A quick dash to Tasmania

When your uncle is one of Australia’s leading jazz Pianists and he announces that he is giving a 90th Birthday Concert (and you have never heard him play live), you have to put aside the excuse that going there and back takes 45 hours flying time, crosses 11 time zones, covers a distance of at least 22,208 miles (35,532 km) and (for the geographers) is 81° South and 147° East of where we live and that we are are very busy at the moment with too many other things and that a trip to Australia is not in the diary!

So we decide to hop on a plane to go to a concert on the other side of the planet (well almost the other side) and come back only a few days later. We are also going to fit in a few days in a campervan, visiting the parts of Tasmania which we did not see the last time we were both here (some 8 years ago).

As an aside, there is this very useful(!?!) software tool which lets you find out where (with respect to anywhere on the planet) the other side actually is. For us, the other side is in the middle of the ocean, very close to the International Date Line and some way south east of the southern island of New Zealand.

To be somewhere where the other side of the earth actually was Hobart, you would have to be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Therefore a cold damp Saturday afternoon in mid November sees us heading off to Heathrow again (my fourth visit to Australia) to catch the largest passenger airplane currently flying (the Airbus A380) for a flight which (in economy), is more likely to have to be endured rather

  

than enjoyed. Luckily we have been able to cash in all of our air miles for these tickets because this is a quiet time of the year for flights to Australia and therefore the cost is not exorbitant. Previously we have been unable to spend them on long distance flights because we have been travelling at peak times and there were no air miles seats available (a common complaint of the avid air mile collector) unless you booked up a very long time in advance.

To our relief, this flight is actually operating. About three weeks ago, Qantas suddenly announced the grounding of all planes due to an industrial dispute. There then followed an interesting few days watching from afar, reaction to the dispute and the fairly swift emergence of an interim outcome. We were actually listening to ABC News Australia live through web streaming when news of the imposed interim solution was announced – the internet certainly is powerful.

Although we are only going to be in Australia for 8 days, we seem to have almost as much luggage as when we go away for a few months. It seems that about 2/3rds of our luggage comprises things that make life easy when you are living in a campervan and the amount is unrelated to the length of the holiday. The amount of clothes we take also is fairly unrelated to holiday duration because when on the road, we use washing machines whenever they present themselves. Everything gets checked off on the list and when possible, split between two bags so that if one bag gets lost or delayed, we do not loose everything.

The drive to Heathrow was going very well until we got to within 1 mile and a couple of minutes from the car park and we found that the police had closed the road for some unknown reason. Our satnav provided a 10 mile re-route and this took around 40 minutes of tense driving through heavy traffic and areas of London we did not know existed. To say that we felt some relief when we saw the car park ahead and even more relief when we got to the airport terminal an hour later than planned about 30 minutes before check-in closed is an understatement.

Our flight takes off reasonably on time and heads out across Europe for Singapore by traversing (as the Pilot puts it) “Europe, some of the Stans, India and down Malaysia”.

This route is quite close to the Great Circle Route which is the shortest line between two points on the globe.

From	To	Distance	Time	From	To	Distance	Time
LHR	SIN	6765 mi	12:55	HBA	SYD	645mi	1:45
SIN	MEL	3743 mi	7:35	SYD	SIN	3907mi	7:55
MEL	HBA	383 mi	1:15	SIN	LHR	6765mi	14:21
		10891mi	21:20			11317mi	24:01

Two meals, eight time zones and 2½ films later we reach our first transit which is at Singapore Changi and this has to be one of the best transit airports in the world. If flying to or from the far east, it certainly beats Hong Kong (a bit sterile) and the new Bangkok (horrid). Singapore seems to have set its stall out as being a good place to transit.

The A380 has a tail mounted camera so you can get a high pilot’s eye view of everything in front of the plane

A jumbo landing in front of us as we waited to take off

tail view from 35000 ft

Singapore Airport runway ahead (the lights)

Just about to land

Pulling onto our stand at the airport

Unfortunately our plane circled Singapore for some time waiting to land and as a consequence we did not have enough time whilst the plane was refuelled and reprovisioned to shower in the Rainforest Lounge which is bargain at only $8SD (about £4) – perhaps we may be able to on the way back (post script – we did).

Then it is back on the plane – two more films, more food, a little sleep, cross the equator and on towards Australia crossing some of the wildest parts we drove through in 2009.

and at Melbourne the following morning the tail camera shows:

Banking over Melbourne

Going over the city

About to land

The transit process from International to Domestic at Melbourne has a fairly bad reputation for queues, stress and effort. For the international traveller, after Immigration (aka Border Protection) there then follows the Quarantine Inspection Service.

We are used to both of these but they take time and when a number of large big jets arrive close together, the system gets strained. We have just over two hours to get into Australia and also check-in for our next (domestic) flight to Hobart. In the event, immigration is quick because they allow us to use the Australian Citizens channel, but our bags take for ever to arrive giving rise to thoughts that they had been left behind – relief again when they appear and the Quarantine Dog takes no interest in us when we are sniffed.

All international flights arrive at T2 and Qantas Domestic goes from T1 next door so having navigated the above, you have to go land side, then walk to the next terminal with your bags, queue up again to check-in for your next flight, go through security etc etc. This process is made more tedious by the fact that Qantas have introduced some automatic bag check-in machines which do not seem to work – they would only take one of our bags and human intervention was required to solve the problem. Many other passengers were having problems and we saw at least two miss their flights because they could not get their luggage accepted by the machine.

Hobart Airport is undergoing expansion / renovation but it

is a welcome sight and our car (booked through Quidco and Holiday Autos) is ready and waiting with only 1500kms on the clock and our SatNav takes us straight to our hotel.

And so, some 31½ hours after we closed our front door in England, we open our front door (for the next three days) in Hobart at the Grande-Vue Hotel which is more of a B&B than a hotel but is very comfortable.

Our “getting over Jet Lag Calculator” forbids us from immediately going to bed. We are instructed to get out into the light and we are not allowed to go to bed until 1530 and we have to get up again at 1800 and go back into the light (with different times specified for the following day). The routine (assisted by Melatonin) has worked in the past so we are prepared to obey the rules (once we did not rigidly obey the rules and we suffered as a consequence).

So it is out for a walk into Hobart, heading for the Salamanca Market area for a spot of lunch when the only thing our bodies are doing is to complain that they think it is 1 a.m. in the morning and they really do not want to eat and would rather be in bed!

La Trinità della Cava - Monastery

Today we go home and this morning we have a bit of a filler with no relationship to Romans at all before we leave for the airport.

All week we have heard the clock bells from the Benedictine Abbey in the village. They

start at 6 am, chime every 15 minutes and seem to carry on until 11 pm. They are loud (but rather nice). This year is the 1000th anniversary of the founding of the monastery by Alferius of Pappacarbona (aka St Alferius).

We were told that now there are only 12 monks living in the large monastery at the

rear of the church.

We are going on a guided tour of the Church, the cave where Alferius lived (now under the church) and also we are going to see a few items in the museum. No photographs are allowed in the

museum where there is quite a nice majolica ware floor or the museum where there are some ancient vellum parchments.

The church is decorated in a very ornate

baroque style with every square millimetre of floor, wall and ceiling space covered.

Even the ceilings are works of art

and perhaps the only section that was not decorated was the walls of one of the caves Alferius lived in (he also seemed to have lived in a number of caves below this one in the crypt of the church).

It is very ornate and not to everyone’s taste. If you want to see more you will have to go there.

The trip back was easy apart from the plane being late. Other than being exhausted, we had a great time, learnt a lot and enjoyed being with our new friends.

Andante were very good, as was our guide, tour manager and coach driver. Where to next with Andante we wonder – we will have to try to fit something in during 2013 because 2012 is already full.

Oplontis – the Villa Poppea

The Villa Poppea at Torre Annunziata (Roman Oplontis) is an astonishing villa in terms of the quality of its frescoes and its size. It was thought to have been owned by the second wife of Nero - Poppaea Sabina. She was his mistress and later became his 2nd wife. In 65AD when she was pregnant, he kicked her in the stomach and she died.  

This deduction stems from some graffiti scratched in wet plaster which says “Mnesthei Beryllos” meaning “Be Beryllos Remembered” (or remember Beryllos). Beryllos was the name of Nero’s secretary.

It was uninhabited at the time of the eruption as was possibly under repair from the 62AD earthquake – this being deduced from the fact that little furniture but a lot of building materials were found there. It has a large swimming pool which was full of water at the time of the eruption.

It was discovered in the 1500s when a canal was being dug through the site (they carried on digging) and not excavated properly until the 1960s. Part of the villa is still under modern buildings and other villas are known to be nearby.

It is hard to take decent photographs in the villa because flashes are banned because of possible damage to the frescoes.

So as an amuse-bouche:

 

Part of the Triclinium

A fresco in Apollo’s Shrine and a detail from it.

A moulded and painted pelmet around the top of one of the room

Looking from a bedroom through an atrium with a plant growing in the atrium, a second style fresco of a plant on a wall of the atrium and a window beyond.

A niche in the caldarium and a detail of the fresco on the wall which shows Hercules in the Hesperides orchard (he had to kill a dragon and steal some apples).

 

A clever fresco of a glass vase

Around the peristyle were second and fourth style frescos. Above a second style bird and below some larger sections of a fourth style fresco

 

and some details from this fresco.

a bird	a dormouse or a frog

a grasshopper

a running goat

Around the villa are a few signs of everyday life such as

a wooden door also showing its hinges,

 

the kitchen,

and the toilet.

This really is a wonderful villa and although close to the Torre Annunziata Circumvesuvana Station, it does not seem to have many visitors because most go to Pompeii, some to Herculaneum and few to elsewhere.

There are numerous websites devoted to this villa including Google Sites, Wikipedia and The Oplontis Project.

Vesuvius

The task this morning is to climb Vesuvius, not from the bottom thank goodness but from the car park which is about 500 metres below the true summit.

Toilets in Italy are a variable matter and our Tour Manager Belinda seems to know the location and quality of every toilet in the area and so we stop off at a service station on the Autostrada on our way to Vesuvius to make use of the facilities. This also gives us a view of the volcano.

Looking at the photo above, the volcano car park is on the left hand side of the volcano somewhat below the flattish bit of the rim. You then walk up to and around the rim and if you hire a guide (around 75 euro per group), you can go up to the highest part of the rim.

Just below the summit is a long thin car park with a cafe and a certain amount of chaos. There used to be a cable car to the summit (well known through the song Funiculì, funiculà), but this fell out of use in 1944 after an eruption.

A booth sells tickets to proceed further for 8 euro (2011) and a

rather nice range of tacky souvenirs are available as you go through the entrance.

On the right as you walk up is a view of the 1944 lava flow (the last serious eruption).

The path wends it way uphill and is a very easy walk in normal shoes.

   

Although there is a view of Naples (as you go up) and Pompeii when you have got to the top, it is usually very hazy and good views are unlikely.

We picked up a tour guide to take us to the very top at the Guide Service Office but immediately I started to doubt his word because he seemed very evasive and kept saying it might or might not be possible to get to the top that day. However, not being an Italian speaker, I kept quiet and we went on.

He explained the shape of the volcano with a picture drawn on the path – essentially the left hand side blew off at some stage.

The crater is of a typical shape with not a lot happening at the moment (thank goodness). The picture above has the lower part of the rim on the right and the high part of the rim (refer to the picture at the top of this blog) over the rest of the picture. If you proceed to the top, you just walk further and go up onto the high part of the rim (sensible shoes essential).

 

Fumaroles are everywhere but you can only get to them by climbing over the fence (as our “guide” and we did).

After about 1 km, you get to a second office at 1167m above sea level and here general access stops. At this point our “guide” decided he could not go further (we suspect because he was receiving lots of interesting offers from people we had passed on the way up) – so we never got to the highest point on Vesuvius!

If you want to monitor Vesuvius activity from afar, click here which takes you to the volcano monitoring site and also where there is more information about the volcano.