Hobart 16 – 21 December 2007

Sadly on Tuesday, Carl’s mum Ruth, died suddenly. It was a big shock to us all and although we knew she had cancer and it was progressing, it was still very quick. Ruth did not die in pain and she died at home with John. Katie and Carl hurried to Kiama and stayed with John until Boxing Day. Ruth had started Minnamurra Headland Land Care group and loved nature, native bush spaces and plants. How she would love Tasmania!
We drove back to Hobart late on Sunday evening, up and down some mighty long climbs and downhill runs. Someone told us roads in Tasmania either go up or down -it’s true!
Free camped at the yacht club with lots of other campers right on the Derwent River. It has a great vista and looks across to lovely hills, with Mt Wellington as a backdrop behind us. Lots of ducks and seagulls to entertain us and we enjoyed the company and chatter of other campers and lots of travel tips. John and Robyn (travel friends from our last trip), just happened to be staying 5 mins away and came for a quick visit and later brought over a big delicious lasagne.
Picked up Laura from the airport on Thursday, which was very exciting! It was lovely to have her come for Xmas. We will miss Katie and Carl but in the sad circumstances it is good that they can stay for some time with John. It will be very sad Xmas in Kiama.
We enjoyed looking around Hobart. Found a lovely café on the Harbour for a few drinks and great chips. Looked around Sandy Point at the cute little cottages and chose one for Laura! Visited the Botanic Gardens for a late afternoon outing and we all thought it was wonderful – one of the best gardens we have visited. We especially loved the fuchsia house and all the wonderful colours and shapes, the Japanese Garden, the Subantarctic Garden House (set at 9degs) and the ABC’s Pete’s Vegetable Garden which turns out to be the TV presenter Peter Cundell.
Mt Wellington is a constant backdrop to our visit to Hobart. It seems to always be there, except when the fog comes in and it changes all the time giving it character. You could easily spend your life knowing it if your home faced it! We took the 15km drive up to the top but it was much longer in time than we thought. It is a magnificent windy climb offering a view of the city and the clouds! The vegetation was truly alpine and we were enthralled by the cold misty clouds in our face. We marvelled at all the flowers and the colours they created in the varying degrees of maturity on the one plant. The heaths and rugged plants seemed soft in the tough mountain rocks. Many were pure bonsai. Rugged old gnarled trunks clinging to barren rocks. We LOVED it!