Tassie '23

A very early start saw my brother pick us up at 0445 to arrive at Brisbane airport for a 0630 departure. I always get really nervous flying with Jetstar, but on this occasion, after leaving 20 minutes late, they had us landing in Hobart about 15 minutes behind schedule, at 1030. The weather was nice, around 21°, but the breeze let us know we'd left the northern climes. I managed to get through the day without a jacket, so hopefully that's the standard for the week, but you never know in Tassie.

Of course, looking for a bargain meant that our car rental company was not represented in the airport terminal so we had to avail ourselves of the shuttle to take us offsite. That process was efficient enough and we were soon driving away in a hybrid Toyota Corolla and trekked North towards Launceston. It's great to be out of the traffic and the hustle and bustle of Brisbane.

Our first stop was Richmond, a very old convict settlement just north of Hobart. It's home to the oldest usable bridge in Australia, built in 1823 by convicts. It's also home to the Richmond Arms Hotel where we stopped for a great lunch. We realised that the Corolla only comes with 12V and USB-C outlets. Charging our phones was impossible with the leads we had so lunch time meant strategically sitting near a power point so we had enough phone juice to get to Launceston.

The rest of the drive was nice, although the landscape was a little drier than I expected. The only additional stop we made was to purchase some locally grown cherries 🍒. Large sections of roadwork slowed us a little, but fortunately we weren't in any great rush. We arrived in Launceston around 1600, with the sun still high in the sky, booked into the hotel, before going to shops for some supplies of junk food, and of course a charger for the car ($8 at Officeworks - Bargain!!).

After our big lunch, dinner was not a priority, so we relaxed in the hotel, wondering if it was ever going to get dark - we found out at around 2100 that it does.Read more