BURNIE, Tasmania -- Continuing the effort to get you up to date ...

Thursday I made the two-hour drive from Coles Bay to Hobart, Tasmania's largest city, and that turned out to a day of taking care of things, more than sightseeing.

First, I had to deal with my computer issues. While downloading my Coles Bay photos into the laptop -- which wasn't recharging, you'll recall, although it showed it had several hours of battery life left -- the battery indicator suddenly went to zero, discontinuing the download and sending the computer into sleep mode. (I couldn't even wake it up to turn it off.) Before leaving Coles Bay, I pulled the names of three Apple dealers or service locations from the Hobart phone book (there was one in a telephone booth there), and went to the first one I could find. First, they removed the battery to turn the computer off (why didn't I think of that?) Then, we determined it was, in fact, the charger for the computer that had gone kaput. (Thank goodness it made it through the Olympics.) I now have a new charger (for A$107), and a functioning laptop.
After that, it was laundry time. As expected, they have real washers and dryers here. Of course, you pay for the privilege; it cost me $15 to wash and dry two large loads. (Of course, I may not have been at the most economical location, a combination Laundromat and café in Hobart's trendy Salamanaca Place, but it was a much nicer place to hang out for a while.)
Salamanica Place is a collection of old buildings near the waterfront, continuing a variety of shops and restaurants. It's a pretty cool place.

In general, Australia is expensive as hell. I filled up the rental car in Hobart for the first time, and it cost A$ 69.50 for 43.74 liters. (That's 11.55 gallons, making it A$ 6.02 a gallon; an Australian dollar is, at this moment, worth about 86 U.S. cents, so we're talking roughly $5.12 a gallon.) A $30 meal is pretty standard; heck, tonight in Burnie, I spent $11.95 for a foot-long Subway sandwich, drink and cookies. (It was all that was nearby, and I was tired.)
Anyway, it wasn't the most exciting day, but the computer works and my clothes are clean, and sometimes, that's enough.