Souveniers

First a note about my pictures - It took me over 3 hours to upload all my photos to Facebook and organize them into albums, put them in chronological order and label them all with the related stories. It was a frustrating, painstakingly long process and I just can't stomach the thought of making a separate slide show just for the blog. SOOOO, for those of you who are NOT on Facebook, I discovered that I can give a link to those albums that you can access directly. You do NOT have to be a member of Facebook to view them (as I understand it). So, please see the photos, in order, here, here and here. I had to split them into three albums due to the number. It doesn't take that long to view them all though, I promise...

Here are the souveniers that we brought home from our trip. From the top left, clockwise:
1. wooden coasters made from 4 different woods that are typical to Tasmania
2. a novel, the cover of which was designed by our friend Nick (graphic designer) and written by their friend who we met at the Salamanca market and autographed it for us. It is about a musician who moves back home to Hobart (Tas) from NYC after a nervous breakdown. In my opinion, this is the BEST kind of souvenier!
3. wine from the Hunter Valley trip. We managed to bring two bottles home with us. It would have been a shame (and a bit embarrassing not to purchase at a tasting) not to bring some home to share with friends.
4. a commemorative Sydeny spoon for T
5. scenic calendars of Australia (one is actually full of aboriginal artwork for a friend who was particularly interested in knowing more about their history)
6. a sweater bought at the mall on sale since they are going into summer weather there. :o)
7. multiple postcards we intended to mail home but didn't manage to do so.
8. money (see below)
9. dishtowels with cute drawings of animals unique to Australia.

I've realized with chagrin that we didn't buy enough gifts... Oh well, hopefully people will understand. There's only so much room in a suitcase.

Here's a close up of Australian money. I collect money from any country that I travel to. I especially like the coins, but I try to get a few small bills as well. I'm very sad that I didn't make it to Europe before the Euro went in. You probably can't tell, but if you look closely at the pink bill, you might be able to tell that there is an emblem that is see-through. The bills have a plastic core to them. The small gold coin is a $2 coin. There is no $1 bill. Also, there are no pennies. All prices are rounded up to the nearest 5 cents. I think our money is so boring compared to other countries!