A Different Port Arthur

Jack wanted to try watching Jeopardy tonight.  So we did that. They had two Australia-related questions, and then a question that was not really Australian.  But it sounded Australian enough to confuse me.

One of the questions...well, answers really....was in a category labeled poisonous.  That dealt with the infamous blue-ringed octopus.  The other question was in a Broadway/Hollywood category.  The answer there was Hugh Jackman. In my head, I wanted to call out Hugo Weaving's name, but it wouldn't come to me.  I accidentally said Hugh Jackman instead. My mistake was right. I should have known it would be that anyway. Jackman IS a musical guy.

Has Hugo Weaving ever been in a Broadway play? I just googled Hugo Weaving and Broadway. I'm not getting any quick and easy answers.

I'm too lazy to dig deep.

There was a category about war, and The Siege of Port Arthur was mentioned.

This is where I was confused. Not that I'm an expect on Australian history, but I was pretty sure I've never heard of Port Arthur being seized in a war. I figured it might be another Port Arthur. 

I figured right.

This Port Arthur was in China. Now they call the place Lushon City.  

Lord Wiki says there's also a Port Arthur in Texas. Did I know that?

I don't remember knowing it.

Google Maps says it would take us about six hours to drive there.

It looks like it's on the coast. I wonder if it's nice.

Well, Lord Wiki says it has a bad air pollution problem. That's not good.

Still. We should go to south Texas sometime.  It might be prettier than the northern part.

As for the Australian Port Arthur.....

It's not the first time I thought of it today.

One of my new email-pals mentioned it, and it got me thinking about how I want to go there.

I'm feeling all torn again.

And Jack was giving me a hard time about Perth this morning. Suddenly, he starts asking to go to Perth.  It was all kind of random, and I didn't know why he needed to go there. I tried to sell him on the idea of Victoria and South Australia.  We used Street View on Google Maps, which isn't always wise.  Sometimes you end up landing on not-so-pretty streets.  The Melbourne street I randomly showed Jack was lovely.  It reminded us of London. The Adelaide place we landed on didn't look any more exciting than Fort Worth.  I decided to search for a place I had actually heard of before, so I plugged in Central Market. That looked fairly nice.

I told Jack we're going to go to the Northern Territory in 2015.  He wasn't keen on that idea, because of the crocodile issue. I used Street View to show him a street there.

Look? See? No crocodiles!

Jack then asked.  What does that sign say?  We couldn't get a clear view.

My answer: Beware of Crocodiles.  

We both laughed.

And he later told me he was just joking about the Perth thing.

We don't need to go to Perth.

Oh!  But what if my spirit guides were talking through him? What if it's a case where random is not really random.

Shit.

We probably need to go to Perth.

I don't really want to, though. Not yet.  It's not calling to me....besides maybe my spirit guides speak through Jack.

I am wanting to go to Port Arthur.  I feel that place tugging at my heart.

We did not write that into the plans for 2012.  Well, we did, but then we erased it.  

When will we make it to Queensland?  When will we see the rest of New South Wales?

Then I have another email-pal who's trying to brainwash me into loving New Zealand. I DO want to go to New Zealand. But when is there time to do all this?

There's not.

So I'm going to have to pick and choose.

I told Jack that if he really wants to go to Perth, he can give up a Disney trip one year. We can use our Disney Vacation Club for Perth. That's when he lost interest and said he had been only joking. 

Sometimes I don't want to return to Australia, just because it's too damn hard to decide where to go.   It's like when I see a fabulous chocolate shop with all these choices. It seems wonderful, but then it's too hard to choose, and I end up just wanting nothing.  What's the point?

I sound really spoiled. I know.

But sometimes I like being vegetarian just for the fact that at many restaurants there's only one or two things on the menu for me.  It's less stressful for me that way.

Anyway, maybe I should put Australia names in a hat, and randomly choose the places.

Right now I'm thinking of either Sydney-Melbourne-then driving trip to Port Augusta and back to Melbourne.

OR

Sydney-Melbourne-Tasmania.

The first is probably better because we'll get to see smaller towns, and stuff.  Plus, that way we can say we've been to four Australia states (+1 territory)