Mon, 26th Jan, 2015 Sorell RV Stop (Australia Day with Mum & Dad, Joc & John)

Windy night gently rocking the van. 16 degrees this morning though Steve said it was 13 when he got up at 3am. Back into Hobart to hang out with Mum and Dad and Jocelyn & John again. Lovely to just be with them and not having to run around sightseeing.

Across the road to Mures again for a lovely lunch. All the fish etc were on display to purchase as well. The Tuna our old street was named after.

Some trout.

Southern Rock Lobster is $125.90 per kilo.

John & Joc headed off on the Hop On Hop Off bus to tour around town and stop at the Botanical Gardens for a wander. We stopped at the icecream shop!!!  Mum and Dad headed back to the hotel so we went to check out some restaurants for dinner.

This memorial was unveiled by the Queen on 20^th Feb 1954.

The bronze markers on the ground marking the two edges of the canal across to Hunter Island and the edge of Hunter Island.

And where Hunter Island edge continues on to the water’s edge now.

The Drunken Admiral is closed tonight so decided on the chinese restaurant.

Back to the hotel to see how the tennis is going. Too much for some - Rest time!!! While I worked on the blog.  Steve even nodded off for a bit!!

The old man and his girls were back again selling their cherries and apricots so I zoomed in on them – very old worldly.

We headed off to get some wine from the bottle shop as the chinese restaurant is BYO. As we were early we wandered past the jewellery shop again. He had some Killiecrankie Diamonds etc on display with some washings from some rivers in the North East of Tassie.

Behind the shop in the carpark Steve spotted these boats near the car park spots for a tourist company – mightn’t be a good transport company!!!

All the buildings are old sandstones – some spares ones on display.

Peered in the window of a Marine Antiques shop – some interesting items on display.

A look in the window of the Drunken Admiral.

We ordered a few dishes and shared them. Lovely meal. It has been wonderful to spend time with Mum, Dad, John and Jocelyn again. Said goodbye to John and Jocelyn – will see them again when we head back to Melbourne.

When we got back to the room we saw the Dawn Princess has docked.

There was a movie playing on the big screen at the top.

Had a cuppa then said our goodbyes – a few tears of course.

Sun, 25th Jan, 2015 Sorell RV Stop (Hobart with Mum & Dad)

Rain this morning but the sun trying to shine through. Headed into Hobart to relax with Mum and Dad.

As we were descending off the bridge there was a pile up of cars. We couldn’t see anything and followed on then realised we were driving over a crash site covered in glass etc. Further around the corner were 3 police cars and the crashed car. The police were just putting out some witches hats but instead of on the straight where the crash was so everyone can see to merge they have them on the blind corner!!! Really where is the common sense!!

Up to their room as it is too chilly outside to wander about so relaxed in the lounge watching TV.  Enthralled about a show about the cane toad – really!!!

Waiting for the tennis to start so I made the most of working on my blog. Clouds pass by, lovely having a big window to look out over the harbour and watch the world go by.

Quiet day just relaxing and enjoying the tennis. Nice lunch downstairs in the café. Steve, John, Joc and Dad went off to the National Museum and Art Gallery, which they all enjoyed, even Steve.

Had a cuppa then Steve and I went over to Mures for another ice cream – definitely no sweets for a month after this!! An old guy and two ladies dressed in olden day clothes were selling apricots and cherries for $8/k. I got a few apricots as we are still eating the cherries from Huon. The wind was cold but the sun was warming and then it started to spit on us. Mum and Dad then headed down and bought some more cherries and apricots.

Beautiful rainbow over the Derwent River.

Off to dinner downstairs as it is too cool to go out anywhere.

Back to the van to bed.

Sat, 24th Jan, 2015 Sorell RV Stop (Hobart with Mum & Dad)

Windy morning – out in the open here so no trees to protect us from the wind over the Pitt Water area. 22 degrees as we head into Hobart again. Sorell was established in 1821.

Parked the truck at the Cenotaph car park and walked down to hotel. Cuppa and chatting with Mum and Dad in their room. Such a great location to just sit and watch the world go by. Interesting articles in the Tasmanian 40degree South magazine. The Tassie snakes – the one we saw was the Tiger snake so lucky we didn’t have to deal with him.

The little one I saw off the boardwalk was the White Lipped Snake.

Another nasty one is the Copperhead.

A very funny article “State of the Republic”.

Information about the Lighthouse, “Iron Pot” known as the Derwent Light. Looks like an interesting book.

The cray boats are in a dock area that has a bridge across the entrance. Gates close off the road and then the road swings open allowing the boats to enter.

The sea plane just landed – is a very busy business.

Looking over the old warehouses.

Wandered across the road to check out the café at the Blu Edge but it was closed. At the corner was more information about this area, Hunter Street.

Fascinating, great map.

We were walking on the causeway laid down in 1820 so they could get to Hunter Island where they would land their boats back in the old days.

These bronze markers go across the concrete marking the area of the causeway and where Hunter Island would have been (under and around the warehouses).

Great Fire of 1890.

Wandered past the Drunken Admiral, might have dinner there one night.

Shades Row which runs down beside the Drunken Admiral (now an Art Gallery, jewellery stores etc).

John was checking out the beautiful pearls and noticed the sign. “Lay-by now for next Christmas – we accept shekels, ducats, krugerrands, widow’s mites, gold moidores, pieces of eight etc, in fact, anything of value (almost). Please come in – always ready to discuss the passing of money across the counter (and a few other subjects as well).”

Went down to the IXL building and into the Jam Jar Café and out to the atrium at the back between all the old warehouses. Was quite warm under the glass roof compared to the cool air out the front.

How it used to look.

My most wonderful parents. 

And fabulous Uncle John and Aunt Jocelyn (Dad's sister) from Mt Eliza. They had looked after us so well when we stayed on their footpath before coming to Tassie.

I had a Cascades Lemon Lime & Bitters.

Dad had a Boag’s Beer.

Nice water feature.

After a lovely lunch we wandered into a gallery to check out the lovely timber carvings. This Huon Pine bowl, $800. There was a lovely table for $7000 and on it stood a carved Trout for $5000 – hard to know which one to get.

Oh wait, let’s get the Huon Pine veneer set of drawers for $11,000.

The bronze Tassie Tiger that we saw at the Casino was there too – worth $17,000.

The others wandered back for a rest so we headed off for a walk. Found some more info boards about the merchants in this area.

Lots about Henry Jones and his IXL Jam Factory.

Fisherman’s Dock.

Another one about Hunter Island.

Steve wanted to check out the turntable area where the cray boats go in as it looked straight but there is a curve in it.

Back to the room and Dad had his old maps out.  It shows Coal Bluff which would be the spot we walked out onto as we went down to the beach at South Cape Bay. Thought it looked like coal.

John was telling us about a trip they did 10 or so years ago where they flew down to Melaleuca then to Port Davey on the South West edge of the National Park. Sounds a better way than 8 day’s hiking. He got a brochure - $1950 for 3 days/2nights, maybe one day.

A beautiful tall ship coming back into port.

In the magazine there was an article on a basejumper, jumping off the top of one of the Organ Pipes below Mt Wellington. Amazing photos.

Another article about Killiecrankie Diamonds that we were going to look for at Flinders Island.

Steve walked back up to the truck and moved it to the carpark next door as there are no parking fees after 5pm.

We all walked across the road to Mures to meet Cathy and her daughter, Darcie there for dinner. Cathy is the daughter of Dad and Jocelyn’s cousin, Graham Arnold. We had stayed with Cathy in Mount Tamborine. Had a great night chatting and catching up.

Back to the hotel for a cuppa then we headed back to Sorell.