Monday was our last full day in Napier and we spent the day in town. In the afternoon, we met up with Denzil, Maureen & two other cousins - Janette and Rhonda for coffee. I had not seen Janette and Rhonda for 19 years, and Marlene had never met them, so good to catch up with them.
On Tuesday morning we repacked our suitcases, and were picked up by Maureen and Denzil, who transported us to the bus station in Napier, with one last coffee break at New World in Greenmeadows. We said our goodbyes and joined the throng trying to board the bus (first on = best seats). The 5 1/2 hour trip to Wellington was uneventful, with a half hour leg stretch in Palmerston North....just enough time to grab a sandwich and eat it!
Wednesday and Thursday were spent with Margaret, getting organized for our looming trip to Tasmania, and trying to cut down an ivy that had intertwined with her fence. But we did find time for coffee and a date scone at Revive in Petone on both days.
Thursday night was a very short sleep for us all. We were in bed by 10 pm, but at 2 am our alarm clocks (phones) were telling us it was time to get up, as we had a shuttle coming at 3 am, to take us to our 6 am flight from Wellington to Melbourne. We made it with enough time in hand to have breakfast in the Wellington airport, in fact we had to wait about 15 minutes for the check-in machines to open.
The flight to Melbourne was long enough for a short sleep, and, with three hours available, we had no trouble making our connection to Hobart, where we arrived at about 1 pm local time. We picked up our rental car, a Hyundai Elantra, which seems to have adequate space for us 4 and our luggage, and headed off to our accommodations in Glenorchy. The accommodations were wonderful, with a queen bed in one bedroom and two singles in the other. As Tricia was suffering with a heavy cold, we moved Margaret's mattress into the living room so that she could have a more peaceful sleep. There was a Woolworths grocery store 2 blocks away, so no problem getting food.
Our collective interest in Tasmania is largely because our great great grandmother, Elizabeth Hemblin, was transported to Tasmania in 1842 for stealing a frying pan. We are hoping to learn more about the living conditions of the convicts, so our first stop on Saturday was the Female Factory, which was a prison for convict women. Our guide was very informative, and we were very glad to have taken the tour.
From there we headed into Hobart, parked the car, and set off to explore the downtown area. Being Saturday, the Salamanca Market was in full swing, so we wandered through the mass of humanity. The market has been operating here since 1972, and the vendors sell a wide variety of goods, including a lot of arts and crafts.
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| Stall at Salamanca Market |
The downtown area of Hobart covers quite a few blocks, and is nestled between the harbour and Mount Wellington. One building which we noticed, and which will be familiar to anyone who has visited Palmerston North in New Zealand, was the T&G building. The Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society built similar buildings across Australia in the 1930s, in a style referred as vertical art deco.
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| Vertical Art Deco Style |
We then wandered the streets to find St. Andrew's Park, formerly St. Andrew's Burial Ground, the final resting place of Elizabeth Hemblin's first husband, James Elder, who was buried here in 1849. There was no expectation of finding a headstone, but it was good to see the place, and nearby Murray Street, where James and Elizabeth lived.
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| Entrance to St. Andrew's Park |
Later in the day we walked around Battery Point and found a very popular bakery / cafe, where we sat at an outside table and enjoyed a coffee and treats, before heading back to Glenorchy for the night.
On Sunday we headed back into the city, where we visited the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, which, unlike most Canadian museums, has no entrance fee. The museum gave a good overview of Tasmanian history, which should help us to understand the place.
We then wandered around Constitution Dock, the hub of the waterfront, before heading out of town towards Taranna, where we will be based for the next two nights.
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| Hobart City from the Harbour |
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| Steam Gives Way to Sail |
Enroute to Taranna we took a slight detour to view Pirate's Bay (not the place of illegal downloads), and to visit the Tessellated Pavement State Reserve, an oddball geological formation.
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| Pirate's Bay |
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| Tessellated Pavement |
As we drove down the highway from Hobart to Taranna we did not see any wildlife, apart from an increasing number of wallabies and the occasional Tasmanian Devil, squished by passing vehicles, similar to seeing opossums on the road in New Zealand.
Tomorrow we will explore the Port Arthur area, so stay tuned.....
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