I have just written into the blog for an hour and found that when I tried to save the work the Wi Fi connection was lost - so all was gonski! That could make a girl really, really cranky.
Well here is the short version of that lost post, which I have no doubt will be nowhere near as interesting as the first attempt.
Queenstown is between Strahan and Hobart. It has a very interesting landscape, It has something rather 'lunar' about it. We reached Queenstown at about 8 am so we thought we might pick up breakfast. Queenstown had very little to offer in the way of a decent breakfast at that hour. It is a mining a town that clearly doesn't wake until after 8am.
As we were leaving Queenstown we came across a huge mountain face. Looking up, Jayne said 'Is that a caravan up there?' Are we going up there too? As I looked up I realised that this was going to be challenging. What I could see was a row of white posts zig-zagging their way up this very, very steep mountain face. On it there appeared to be a few little moving dots these, as it turned out, were vehicles. Whimsy managed it well, I did ok as I was driving and had to concentrate, but Jayne was extremely pale by the time we reached the top.
We made it to Hobart in 6 hours which was pretty good considering the roads.
We were booked into a caravan park about 15 klms out of Hobart, in Cambridge. We turned on our iphone directions. We call the voice who tells us where to go, Siri.
I'm not sure if I am just over sensitive but I'm sure Siri is cross with me. I really don't like her attitude at all now. I'm certain her tone of voice has changed since that day I asked her to help us get to Cambridge. The fact that we took three goes to actually get to our destination, and the fact that she had to re route us twice, in exactly the same place, shouldn't effect her tone of voice? Surely she has been programmed better than that? Anyway, by the time we were finished she refused to speak to me at all and we had to find our own way there.
When we finally arrived, both Jayne and I decided it wasn't for us anyway so we rang another park and we got a site there. The park we are staying at is called, wait for it, 'Treasure Island'. If there was ever any treasure linked to this place folks, its long long gone. Its on the waters edge but its situated next to a sewerage plant. It is however in walking distance to The MONA and that is worth a visit.
We have had low temps and high winds since being in Hobart. Last night we had gusts up to 90 klms per hour, which made Whimsy rock and roll a little. I don't think many folk in the park slept last night - I certainly didn't. The winds on top of Mt Wellington, which is just behind us, were 141 klms per hour.
On the bright side we have toured quite a bit over the last few days and have visited a few lovely wineries - Frogmore - Puddleduck etc. We also had lunch in Hobart at Constitution Dock at a restaurant called 'Mures'. Jayne and I felt it was the best food we'd eaten....ever. We also ate at Frogmore Winery and that was really beautiful as well. (see gallery)
We have also visited The Mona (Museum of Old and New Art) and Port Arthur. Jayne was not overly impressed with The Mona but I thought it was great. Some pictures are in the gallery but a real treat was that there is a Brett Whitely there that includes the print we have in our lounge room, and also states that Brett died in Thirroul. So Thirroul gets a mention at The MONA!
Port Arthur is quite beautiful in a strange way. A level of discomfort was present for me when I was there but I guess that is to be expected. It has a hell of a history. The trouble I had is that I felt its history of horror and slaughter was not really recognised. It was as if the truth, the real story, or the many stories were too hard to tell. An attempt at lightheartedness of the early history failed, in my book, and the truth that a massacre occurred there in recent times was ignored. I think that is a mistake.
We are off to the Salamanca Markets and Louisa's Walk (street theatre) tomorrow.
Bye for now, take care.