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For an explanation of photos, position mouse over photo. We decided to start the New Year off right by doing laundry.
While in Hobart we got to attend the Taste of Tasmania festival where dozens
of restaurants and wineries set up booths and serve local food. It was great and
we ate there several times. We also wandered Constitution Dock and looked at the
race boats, including the first finisher, Skandia, a 98 foot boat designed
exclusively for racing. It looked fast just standing still!
On a sad note, we also had a chance to catch up with an old friend Warwick, whose wife Chris had died very suddenly just the week before, most likely from an aneurism. They had retired three years ago and had spent some quality time cruising the Pacific. It's a real shame because Chris was only about 60 and they were just getting ready to cruise around Tasmania. Bradley and I visited the Cascade Beer brewery where we learned how beer is
made and got to sample various Cascade varieties. Bradley now has a new favorite
beer - Cascade Stout. We set out to hike up Mt. Rumney only to discover there is
no hiking trail and the only way to the top without going through peoples yards
is to drive. So we drove up for a nice view and then went for a nice hike up Mt.
Stuart, right in the heart of Hobart. We also visited several wineries in the
Coal Valley and visited Richmond, a cute old town that is home to the oldest
bridge in Australia. At our marina, we met more interesting people. Deborah and Rolf, from the boat Northern Light have done a lot of extreme sailing, including a winter in Antarctica. We had several conversations with them before we realized we had read the book they had written, called Time on Ice! They were heading off to the south island of New Zealand where we hope to go next year, but it looks like we may catch up with them again about this time next year when we will both be in Tasmania again. We also spent some time with Beth and Kevin from Red. They are from Alaska and Kevin is in the software business, selling a small product that he and his partner developed. They've spent a year in Hobart where Kevin had a small office set up at the yacht club and was nice enough to let us use his broadband internet connection. We had a guest, Mike, scheduled to arrive on Monday but he ended up getting
delayed by 24 hours.
Mike arrived with his golf clubs on Tuesday afternoon. He claimed to be feeling good, having slept several hours on the flight. Since it stays light here until about 9:30pm (and is light in the morning before 5:00am!), we decided to head off for a round of golf at the reportedly beautiful Golf Club of Tasmania. We were not disappointed as it ranks among the top courses I've ever seen for scenery. It is set on a small peninsula overlooking a bay in the Tasman Sea. Every hole has wonderful views. Mike even had the distinction of hitting a tee shot on a 120 meter par three with a lob wedge over the green and into the sea! The front nine was great but by the back nine Mike was fading a little, as evidence when we got the the 13th hole and he said "Is this 18?". Needless to say, he slept soundly that night!
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Although we
actually have a washer/dryer on board the boat, it's very small and not really
great for doing large loads of sheets and towels. We had found a laundromat in
Hobart and had called the day before to make sure they would be open on New
Years Day. They assured us they would. But when we arrived at 8:30am, the door
was locked despite a prominent note saying they would be open at 7:30am on New
Years. Not knowing where another laundry might be, we were a bit annoyed. A guy
came walking up the street carrying a few bags of laundry and was also
disappointed to find it closed. He knew of another laundry but it was a ways
away and he was barefoot and did not have a car. So we gave him a ride to the
other laundry and learned he was from Queensland and had come over on the ferry
with a friend with their motorcycles to ride around Tassie. He was a nice
guy and we had fun doing our laundry together. 
Seems his plane backed into the
jet way when leaving the
gate at L.A. and sustained some damage to a wing. They had to send an entire 747
load of people to hotels for the night and arrange for a spare plane to fly them
the next day. Mike is the first of our visitors to encounter a plane crash on
his way to see us! 
The next day was a little rainy and windy so we went downtown to the Hobart
Museum which was well worth the trip. It had many excellent displays of local
wildlife and plant life, plus a lot of historical information about Tasmania and
Hobart. We made stop at Lark's distillery, where they make a single malt scotch.
Unfortunately, they were out of it, but they have a wonderful collection of
single malts which Bradley decided to come back to taste. It was back to the
boat where Bradley went for a walk while Mike and I headed to the casino for a
couple hours of Pontoon - a game very much like blackjack but with slightly
different rules for payouts. The dealers tried to be nice and after being down,
then up, then down, then up again, they finally succeeded in taking all my
money. Mike, after a slow start, managed to break even with a great run at the
end. From there, we headed to the distillery to meet Bradley, who had
invited our friends Bernard and Carol for drinks and dinner. Then it was off to
a wonderful dinner on the waterfront, followed by a journey to the Hobart Comedy
Festival, a show featuring "up and coming" stand-up comics. It was an
interesting experience except for the fact that all the comics were extreme
amateurs and not one of them was actually funny. But we got a lot of laughs from
the experience! 
Our last Hobart adventure was to climb Mt. Wellington. It's not a huge
mountain, reaching only 1700 meters (5100 feet) and from the parking area is
supposed to be a 3-hour round trip hike on moderate terrain. It wasn't a perfect
day - there were a few clouds in the sky - but it didn't look bad. We set off
dressed in long sleeves, with rain jackets and with plenty of water and some
snacks. As we began the hike, we shed layers of clothing, first the jackets,
then the long sleeves until we were comfortably hiking in shorts and tee shirts.
We stopped along the way to admire the wonderful views of the city and the
Derwent River. Ron, who was in the lead, said he saw snow flurries. We just
laughed at him. Ron's never lived in a cold weather climate and I wasn't sure
he'd recognize snow if he saw it! But sure enough, as we continued on, the
temperature dropped and we all saw little flakes of snow. Just as we approached
the summit, the wind began to pick up. Then the snow picked up some more. Then
the wind picked up some more, and so on and so on. Soon it was blowing so hard
we could barely walk and the snow was coming down horizontally in great
quantities. We felt like we were on Mt. Everest. It was COLD! There's a
nice sheltered lookout area on the summit so we made our way there and watched
the snow for a while. We ventured out to take some photos, but the wind was
blowing so hard it was difficult to even stand up! Finally, we decided to send
Bradley down with someone who was driving to pick up our car and come back to
get us. We then headed down for some hot chocolate and snacks. Then we headed
back to the boat to depart from Hobart and begin the next leg of our adventures!
