We had originally planned to head up to Ballarat on Sunday to go to Sovereign Hill and hopefully catch up with Steph. But Bill needed a decent rest day having only just got over his jetlag and we were all somewhat weary after our fleeting visit to Tasmania.. So instead, mum and I saw this as the perfect chance to have some time together so we left at 8am for our old routine of going to the Flemington Market to look at the crafts, get an egg and bacon roll and cross things off our lists! Confession – I also needed a new pair of moccasins and I love the ones from Flemington.

The crowd was a lot more wandering-friendly that at Salamanca market.

We bought back Passionfruit Sponge for afternoon tea and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

That night, Bill and I headed out with Nadine and Chris to Taco Bill. Taco Bill is an old haunt of ours and of course, Bill needed to see a Taco Bill instead of Taco Bell. The Taco Bill we go to is a really really good one (for as good as Aussie Mexican can be!) especially compared to the one in the CBD! So we had a lovely time catching up over their super sweet pineapple margaritas and piping hot nachos!

Here is Bill out the front of his namesake restaurant –

Nadine and I –

Flying back from Hobart, we got home at around 4pm. I had a couple of hours to relax before getting in my footy clothes and heading to the G for Collingwood Vs Hawthorn. To say I was jumping out of my skin would be an understatement. I left Bill at home with mum and dad while I went off to do my thing. I was waiting down at the station for my train and it was surreal – going to the footy just like I had never left! I was on a packed carriage with people listening to the pre-game broadcast on their radios and talking rubbish. It was heaven!

When I got to my seat, it was like nothing had changed. My seat was still there. Sandra was sitting beside me. All the usual suspects were sitting in front, behind and to the side. Even the pre-match music was the same. It was beautiful to smell the hot chips, the pies and the old beer. Just perfect!

Here are some photos from my seat –

Nothing better than this –

At half time I caught up with Caz who I hadn’t seen for a couple of years. We used to go to the Cricketers Arms pre and post match and I remember the time when we were both studying and we met up to watch the guys train with our dogs at Vic Park. She is now married to Foxy (a fellow Pies faithful!) and expecting and he will be born before the finals! Hopefully he’ll bring us some September luck. Here we are at half time –

I love THIS all SO MUCH. The siren went. We won convincingly and just like old times I was walking through the MCG carpark in the dark, dodging footballs to make my way to the train. I made my way to the end of the platform to get to the last carriage (where I always go because you ALWAYS get a seat after the game if you go to the last carriage) and I was on my way home. It was like I had never left. GO PIES!

If you remember back, we didn’t arrive into Hobart until late Friday night. We were staying on a rural property so we had no idea what the surrounds even looked like. On Saturday morning we awoke to the most amazing sight – we were surrounded by beautiful farmland on a beautiful homestead and it was wonderful wandering around and taking in the sights of this once working farm in the early morning sunlight. The cottage we were in was once the farm managers cottage and we even had the old original windows to look out from – it had been restored so well!

We had a feast for breakfast that the owners left in the fridge for us and before we knew it we were all checked out and ready to head back into Hobart for the Salamanca Market.

The market was awesome – but expensive. If some of the stall owners were to drop their prices a tad I am sure they would make a lot more sales. There were a lot people looking but not many buying.

We all split up and decided to meet back at the car at 12 – enough time to take a quick drive around and then head back to the airport.

I managed to see the whole market and I wanted something nice to take back with me but again, it was all very overpriced. At the top of the hill I came across a jewelry stand where it wasn’t that expensive and the pieces were lovely. I didn’t want to buy the necklace that I saw until I saw all the other vendors. In walking back down the hill I bumped into mum and we both basically said the same thing at the same time.. “There is the nicest jewelry on the top of the hill and I found the best necklace” You guessed it – same place, same necklace. We went back up and I got that one – just as another lady was looking at it! Sally recommended we make a purchase from the Federation Chocolate stall and I definitely trust Sally’s chocolate recommendations – she knows her stuff! We bought some big freckles and rocky road we were not disappointed!

Check out the second hand Tupperware stall – so very very dangerous I just had to turn away and not go back in that direction!

We had another drive around some of the scenic parts of Hobart and then made our way to the airport – our whirlwind trip around Tassie was at its end! Here is Bill about the board the plane… I got a tsk tsk from a security guard for taking this.. pfft! Bill was absolutely horrified at the shorts the guy in front of us was wearing. His New England sensibilities really come out at times…!

I have decided to get back to our Australian trip blog posts because otherwise it will be Christmas before I get them done.

We last left the trip in Launceston after a very very full day flying from Melbourne and seeing the sights.

We woke up and left Ashton Gate early in the morning for our drive to Southern Tasmania. We had to be at Port Arthur by 1.30 to start our eco cruise with Tasman Island Cruises and wanted to stop for lunch along the way so we decided to take it easy on the way there.

We stopped in Ross for what was meant to be 5 minutes but it ended up being closer to an hour. I found the town I could live FOREVER. It was just beautiful! Dad was on the phone for work so mum and I started walking and before we knew it, we had walked to the other end of town. It was so quiet so we thought dad and Bill would’ve come looking for us. But they didn’t.. and we couldn’t get through because Dad was still gossiping to Dave on the phone. Ummm… problem. Mum and I ended up at the Ross Bridge just waiting for the guys to realize we were uh.. missing?

Here are some photos from Ross –

The Ross Bridge which was constructed by convict labour and is the third oldest bridge still in use in Australia.

Great little town o’ Ross –

Before long, dad and Bill came up to meet us and we quickly set out on our way to Port Arthur. We were now way behind schedule so we raced to get there – no time to stop for lunch or anything. We were also reminded of how much of a hurry we were in when a month later a speeding fine arrived in the mail for dad. Ouch!

Believe it or not, we made it to Port Arthur with time to spare. We checked in and then headed to the general store next door for some lunch. It consisted of my favourite Aussie fare – a bain marie full of fried goodness! Potato cakes, chiko rolls, dim sims… I was set. There was a battered hamburger and I told Bill to try it, even though I had never eaten one. With a packet of chips, a chocolate milk and all this healthy food, we gobbled down lunch sitting beside a petrol pump waiting for the bus to pick us all up to head to the boat.

Oh yum yum yum. Chiko Roll = Best Meal EVER!

Of course, eating that kind of food before heading out to rough rough seas would never be a good idea – but we were starving and that was all the general store had. Really!

We were on the boat and the crew were fantastic. They told us that up the front would be the roughest… so where did dad and Bill go? Straight up the front! Argh! Mum and I were behind them, gritting our teeth. Bonus of this position was that our view was of the ocean before us. We were all given ginger tablets to help remedy any sea sickness and we set out. Fast. Out into the ocean. It was amazing.

Now we seriously took hundreds of photos and have lots of video but I cannot describe what we saw – it was so natural, beautiful and unspoiled. Birds were feeding off the water, seals were sleeping on rocks and we were quietly moving through their habitats. The rockface along this area of coastline is like nothing I have ever seen. Mum and I were still hanging on for dear life for most of the trip when the guide let us know there are about ten days a year where the water is just wonderful and smooth and this was one of them. SMOOTH!?!?!? Arghhhh! Seriously – I have a new appreciation for all those sailors that sail around the world… it is insane what they must go through. Here are some photos from on the water –

The last 45 minutes were insane – the waves would have been about 6ft and we were on top of them and then smashing back down. It was absolutely exhausting. The wind was brutal and hanging on and trying to not imagine myself getting thrown out of the boat and floating to Antarctica was extremely difficult. In all of this, it was still amazing to be where we were. It was also at this time I was beginning to regret eating the chiko roll, potato cakes and cornjack for lunch. Even WORSE was the hamburger smell that was coming from Bill’s direction. POOR BILL – that awful hamburger had been repeating on him the WHOLE TIME. It was cracking mum and I up and this continued for the next few hours. Every so often I’d say “Well there is Bill’s hamburger again!” and I’d get a grimacing look from Burpy Bill.

The whole eco cruise experience was one of the best travel experiences I have ever had. For Bill, it was the highlight of his time in Australia. Tasman Island Cruises are really good – and I recommend them if you are ever heading to Tassie. Just skip the batter fried hamburger beforehand.

When we docked, they gave us all a Tim Tam each which was much appreciated! We were weary and we now had the drive back to Hobart to find our accommodation and we had dinner booked. I would’ve been happy to sleep in the car at the petrol station but dad was a real trooper driving back into Hobart and with us all screaming about the best way to get to the accommodation it was a real Griswold experience.

We checked in to the private home we were staying and then headed in to Hobart for dinner at one of THE places in Hobart, Da Angelo’s in Battery Point. I could live in that area VERY easily. Dinner was great considering how tired we were – it was a noisy place and every table was full until late. We were all so tired we scoffed down our dinner and quickly got up to leave. The manager actually came to the front of the restaurant to find us thinking there was something wrong with our meal! We ended up chatting about our amazing day and why we were so tired – I would have have liked to say that it was the overload of Carlton memorabilia around the restaurant that made us want to leave instead.

We drove back to our cottage and just collapsed into bed – another busy travel day lay ahead of us on Saturday and Tasmania had not disappointed us one bit!