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Day 3 ~ 24 Dec - Hobart

Now, the complications of time zones and the International Date Line could mess up our day counting, but fortunately we can agree that our arrival in Hobart is on the 24th by both local time and UTC. We should be able to fudge it in a plausible way until we return to the UK.


Arrival is about 1:35 AM by UTC and 12:35 PM local, but as I say, both are the 24th.

As it's a domestic flight, it's all pretty low-key so it doesn't take us long to get our luggage and find the car hire desk.

Ah, now, this is a new one: my UK driving licence is perfectly valid but it is old and predates the photo ID card type. The girl on the desk has never seen anything like it (in fairness, it's quite a bit older than she is!) and doesn't know how to proceed. I have photo ID in the form of my passport, but it's not what her computer is asking for.

Would we mind waiting a bit while she gets her superior?

Would we mind waiting a bit while her superior talks to her own superior?

Eventually we get somebody both senior enough and old enough to confirm that this ancient papyrus is indeed valid and legitimate and all is well.

It's good to know I can still show a girl something she's never seen before.


After all that, it's not a very exciting car.

In fairness, it's nothing like as anaemic as the car we had in the Isle of Man, which would have considered a ride-on lawnmower as real competition.

The drive into town looks simple enough, but I think it's probably wise to ask Google for directions. It turns out that it isn't really vital, but it knows about Hobart's one-way system and the slightly tricky approach to our apartment, so we don't have to learn by our mistakes.


"Somerset on the Pier" is a little utilitarian-looking from the outside, but given that it's converted from a 1930s shed that's not too surprising. Our room is the leftmost but one here, so as you can deduce, we have a balcony looking out onto part of the marina. Jo and Meta have the room opposite. They came a couple of days before us, so they've had time to case the joint a bit and also been kind enough to do a food shop on our behalf so we're well supplied.

Parking is a little tricky: there are a few spaces next to the building on the other side, but if they are full you need to find a nearby public car park where they have an arrangement for guests to park free. It takes me a couple of goes to find the right place because the map I've been given is a bit unclear and the one-way system is a trap for the unwary. There would normally be some other closer spaces, but they are now cordoned off because the circus is in town.

The circus? We had absolutely no idea when we booked, but we've chosen a major weekend in the yacht racing calendar. The big-ticket number is the Sydney-Hobart race, but a couple of smaller events are happening at the same time. Melbourne-Hobart was created as an alternative for south Australian sailors who couldn't or didn't want to make the trek to Sydney, and then Launceston-Hobart is a more local affair, entirely within Tasmanian waters.

And at the same time, the "Tasmania’s Taste of Summer" food festival is happening on the waterfront too.

Now sure, we booked our accommodation nine months ago, back in March, but even so it's a bit surprising in hindsight that we were able to get such a perfect location at a very reasonable price.


This is what we look out at.


We prefer the smaller boats, but we find quite a few of these cruise liners around. This is "Seven Seas Explorer", which is actually not big as these things go: 746 passengers and 548 crew according to the operator's website. It's totally blingtastic inside, see for yourself: Seven Seas Explorer.

And CruiseCritic tells us:
Well before Seven Seas Explorer launched in July 2016, Regent Seven Seas was calling it the "Most Luxurious Ship Ever Built." That is a bold statement when it comes to ultra-luxury cruising. In many ways, the ship lives up to the billing, with extraordinary features and tiny details that will make even the most discerning passenger exceptionally happy.
[...]
The ship features more than an acre of granite and an acre of marble, almost 500 chandeliers and some 2,500 pieces of art, including works by masters such as Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall.
[...]
With its over-the-top features and world-class dining, Seven Seas Explorer delivers a luxurious experience that feels like something special. Whether the ship is the world's most luxurious is a judgment call, but Seven Seas Explorer makes a good case.

So where are we staying?


The apartment is simple but has everything we need. The main floor has the lounge leading out to the balcony, with the kitchenette and bathroom below this mezzanine level where the bed is.


Simple and uncluttered.

To my surprise, I don't have any pictures of the kitchen area on our arrival: I shall have to use a thousand words instead. Ok, not a thousand.

It's quite basic: kettle, microwave, fridge and a (small) two-plate induction hob. I'm not going to be doing anything massively cheffy, but it will be fine for a few days. I'm not surprised to find no knives that I would consider remotely sharp, but I am slightly surprised that there's nothing that would be half-decent if sharpened. I think I shall have to make knife-shopping a priority.

There's a few other things that we forgot to ask Jo and Meta for, or wanted to choose for ourselves anyway, so off into town we go.


As we leave the building, who should we see but Santa on his Harley. Has Rudolph been pensioned off?


Hobart is a more dangerous place than we'd realised. They warn you about the door, but not about the heffalump trap you could fall into, or the metal staircase about to fall onto you. (That's Jo, btw.)

It seems to be surprisingly hard to find a hardware shop. We don't really see anything just wandering around at random, and Google is not very helpful. So Jo accosts a native; and lo! this woman does indeed know of what is virtually the only place in town we're likely to find what I'm looking for.


It's somewhere in this mall. But not here. What are "traditional" eyebrows? How are they distinguished from avant garde or experimental eyebrows? Or even just contemporary ones? I would ask, but I cannot deviate from my mission.

I'm actually spoiled for choice now: "House in Hobart" has aisles of them, and naturally none are any brands I've ever heard of. I tell the sales assistant I'm looking for something decent, but as it's only for a couple of weeks, I don't fancy splashing out on the pinnacle of craftsmanship from a fifth-generation Japanese Samurai master sword-maker, and she points me at a set of three on special offer for AU$99.99 - exactly £50. Sold!

Shopping done, we return for an early night.



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