daughter. (She was clearly impressed).

Separately - I seriously think that sukkot is the weirdest Jewish holiday. If you're not Jewish and you're reading this, I'm talking about shaking four types of branches/leaves together along with a lemony-type fruit...in a hut that we build for a week of the year. Super weird. But Sam loved colouring her decorations (it was her first time) and the food and music were awesome. The community was also pretty great.

In other news, my mom has been here for two weeks and she flew off tonight (don't worry - she'll be back soon). Sam loved playing with her in the last few weeks - they read tonnes of books, played with all of the toys and learned new puzzles. Sam definitely knows Savta now (she points), and she kept wanting to be held by her. Savta even put Samara to bed tonight (that is a rite that has been reserved for only me and Matt (and Rose once) in her whole life.

I am also posting a photo of Sydney from my ipod, from a harbour cruise.

Finally, I got Matt this t-shirt as a gift (he doesn't read my blog, so he won't find out until his parents come in a few weeks...). My brother has it, and I think it's one of the funniest, most creative pieces of clothing I have ever seen. I almost bought three, but I thought it might be weird to send it to random friends. Buy it!!! (If you haven't seen the title of it, it's even funnier).

Sydney

I can't believe I'm one of those people with a blog that isn't updated regularly. I was so regular for about for years. But I went over a month with no post! Terrible! Generally when I don't post a lot it means that not too much interesting is going on, or I don't have too much positive stuff to say...hmmm...

So, this week I'm in Sydney for work. I'm here for a conference (Global Banking Alliance for Women Summit) for banks who have approaches, products, services, etc for women customers. This is part of my portfolio for my job, and it's something that I spend a lot of time thinking about, a little of time speaking about, and not enough time DOING. It's been totally inspiring to sit in a room and hear people talk about what I think about. I get to hear what banks in Australia, Uganda, Malawi, Turkey, Lebanon, etc. are doing for banking women. Super relvant to what I do. Super relevant to what I'm interested in. Quite an opportunity.

On the other side, I also get to go to Sydney for four days. I absolutely hate being away from Samara (and she's had an upset tummy and been generally unhappy since I left, which makes it even worse!), but the city is helping to make it not so bad. It's my second time in Australia (Margaret River, Dec 2010).

Granted I have VERY limited exposure to the city, I have fantasic impressions. I have been on a harbour cruise with the conference, and I have walked around the CBD, sat by the opera house at a bar, seen the city from a tall building, and walked back to my hotel, which is about 15 minutes away from the rest. Other than that, I have really only seen the inside of a room.

Sydney at first felt like New York - since it had vibe, people walking all over, old buildings, diversity, energy, etc. Then I realised that wasn't New York, it was more like Toronto or Philly (which are also great cities...). It has a totally chill feel, people seem interesting and healthy (mostly good looking too). There are some vast differences to Singapore - there seems to be a limited amount of shopping (which I really appreciate - it grosses me out in Singapore). It is COLD!! It's spring here, so it's in the 50s and 60s F. For someone who has spent almost every day of the last 4.5 years in 80s and 90s...it's FREEZING! But, on the other hand, I am not sweating my way through life, and I really love it. It feels so much more human and less frustrating on many levels. I still really hate the heat of Singapore - I don't think I will ever get over or used to it. Sydney has also been a pleasure to walk in. I have blogged frequently about how much I hate walking around in Singapore - as it makes my blood pressure rise and turns me into a grump. I literally want to step on people sometimes. Here it all seems quite organised, and you can always pass people on the street. I can't put my finger on what's different, but it's just as crowded, yet I don't get angry walking around!

Overall, I am going to try to convince Matt that we should come back here for our next holiday. I absolutely love it. Maybe we'll even move here...if only it weren't THAT far away...though I do think it's closer to the US than Singapore...

Sam's One!

Sam's one! She's had a wonderful year:

She made it through all 12 months with only a few minor bumps and bruises. Unfortunately she hasn't gotten sick yet (I think that just means it will be really bad when it happens...actually I wrote this ten days ago and forgot to publish...since then she's been sick...twice!).

She finally learned to eat food (sometimes), after six months of trying everyday. She now loves yogurt, challah, custardy stuff, watermelon, cheerio things and spitting water all over herself.

She has read approximately 79 books. She particularly loves "Caps for Sale," "From Head to Toe," and "Doggies."

She has developed an attachment to a doggy and a froggy. She sleeps with them.

She has traveled to six countries: Singapore, Australia, Indonesia (twice), Thailand, Vietnam and the US.

Her grandparents have visited approximately ten times (all together).

Her strong skills include: "doing" touchdown, downward dog, blowing kisses, reading books, finding belly buttons (on strangers in public...sometimes quite embarrassing...) and generally being sweet. She now hugs and kisses me, and it may very well be the highlight of my life.

It's been a pretty awesome year for all of us. We have loved watching her grow and develop into who she is today, and we can't wait to see who she will become. We are totally in love with our child in a way we never could have imagined a year ago (or even 11 months ago...). Happy Birthday Sammers!!

I made a video - but it won't load...I'll try to post it somewhere for general consumption.