Day 7 - Hobart

Cookie says...
There was a bit of driving today. We made it to Richmond followed by Mim and Mikey. They had an amazing time in the maze (we had conqured it in their absence) while we checked out the model village of Old Hobart Town.

It's not LEGO® but the model village was very, very good

There's also a historical prison here which most of us scoped out and afterwards we had another bakery lunch.

Mikey was busting... again...

We continued on our way again and Mim found a few detours to check out. Mim was over the moon about some tesselated pavement (oh what a highlight - she even bought a postcard) and we checked out a blowhole, Tasman Arch and Devils Kitchen. Back in the cars and next stop, Port Arthur.

Mim's trip highlight shifted from wombats to this tesselated pavement

For dinner we had to eat at the information centre as nothing was open and oddly enough, it was probably one of the best meals we we've eaten so far. Our ghost tour started and it was great, Mikey didn't come though, he was either too scared or too addicted to X Construction on Bec's phone. Definately one of the highlights of the trip although we didn't experience anything ghostly and Julie didn't approve of my ghostly humour.

Bec was really getting into the local tunes

Maybe we might have some ghosts keeping us up tonight?

Day 6 - Hobart

Cookie says...
Even though as far as I'm concerned everyday is Holiday, the rest of the world decided it was Saturday and this meant the Salamanca Markets were on. After probably the best cooked breaky I've had ever had, we joined the masses. I'm not usually a big fan of markets but these were quite big and pretty good. Mim and Mikey had a couple they wanted to meet up with and Bec and Luke joined us too.

Behind the scenes at the Salamanca Markets

After the markets we strolled around town trying to find something to do. Oddly enough, Luke ended in an EB Games while Bec had her rings cleaned because there was nothing to do. We strolled some more, had lunch, found Mim and Mikey and headed for the Shot Tower. It was an interesting building which was built for the production of shot rounds and Mim managed to correctly count the number of steps allowing her to be presented with a certificate.

The view from the tower - 360° view

Next was Mt Wellington. It's quite a climb, even in a car, and while the view is wroth the effort, it is certainly breezy. Now, I've sat exposed on a few chairliffts but nothing prepared us for the battering we copped on Mount Wellington. With Luke being built like a rake, he had to wear lead boots to keep from flying away!

Julie is smiling... honest!

Bec and Luke headed off to do their own thing while the four of us headed to Mures for dinner. It's a flash restaurant and we were lucky to get a table. It was being shared with a bunch of girls there for a 16th birthday dinner. We had a giggle when one of the girls ordered a milkshake and the waitress replied with 'I think we have the ingredients to make it but I'll check that we can'. That's a bit low brow for this high brow kinda of establishment. But then Mikey goes and orders a bowl of chips for his entrée (the waitress even asked if he'd like a fork) and makes himself a chip sandwich with BBQ sauce! Anyway, it was a decent meal with Julz reminding me that her meal was better than mine (as usual).

This is the most expensive chip sanger he's ever had!

We had some dessert downstairs and headed back to our rooms to get some Ticket to Ride in.

Luke says...
Salamancan crepes are the best. Ham, cheese, spring onion with tomato salsa for the win. We even went back for more later!

Day 5 - Cradle Mountain

Cookie says...
Mim, Mikey and I rose pretty early today. They wanted to do another walk and I wanted to get more photos of Cradle Mountain if it's clear. It was, so we shot through. I set up one camera for some time-lapse while taking photos with the dSLR and the others went for their walk. I ended up talking to some guy and it turns out he was a pro who was shooting some stuff for Tourism Tasmania. I hung around him like a fly for a while and it was interesting to hear how he got into photography and videography. He even shot me (photographically that is) posing and vice versa.

This is why where here. This plus friends, cabins, wood heater,
food, drinks and games

It was the last day at Cradle and the photographer had recommended getting to some falls and Mim was keen for another walk (no surprises there) so we sent the others on their way to Hobart. We managed to bump into this guy again and he shot us walking alone the trail after I tried my hand at the falls. We bailed and caught up with the others in Ross for a late lunch.

Luke felt popular... and out numbered...

Bec and Luke stole one truck as they were staying with family while the rest of us headed to our accommodation. After a brief walk around Constitution Dock we ended up in a cheap pub eating five dollar meals and drinking a few pints of ale and cider. When we headed home we cracked out the Ticket to Ride and proceeded to have Mim slaughter us before hitting the hay.

Hopefully this isn't the only ghost we encounter

Bec says...
Attempting not to suggest any more detours in an effort to make it to Hobart by Christmas, we only made 2 official stops. The first was at King Solomon's Caves (disappointing in the end, as it cost too much to get in, and was already freezing outside the caves entrance), and the second was at Mole Creek (also disappointing, as the town was closed and all we wanted was hot chips for lunch - clearly too much to ask for).

Luke says...
Mole Creek is reminiscent of the pub with no beer.... we went to the cafe with a flashing "Open" sign, only to be told by the resident creepy man that there was no-one around to serve us. In fact, the whole town was like Adelaide i.e. closed.