Exploring Hobart

There was lots of excitement... as the "Sprit of Tasmania" came into view in Port Melbourne on Tuesday night the 6th of March.
We were off to Tasmania, at last!!! It took a few queues and security checks... before we were finally on the boat with the big rig.
Once we were parked and upstairs on the ship... we found our cabins (two 4 berth cabins side-by-side) and went to explore the boat.
It was drinks all round (non alcoholic for the kids of course) in the bar... and then the kids found the arcade room and they were off.
We dragged them back for dinner, which was a smorgasboard, and then they left us again to watch a movie in the cinema called Dolphin Tales.
It must have been a great movie... because Richard and I went in a few times to check up on them and they were in a trance.
As soon as the movie finished, we went to bed, knowing we had an early start the next day, and a big drive south from Davenport to Hobart.

Spirit of Tasmania

Driving onto the ferry

On the ferry, relaxing

Goodbye Melbourne

The kids with their Bass Strait Certificates, signed by the Captain

Harry & Nina in their bunks on the ferry

The 7th of March and after a sleepless night... and thoughts of dodgy Italian cruise-ship captains bouncing through my head... a  voice came over the load speaker to wake us up... so we were "up and adam" and down in the car before long.

After cleaning the fridge out in the caravan of all fruit and veg and handing the bag over to customs officers.... we were free to leave.
We headed straight for Hobart.... stopping for a coffee along the way... Richard was as tired as me but it was no use passing the driving onto me, so a few strong coffees later and 3 hours down the road we were in Hobart.... passing through a town called Perth along the way.

Welcome to Perth, Tasmania

The whole countryside is just beautiful, rolling hills and mountains in the distance.... the temperature a chilly 7 degrees on arrival - our thermals will definately come in handy!!!

After setting up the caravan, we headed into Hobart with our bags to stay in a Motel for a couple of nights while Richard has TWO days of business meetings.
Hotel Lenna is a beautiful boutique motel and a minute away from the famous Salamanca Markets.
Dinner was at a little Italian restaurant around the corner and it was an early night for all of us after an exhausting day of travelling.

Tasman Bridge, leading into Hobart

Thursday the kids and I explored the city of Hobart, doing some shopping along the way.

The kids in a fairy shop, Salamanca Street

 Before we knew it Richard's meeting was over and we were out to dinner at the restaurant attached to Hobart's famous Museum of Old and New Arts or MONA.

We got there a little too late to see the museum but some of the people we were with arrived earlier, and had plenty to say about what they saw... the desired result for any artist.... Richard and I will definitely go back to check in out in the next few days.

The kids stayed at the hotel with a babysitter recommended by the hotel, I was nervous about leaving them with a complete stranger, but she was lovely and none of the kids had anything bad to say... so all was well.

Friday morning the 9th of March, Richard was back in meetings and we had to check out of the hotel and head back to the caravan park.... so after a quick brekky in the hotel and heading into the city to collect my computer which has been with some computer geeks being sorted for a few days (hence why no blog for a while) we were back in the caravan park.

Richard with Scott Parker and Greg Ambrose-Pierce

We went back in to Hobart to meet Richard's business associates for dinner, this time the kids came with us...everyone was very impressed with their behaviour (obviously our continuous pep talks are working)