18th November 2006.
We all awoke around 5am after hearing the dulcet tones of Poppy's snoring and lonely and amourous crickets all night. And after much fuss and flurry we had the car packed with the luggage and human cargo and headed off to Brisbane at about 5:50am.
We left the cat at Priortiy Parking, took the courtesy bus to the airport and after waiting for the etoll transponder that we had forgotten we checked in with little event and waited for the plane.
It should be mentioned at this point, that all of the above was achieved with Harrison and especiall Campbell's unbridled enthusiasm who sought every opportunity to get to the plane just a bit sooner.
Once on board the plane, things went as planned, we had a nice breakfast and Campbell (who doesn't like eggs), had sandwiches. All was good and the boys even got an invitation to check out the cockpit after the plane had landed. However, the boys discovered one of the great perils of a jetsetting lifestyle when their ears wouldn't repressurize on the descent. We did eventually get that sorted out and Campbell at least got a photo in the pilot's seat.
After a brief shakedown by the quarantine thugs, (it was only Mark who looked shady enough), we got all of our luggage out of the airport and into the taxi of a friendly European gentleman called Adam. He got us safely albeit at 10kmph under the speed limit to our temporary residence at Regent Park.
The accommodation is small but clean and has a lovely view overlooking the water. When we arrived there was some sort of yachting event happening. After unpacking and eating a few snacks we decided to set off for a nice Saturday afternoon drive up Mount Wellington.
This prompted the children to put on every piece of cold-weather clothing that they had! Beanies and gloves and jumpers and scarves! Antartica HERE WE COME!
We saw lots of pretty flowers along the side of the road, which Chris didn't get much of a chance to take a picture of. We drove through plenty of fog on the way, which obscured much of the view that this vantage had to offer. At the top it was quite cold, <10 degrees and very foggy. The kids were racing across the foggy landscape lucky to not injure their ankles with every footstep.
After not seeing much of a view and getting cold, we decided to head back down the mountain. On the way we checked out “South Hobart Playground”, which we drove past thinking it was just connected to the footy ground. Some locals however, confirmed that it was indeed the aforementioned playground. We didn't stop and drove on to sample more of Hobart's delights.
After that, we set out to constitution dock to find some fish and chips for dinner. After briefly investigating Mure's we eventually settled on Fish Frenzy which served yummy fish and chips in paper cones.
We then drove up and down Hobart's streets looking at the old houses. The conversations was puctuated regularly with the cry of “Would you just look at those beautiful roses Chrissie!” and counter-balanced with the cry of “Dad! Would you just slow down a bit!”. There were plenty of cute little houses with roses growing like weeds everywhere. Eventually we even found Arthur's circus which had lots of small houses but didn't look like it was in the neighbourhood of the resort of the beau monde.
We found coles, and purchased some shopping, headed home and after showers, it was not long until we all collapsed in bed.
