That is perhaps an understatement. What a stunning place. But some background to our trip. Tas was a spur of the moment decision when we were back in England in june - we wanted something to look forward to after getting back into the grind of work having just had a lovely time with our families and friends.
You know, I've mentioned (nay, whinged about) all the interstate trips I've made in the past year, the 4.30am starts, the 18 hour days and so on, but why do I do this? because I love my job. But another benefit to this is all the frequent flyer miles I get.
So I got us a couple of flights to Hobart, flying out on my birthday for 5 days. and all I paid was $80 tax! Superb.
Anyhow, there's loads to tell so here goes...
I was woken on my special day with breakfast in bed and my wife full of the joys of spring, and a large bag of presents under her arm... Stuff the brekky, gimme the toys!!!
So, after lots of unwrapping, I got some great stuff, a new Tomb Raider game for my PSP, a lovely Cuban cigar ("rolled on the thighs of a virgin maid", I'm reliably informed ;o) and clothes a'plenty...
After a brief lie-in, it was time to get ready, make the obligatory bacon butties (an absolute must when going on holidays) and get packed. Our flight was uneventful, other than reading about the Curveture of Time, Singularities and the nature of the wave/partical duality. I'm reading 'A Brief History of Time' at the moment, by the way.
We touched down into a rather cool Hobart, and I left Helen to get the bags - she was rather taken by the Tasmanian Quarantine officials - they were using an extremely cute beagle dog to search everyone for illicit goods, and she found it fun to watch. Incidentally, Hobart airport is very funny - it has 4 departure gates, and when you arrive, you are herded into a large hangar where you wait behind a metal fence. After a short time, the baggage truck arrives on the other side, in full view, and the said beagle is lead over each and every bag to have a good sniff.
I watched as it came across a cool box (or eskie in oz land) and simply stopped dead and sat on it. The handler took note, gave the highly excited dog a treat, and carried on. After all the bags were thoroughly snuffled, a barried was raised and all hell broke loose - it was a free-for-all as we were allowed to take our bags off the truck - no conveyor belts in sight.
Anyhow, the said eskie was watched like an eagle, and when it's owner arrived was stopped and given the third degree. I think it was full of food, the chap looked like an outdoorsy type, probably going on a fishing trip. They are very strict about what you bring in to Tas, especially fruit.
Well, I digress. We picked up our car, a funky little VW beetle, and fired up the sat nav and headed for our home for the next 5 days. We booked a cottage we found online, close to the city centre and, more importantly, close to the famous Cascade brewery.
It was a beautiful little pad, a refurbished stable, with views over the Cascade valley, looking up towards the brewery, about 1km away. In the background was a huge gray cloud which was hiding, I was told, the majestic Mount Wellington. It would be another 24 hours before we got to see this bohemoth. The land itself was verdant, bringing back memories of our Green and Pleasant Land. They obviously get a lot more rainfall than the mainland. The geology was actually reminiscent of the lowlands of Switzerland, the broad, languid rivers and the gently sloping valleys leading to steep cliffs higher up.
As it was still my birthday, we quickly set out to get our bearings, and to sus out where to eat that night. We found a great place on Salamanca, call the Ball and Chain Grill. It's not for the grass-munchers among us, they specialised in fabulous home-aged beef, venison and kangaroo.
we had a lovely meal there and wandered down the street afterwards and discovered a place called Grape. It was very cool, a wine shop by day and a trendy wine bar by night. they had some stunning wines to choose from, anything up to $1,300 a bottle! Anyhow, we decided to have our dessert here. Helen has developed a taste for fine port since we got to Australia, so she had port and cheese,
whilst I pushed the boat out and had what was probably the most expensive drink in my life - a glass of Johnny Walker Blue. I savoured that drink for over an hour!
Then came friday. Twas to be a day of indulgance, excess and many rennies were consumed!! First off, we headed over to Claremont, about 10km out of the city, to the first antipodean home of Cadbury's. It was a great experience, very insightful of the chocolate making process. The Cadbury blokes back in the early 20th century built their new factory based on the same principles as their Bournville site in the UK, with the welfare of their staff as their primary concern. I can understand why people working with chocolate all day long would be so happy, and they certainly showed it in tassie.
After a quick bite for lunch, our next stop was the much revered Cascade brewery.
I was in heaven. Our tour guide was actually the factory's full time quality control chemist - his primary role was senior taster. I was in awe of this guy. That has to be the best job in the world. Anyhow, the tour was very informative and we got a great behind the scenes view of the whole bear making process. It's amazing to think that that sweet tipple is such a simple product - water, barley, malt and hops. Nothing added.
After the tour we were given a rare treat. Every year, at the start of the hops harvest, it is said that the very best hops come on the first day of harvest. So, the chaps at Cascade produce an exclusive batch of only 5-600 kegs of the first fruits, and sell it a vastly inflated prices - it has been known for a slab (24 cans) of this stuff to sell on ebay for over $1,000!!! 
Well, the people on our tour had the last keg of the stuff (or so we were told). Whether or not this was true, it was truly scrumptious. We were given vouchers for 3 free glasses of whatever we wanted, so we left the place a little light headed!
As it was a friday, we decided to go for fish and chips for tea, and we walked back and forth along the harbourside and finally chose a place called Fish Frenzy for our tea. Little did we know it was actually voted the best place for Fish and Chips in the whole of Tasmania. It was basically a chippy, but had a great atmosphere, was liscenced, and there was a whole plethora of different fish to try. Plus, you could choose one of four different ways to batter your fish!
Oh and by the way, today the weather was lovely, and was able to get this stunning picture of mount wellington... Its amazing to think it's over 1.2km high - that's just about 4,000ft! And it is only 5km from hobart. It's stunning to see this kind of scenery - melbourne is so flat! In fact, Australia is the flattest continent on earth! Very refreshing.
As I said before, late friday night was rennie-central.
Ok, it's getting late, I'm gonna leave it here, but wil resume the travelog in the next day or so....
Take care
C
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