Cruise - Day 26 - 28 Sep

Wow! What a day! We awoke this morning, (thanks for that 7.10am phone call, Carly), to find we had arrived in beautiful Hobart overnight. As we are berthed very close to the city, (right next to Constitution Dock where the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race finishes), it is very easy to hop on and off the ship to explore. After breakfast, we decided to go for a walk through the city to check it all out. So, I applied one layer, two layers, three layers and then added a windcheater for good luck. And let me tell you it was very lucky I did so as it was FREEZING! Within 20 metres of our disembarkation we were assaulted with what can only be described as sleet as we battled the wind and made our way the few hundred metres into the main shopping area. Gaz jumped into Gloria Jeans to get a coffee and I jumped into Target to get a beanie, ($2.15 – bargain of the trip!). We wandered the streets for a couple of hours, marvelling at the weather which truly changes every 10 minutes or so...sun, rain, cloud, wind, sun, still, rain, sleet...you get the idea. The temperature gauge outside the Hobart Mercury, the local paper, read 6 degrees at 11.30am!

We had to be back at the ship to join our 12.45pm tour which we had booked weeks ago – a City Drive, Botanical Gardens & Mt Wellington tour. The drive was interesting as always, allowing us a glimpse of many parts of Hobart, including the older more historic sections as well as some of the more modern suburbs that radiate from its centre. Hobart seems to be a lovely city...more like a large country town really. Anyway, the tour guide and driver were not confident that we would be able to ascend Mt Wellington as there had been some snow there and it was mostly shrouded in cloud & mist which would make a trip to the peak pointless to say the least. With the changing weather, they changed their minds numerous times before they decided on a democratic process to ultimately decide our fate. I'd like to say the decision to push on for the peak was unanimous but there were two dissenting votes – one guy who insisted on being let off the bus...and...Gaz. Needless to say we commenced our ascent amidst cheers from all the passengers except for Gary, (the other guy actually did get off the bus...no sense of adventure!), who grabbed hold of the seat in front with one hand, the overhead locker with the other, and then alternated either tightly closing his eyes or glaring (and sometimes swearing), at the road ahead.

Within 15 minutes of beginning our journey it had started snowing and we were treated to breathtaking vistas of snow topped trees as we wound our way up the mountain. There was quite a lot of snow – maybe 6 to 10 inches on the ground – enough for us to stop and make some snowballs. It was very blustery, (more blizzard like), at the peak so we weren't able to get out of the bus, but we did have a chance to play in the snow about 100m lower down. It was VERY cold, but a fantastic experience. Gary survived the trip down the mountain though it was a bit hairy at times as their was now a lot of snow on the road...but we had a great driver. Amazingly, the skies cleared as we descended and we were exposed to beautiful views of Hobart and the Derwent valley below.

We then finished off the tour with a lovely visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens which were also cold...but very nice. So we were back on board the ship by 5pm, rested up a bit before dinner and then headed off to taste the delights of the Tasmanian Police Pipe Band who had come on board to entertain us this evening. They were very good and had packed the crowd in to such an extent that Gaz and I were unable to find seats and had to sit on the floor. There was also some highland dancing...all in all a great way to end a very exciting day.