 |
| These little devils were waiting for us at arrivals |
We had arranged a late check-out at the hotel and took our
time over breakfast before catching an Uber to the airport. We were still really early for our flight. Si had discovered that he had left his,
thankfully lower-value, pair of sunglasses on board the Europcar minibus so he
used the extra time to try to recover them but sadly we think someone in their
car cleaning team now owns a new pair of sunglasses!
We checked in and grabbed lunch before our flight at 3pm
which only took 55 minutes to reach Hobart, the capital of the island state of
Tasmania.
The guy on the City bus at arrivals didn’t do his company
any favours by telling us that for two it would probably be just as cheap and
faster to get a taxi to our hotel, so that’s what we did. We are staying at the
Ibis styles, a brand-new hotel that we got on a deal whilst they are enticing people
to stay there... check out the flashy pool....
We got
settled in before heading out for a walk down to the harbour.
Here’s something I don’t say too often (or never) – we were getting
into the cricket! It was the first day
of the 3rd test at Perth, (we are 2-0 down so far in this Ashes
series). Before we went out, the batting
pair were getting a good total on the first innings so we found a pub with
cheap food and a big screen to watch Malan get his first test century (left). After
a couple of drinks and stumps pulled in the cricket we headed back to the
relative luxury of our hotel room.
On Friday morning we took it easy. I went for a swim in the lovely pool whilst
Simon enjoyed the complimentary Wi-Fi. I
had to go and get some fresh air by early afternoon so I went for a walk around
the harbour whilst Simon did a mega Facebook update (if you’ve read them you’ll
know what I mean, they take him hours!).
 |
| This is the international Ferry terminal with a sculpture in the foreground called 'Heading South' which commemorates the link between Hobart, the Southern Ocean and Antarctica - the first expedition to Antarctica left this port in 1840 |
 |
| This is Matilda, one of the twelve oldest fishing/sailing vessels in the world and the best remaining example of double-ended fishing boats that were common around Tasmania until the late 1940s |
 |
| A very important judges box - 2 classic ocean races finish at Castray Esplanade - The Sydney to Hobart and the Melbourne to Hobart |
 |
| This glass sculpture commemorates the 628 nautical miles that the yachts have travelled to finish the Sydney - Hobart yacht race. |
 |
| This thing of beauty is owned by CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Laboratories and is fully kitted out with the latest technologies to head south into the Ice in the name off Science. I gatecrashed their Friday afternoon drinks to see if they needed any more hands on deck for their next trip... but sadly not. |
 |
| A small section of the Abel Tasman Fountain commemorating the Dutchman's discovery of this Island in November 1642 when he gave it the name of 'Anthony Van Diemen's Landt' in honour of the Governor General of Batavia before the naming honour was returned to Tasman in 1856 and Tasmania was born. |
Si eventually joined me down by the market bars for happy
hour.
I hope you've noticed how much culture I managed to soak up whilst alone for a few hours! We took a look at how the cricket was
going, but things were now going very wrong for England. So, instead we followed
our ears to watch some live music in the form of a funk band in a park.
 |
| This is 'Street Eats at Franko' - a lot in Oz is shortened to something-o, for example Freemantle is Freo and Franklin Square here, is Franko! |
This appears to be a regular weekly event
here, lovely to see lots of people of all ages enjoying themselves outdoors.
It was only 10pm when the band finished, so
we headed back to the same bar as last night for a couple of cheeky cocktails,
before the short stagger back to the hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment