Down Under Down Under
⬅ previous ⬆intro next ➡Day 17 ~ 7 Jan - Cradle Mountain to Melbourne
Today we will return to Hobart to get a flight to Melbourne. It's quite a long drive, but our flight isn't until half-three, so we shouldn't be too rushed. There's another much closer airport, at Launceston, and I can't quite remember why we rejected it. Hire car return might have been an issue? Flight timings? Whatever, Hobart it is.News of the day from around the world: the UK is gripped by ice and floods, Justin Trudeau has resigned as president of Canada, Trump is getting ready for his inauguration... Do we care?
We'll take the main highway (the one J&M came up on) rather than the more scenic route we arrived by. [Later we'll learn that they have opted to swap places and take Highway 5 back themselves, and are very pleased that they have.]
The drive isn't particularly exciting, but it's easy enough. We've made a packed lunch and think we'll find somewhere to stop on the way, though we've not planned anything. As it happens, the road isn't at all scenic and we just keep going, until about half an hour from the airport we see a sign to the town of Richmond that looks like it might be worth a slight detour. Well, there's a Richmond near us at home, we've been to Richmond in Yorkshire, let's check this one out.
It seems the place has some history.
And it's a wine-making area too.
But right now, it's very hot, and ice cream seems more appropriate than wine.
Neither of us have pineapple, today's favourite or not.
We walk down to the river to see the "oldest bridge still in use today" as the sign above declared.
And some ducks.
We find ourselves a spot along here to sit and have our lunch.
This attractive little tower turns out to be St Luke's Church. It's not obvious and we don't notice the blue sign that you can just make out at the bottom right of the picture, but through the miracle of Google Maps, I have subsequently discovered more.
Now the sign said that St John's was the oldest Catholic church, but this is Anglican and slightly older. It is, surprise, surprise, the oldest intact church in Tasmania.
It doesn't look a lot like a typical church: in plan, it's a plain rectangle with this square tower at the front, not the usual cross shape. Read more at the Churches of Tasmania website.
So, lunch stop over, back in the car for the final leg. We have certainly enjoyed our stop, and on balance, this is probably the best Richmond we've ever been to.
Getting to the airport and dropping off the car is all very easy. J&M haven't had their own lunch (or maybe they've only had first lunch or something), so we go through to Departures leaving them to follow.
And here we are in the departure lounge.
Meta is engrossed and I am clearly having some highly deep and significant thoughts.
Jetstar is a Qantas subsidiary, wonderfully described thus: "Jetstar Airways forms an integral part of the Qantas Group's two-brand strategy, operating in the leisure and value-based market." That is to say,"It's for the plebs who are too cheap for our posh planes". For a flight that's barely more than an hour, we can live without the trimmings, and this flight was the best fit for our schedule anyway.
Bye-bye Tasmania. We've had a great time and you've been fabulous.
And hello Melbourne down there. We're a bit surprised at how much of it there is: it's a very sprawling city from the air.
And hello Coppersmith Hotel. We've got an Uber from the airport, having faffed with online recommendations for taxis/trains/buses/whatever back in Blighty and decided it was all too much like hard work. Tap on the app is easy [well, it's easy once I've updated the bloody thing to the latest version because it's too long since I last used it], and it's cheap too!
Harriet has driven up with Dinah to meet us here.
"Here we come, walking down the street..."
Outside the hotel. This is the first time the four sisters have all been together since their mother Beryl died, just over two years ago.
Not exactly a room with a view...
It's ok, and the location is excellent for us, but it definitely looked nicer on the website. The Coppersmith bills itself as a "luxury boutique" hotel but I'm not sure we'd use that exact phrase ourselves.
J&M have an AirBnB near to the Bests' house out in the suburbs, so after everyone's had a quick shufti at our room, Harriet takes them all back down to Beaumaris.
We take a short stroll before dinner. This is one of the older parts of the city, and has a lot of elegant Victorian shopfronts; from about 1860, it was the main commercial street in South Melbourne.
Plus, of course, some much newer buildings.
We have dinner in the hotel. Although it has more of a bar feel than a restaurant, and we're virtually the only customers, the food is excellent.
Certainly a cut above your typical pub grub.
I get chatting to Charlie and Nicole while Amanda kind of shrugs and thinks "OMG he's off again"
And a big thank-you to the guys in the kitchen.
It's a pity the room itself isn't quite up to the same standard, but the bed is comfortable enough and we're tired.
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