Wednesday 15 November
Hobart – Glenorchy – New Norfolk – Hamilton - Bothwell – Kempton
We woke refreshed, after a relaxing nights sleep. We watched morning tv until 830 when we finally rolled out of bed, had a shower and breakfast and then decided to get out for a walk around battery park.
We had another beautiful day ahead of us with the sun out and a gorgeous blue sky. We followed the road and then the street signs directing us to our destination. As we walked along the streets in the battery park area, we were reminded of the streets of Scotland, so many of the homes looked like the B n Bs we had stayed in. I feel like Hobart is more closely tied with the mother country than mainland oz, it certainly has kept its old world charm and feel.
We wandered aimlessly through the streets and park areas before finding Salamanca once again. Instead of walking the Salamanca eateries strip, we swapped to the other side of the strip to check out the water where a massive cruise liner was moored at one of the jetties.
We walked around Constitution Dock, past the replica of Mawson’s Antarctica Haven and up into the city centre. We did a quick pit stop at the tourist info centre and then through Franklin Square before making our way back to the apartment.
We read through the bits we had picked up and made a plan for how we would fill in the rest of the day before our big surprise visit and meet up with Paul’s cousin Marcello. We jumped into the car set the GPS for Glenorchy and made our way out of Hobart Central. Glenorchy is only a short drive and is really just one of the suburbs of outer Hobart.
We didn’t stop in Glenorchy, rather we used it as our first way stop to ensure we followed the Derwent River. Our first stop was the small town of New Norfolk, where we parked and wandered the main street before stopping at a bakery for lunch. Afterwards we continued our wander, enjoying a small park before returning to the car and continuing our journey.
Paul spied a sign for historic salmon ponds, so we decided that we would check them out. It cost us $8each to enter and then we were free to wander the manicured gardens, check out the ponds and the small buildings housing hatcheries and a museum to trout fishing.
We marvelled at the size of the different varieties of trout swimming around, they were massive! They also had short finned eels. However, the albino rainbow trout were the easiest to see, being a creamy white colour with a bright red stripe running their length.
After checking out the ponds, we returned to the car and drove towards Hamilton. The route took us through the small farming town of Bushy Park, where the prime crop was hops. There were so many vines and wooden structures with wires to train the creeper.
We continued to drive through the Derwent Valley, catching glimpses of the river as we drove along. The rolling, green hills stretching out all around us mostly covered with the dotted figures of sheep. We eventually made it to a sleepy town called Hamilton where we stopped briefly to take a look at the old colonial stone buildings, the majority of them being holiday homes with vacancy signs in their window.
After we completed a walk of the Main Street it was on to Bothwell, home to Australia’s oldest golf course. We stopped at the local pub for a drink and immediately had the locals stop and give us a once over look. We had our drink, checked in with Katie in regards to the state of play and timing for our surprise and the did a walk of the main street. Bothwell is a lot like Maclean in NSW with a Scottish heritage and the street signs have a tartan pattern. We checked out the old buildings, churches, graveyard and the info centre before returning to the car and heading to our planned surprise destination, Kempton.
We arrived at 330pm and set up in the small pub where we could watch the road for the white Camry carrying our friends. We downed a drink while waiting, saw the car pass and then received the text to let us know that were in the Redland Distillery.
We drove down the main road, parked next to their car and then entered the cellar door. I had the video running for the surprise meeting, as Paul walked in and Chell turned around to see us. It couldn’t have worked any better, with Chell being completely blindsided by our appearance.
After all of the hugs, expletives and tears, Damon and Paul enjoyed a couple of tastings, while we caught up and then it was time to jump in the cars and return to Hobart.
The rain that had been predicted could be seen coming down thick and fast in the direction of Hobart and sure enough, it wasn’t long before we had to have the wipers going and we were joining the throng of commuters returning home.
We stopped in at our apartment to drop off the car and a few of our things, grabbed our rain coats and umbrella and walked up to Damon and Katie’s apartment. They were busy settling in, when we finally turned up on the doorstep.
We made our self at home, checking out the great 2 bedroom home and continuing to chat. With the rain holding off, we all walked into the city to find the Woollies and pick up things for dinner. Much of the city centre was shutting up, as it was already 6pm.
We returned to the Cityscape apartment, poured drinks, worked out how to get the oven to turn on and then I sat chatting Chell, as the boys sorted dinner. It was so great to finally have this day here.
When dinner was cooked, we sat around the dining table eating and then at 730pm, the tv was tuned to the Socceroos World Cup qualifying game against Honduras and we all settled into the couch to watch the fate of the team.
The Socceroos had plenty of the ball and chances in the first half, but nothing went in. However, the second term proved to be their time to shine, slotting away 3 goals and securing their ticket to Russia for next year.
We took the end of the broadcast as our signal to make tracks back to our apartment, donning the coats, saying goodbye and then walking the streets. Thankfully the rain had stopped and we returned home warm and dry.
We made our way to the fourth floor, entered the room and shortly after we were falling in to bed at 11pm after a great day.
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