Day 291: A Day with Old Friends in Hobart, Tasmania!
Back when we were in South Africa in April, my Vanderbilt friend Luke Crowley (Cape Town resident) suggested I reach out to college friend Beth in Australia. Beth and I had studied abroad together in Aix-en-Provence and did a ton of traveling around Europe. We’ve since fallen out of touch, especially when I did my no-Instagram few years. I’d forgotten she’d moved to Australia and was glad Luke reminded me.
That same night I shot her a note out of the blue letting her know about our trip etc. Fast forward to today, when she, her husband and their two kids are in Tasmania on vacation to meet up with us!
Funny enough, Beth isn’t the only one who’s gone out of the way to meet us here. Teddy’s high school classmate and GameChanger employee Phil Sarin — on vacation in Australia — made a two-day detour to come see us here as well.
Really don’t think I would have predicted Tasmania being the place for dear-old-friend meetups, and I’ve certainly never imagined a scenario where Beth Gerdes, Teddy Sullivan, Phil Sarin and Margaret Bensfield were hanging out together on a faraway island. Whuuuut is happening.
Ha!
Beth has…quite a story, btw. She was a school psychiatrist, but then at 28 she started competing in triathlons seriously, and soon went pro. She ultimately became an elite professional triathlete, winning Ironmans, etc.
A far cry from the days of drinking beers at 1-star Euro hostel pubs back in 1999.
Her husband Luke is a famous Australian elite triathlon competitor himself, and has traveled and competed all over the world. Eight-time Ironman winner, holds the record for fastest Ironman on Australian soil, etc.
Today they live in Noosa and, as they wind down their racing careers, have launched two apparel brands for their market — Wyn Republic and Malo Republic. They have two adorable girls, Wynne (5) and Marlo (2).
After breakfast, Teddy peeled off to meet up with Phil for coffee and the kids and I met Beth and crew at their apartment a block away. So fun to see her after almost 20 years!
We all drove in their minivan — with their Danish au pair Annemarie — to a museum we’d heard a lot about: MONA aka Museum of Old and New Art.
MONA is a crazy unusual contemporary underground (literally) museum that definitely required us to Google what the hell we were looking at. Joanna would have been in heaven here (Buff, go!).
There were free iPhone guides for all the pieces, including augmented reality etc (which we later learned were part of the exhibit – lesson: “we’re all idiots for giving up our data so easily!”).
Phil and Teddy met up with us there.
At lunchtime caravanned to the Stefano Lubiano winery about 20 minutes away. It’s a wine Luke likes and they told us by phone that they had outdoor space for the kids to play while we ate.
It did not disappoint. We were among the only people there (a random Wednesday in October) and sat under a patio trellis while the kids romped on a big adjacent lawn, jumping on giant beanbags and building a fort. For hours.
We enjoyed an awesome meal and great wine and tons of catching up. We had a lot of questions for Beth and Luke — so fun to hear about the racing world, the differences between Australia and the US, etc. Phil’s run 11 marathons so he was right there in the conversation.
Side note: Beth totally has an Australian twang now. About the same as Luke Crowley’s South African twnag. Not so much an accent, but funny intonations and a few “off” words. Makes me wonder if our British buddies in NYC sound weird to their friends back in the UK by now.
After lunch Beth and crew went back to their apartment for kid naps while the rest of us (our fam and Phil) wandered around the Hobart harbor. It really does feel so familiar here. Like Boston?
Teddy and Phil continued their marathon conversation (they walked into the museum this morning talking and never seemed to break stride — they were still at it as we wandered. Sign of a good, old friend!). I got Willa a locally made wool hat and a cool candle for myself.
By 6 pm we were all headed over to Luke and Beth’s rented apartment, a block from us. They had invited us for a bbq at their place, all apologetic because their two-year-old is too difficult in restaurants — “We’re soooo sorry we couldn’t all go to a restaurant blah blah.” We had to let them know loud and clear that our strong preference was a homecooked meal.
And they rolled it out for us (when they must have been so tired and worn down from lunch). Cheese plate and crudites and hummus and dozens of awesome fresh local oysters, then Luke grilled salmon and steak and there were salad, potatoes, etc. Lots of great wine. And dessert!
Little Wynne, who’s six days older than James, was completely obsessed with Willa — they had a ball playing together. Once again James was kind of odd man out and tried awkwardly to force his way into the fun (kung fu kicks a little too close to the coloring, etc. Ugggggh).
We had a great time chatting about everything from Australian slang (a “bogen” is a redneck) to trans women in competitive racing (“no one in racing wants to take a side on that one”) to the value of a college degree (irrelevant in 2019) to how many bikes Beth and Luke have (five each at least — valued at $5-10k a pop).
Beth also talked about chauvinism in Australia and we were like, Yeah, we’ve been here 10 days and get it. She said she was grateful for Luke, raised by very traditionally gender-roled Australian parents, for being so 50/50 with her when it came to parenting.
We’d totally noticed their equal partnership — he was right there with Beth doing all the kid wrangling, the cleanup, the grilling. It was awesome. Such a funny, kind, cool guy.
We finally got the kids packed up and outta there by 9 pm. Tomorrow: a final hang at a wildlife sanctuary!
MISC:
Phil mentioned that he felt that, more than any other place he’s traveled, Australia and New Zealand have felt like the US. Can’t disagree. More so than England or South Africa. Australia is just new and big and casual. I guess it’s kind of like Canada — where everything is alllllmost the same as home but there’s something off-brand about it. You know?
