Launceston is pronounced lawn-sess-tun, not launce-ton as we had assumed. Australia either shortens things to 2 syllables or adds some extras for fun. Keeps us on our toes.

The drive should have been 2 hours but Nick found a stop for us. We drove about 1.5 hours to the Walls of Jerusalem. On our way there I noticed we were going far out of the way and running out of gas. I tried to be cool and we got to the trailhead. He said it would be a quick 20 minute walk for an amazing view but the trail had a big sign that said “3-4 hours to get to the end, one-way only”. He had made a mistake and I was annoyed, but I bit my tongue because I do zero research and therefore have zero reason to complain. Marriage in a nutshell.

We decided to just walk until we were tired to stretch our legs and then head back. It was actually a very nice little hike. Millie and Nick found walking sticks and we talked to her about how we want to take her backpacking someday. She kept us laughing and talking and I thought about how the other best thing about hiking are the weird conversations you have when there’s nothing else to do.

We got back to the car and drove another hour to Launceston without running out of gas. We arrived at our Airbnb which is awesome. It feels very old and when I’m done writing this post I plan to read the history of this little city. The architecture everywhere feels old.

We found a puzzle and started it with Millie, but then she gave up and we got very into it. She played with the Jenga blocks and built a little house.

It was beautiful weather outside so we coerced her out with the promise of a playground. The local park was incredible and had about 5 playgrounds in one. She made a bunch of friends as usual.

We started chatting with one of her friends’ parents who were visiting from Melbourne. It’s been surprisingly easy to meet people here and have long conversations with them. Australians are very friendly and open.

It started getting late and we were hungry. Instead of dealing with another restaurant, we went to the local Woolworths and got a rotisserie chicken, some broccoli, and some rice. All three of us ate the broccoli first, which means we must have really needed it. We ended with some Tim Tams for good measure. Our time in Australia is coming to a close soon, so we had to celebrate in the only way we know how… double fisting Tim tams.