Airbus A380

As I mentioned below, I had a quick trip in and out of Newcastle. This involves flying into Sydney, then catching a train to Newcastle.

Well, I was lucky enough while at Sydney airport to see the new Airbus A380. Wow, what a plane. Next to it was a 747-400 which looked so small in comparison. I must say, it really stood out in the huge crowd of international planes at the airport.

Found out it had come in from LA on December 1 and is being used by Qantas for a week of maturity and operability trials that give Qantas personnel real hands-on experience before the delivery of the airline's first A380, which is planned for August next year.

I guess what impressed me the most was when taking off on the Friday, I could see the A380 outside my window. The wing span on this plane was just incredible.

So this was a nice little highlight for the couple of days that I was away.

Mixed Emotions

I am off to Newcastle in the morning for my Grandmother's funeral. I am lucky enough to be leaving at 6:20am, so will be a 4:00am start in the morning. Grrrr

I do however have some good news. I had a job interview yesterday for a 12 month contract with Country Health SA...AND I GOT IT!

I start on December 19 in the position of Senior Project Officer. My job description is as follows;

"The Senior Project Officer, Booking List Information System is accountable to the Chief Medical Adviser, Country Health SA for the planning, development, management and improved monitoring of Elective Surgery waiting lists in country health units and which will result in more effective management of health outcomes for the communities in Country SA."

So I am pretty pumped about the new job (trust me, was time for a change!!!)

R.I.P. Grandmother

Received some sad news last night. My Grandmother passed away yesterday at 6:30pm.

She has not been well for many years - after having many small strokes over the years. She had a couple more mini strokes last week, and was in hospital and the situation was not looking good.

She was being fed yesterday, told the nurse she had had enough...lay back, closed her eyes and passed away.

She was a good grandmother and do have many great memories. Especially during the year I lived in Newcastle...whenever I needed a break away, and a home cooked meal (meat, potatoes and heaps of apple sauce) she was always there.

So I am off to Newcastle on Thursday for the funeral, and get back to Adelaide on Friday.

Ahhh - Cool Air Is On It's Way

Finally, we are having our new air conditioner installed today.

When we purchased the house 3 years ago, we knew the air conditioner was on it's last legs....and we survived a couple of summers with it (trust me, didn't work that well)

To get it fixed was about $3,000 - so we decided for a new one! So I hope to sleep a lot better tonight.

Day 8 - Hobart, Adelaide

Well, the holiday was almost over. Our plane didn't leave Hobart till 11:00am, so we got up early, packed our bags and headed to Salamanca Place for the famous Salamanca Markets.

Was nice looking through the local arts and produce. Being the election day, and in Tasmania, there were plenty of Greens posters and Say No To The Pulp Mill signs.

We then left Hobart for the airport. Once again our plan was running a bit late, but was good to get home. Seems the family at home survived fine with us gone.

Now, am lucky enough to have a week off to get some things done around home. I hope you enjoyed my blog on our trip.

Day 7 - Hobart, Huon Valley

Woke up on Day 7 after a good nights sleep, and had coffee at Salamanca Place then headed down to the Huon Valley, via Mount Wellington.

I was so looking forward to arriving in the Huon Valley, because we were going on the Huon River Jet Boat. This was a fantastic fun ride, nice and close to the edge and about 10 360's along the way.

We then headed back to Hobart, had a look around the mall area then down to Elizabeth St Per for lunch. We had seafood, as you do in Tassie.....and shared a bottle of wine. We then drove back to the hotel, left the car there and walked to same wine bar we went to the day before. More wine there, so really could not drive anywhere...so went back to the room to rest for a few hours before going out for tea.

Day 6 - Mole Creek, Hobart

Day 6 started by leaving Mole Creek. Not much was planned for this day, except the 3 hour drive back to Hobart.

Picture above was taken on Day 5 - shows Anita in the car. Anita drove most of the way to Hobart.

The only thing we planned for this day was to go to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. If you are ever thinking of going on a tour, make sure you book. Not because you will have to wait around for hours, but if you don't book.....the staff grill you like you had just committed a crime.

Tour was interesting. So much chocolate and was interesting to see how all the different types of chocolate is made. Our tour took longer than most as we had a few old New Zealand woman that seemed not to hear anything, and ask the same question about 5 times. Grrrrr!!

We arrived at Sandy Bay, where we were staying. Went for a walk and found a fantastic wine bar, shared a bottle of wine then headed back to the room for a quick rest.

For dinner, we ended up at the Wrest Point Casino. The first casino is Australia. Was quite a nice setting overlooking The Derwent River.

Day 5 - Mole Creek

In one word, Mole Creek area is AMAZING! Just so beautiful. We stayed at Blackwood Park Cottages, in The Hobbit cottage. The people that own this place moved from Queensland in July to take up a new life. They will feature on the Channel 7 show "A Real Seachange" early next year.

Anita and I sat around and enjoyed the setting, playing cards outside while sharing a lovely bottle of wine. We were then lucky enough to go and meet Ginger the Pony, feed the Alpacas and Cows, but always under the close attention of Gus and Jack (the 2 farm dogs).

We then took a short walk to the top of the property to take some photo's of the beautiful view. One of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Day 5 - Burnie, Sheffield, Mole Creek

To be honest, was good to leave Burnie. We started to head back south towards Sheffield. Sheffield is a cute little town, with amazing paintings on the walls around the town.

From there, we completed a small tourist drive down to Lake Barrington International Rowing Course. Was amazing. Nestled at the bottom of 2 large mountains is this flat lake, all set up for rowing. Is a beautiful part of the world.

From there, we headed to Mole Creek.

Day 4 - Launceston, Devonport and Burnie

Day 4 didn't involve as much driving. Good thing about Day 4 was that 90% of the roads were dual carriage ways. Made life a bit easier.

However, we had a rude awaking this morning....at 4;30am, Anita woke up to what sounded like a huge storm and the roof was about to cave in. It turned out one of the sprinklers had broken, and the water was going onto the roof. Was so bloody loud.

Anyway, we left Grindelwald and headed back to Launceston for a coffee, then off to Devonport. Devonport is where the Spirit of Tasmania docks (main tourist boat from Melbourne). Is a cute little town, very similar to Launceston.

We then left Devonport and headed to Burnie for the night....hmmmmm, this was really the only mistake we made on this trip. Considering all the beauty in Tasmania, Burnie is not the best. It really is an industrial town with not much to offer. The place we stayed at was really nice, so we decided to have a night in, relax and watch a couple of movies (The Godfather and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert)

Day 3 - Launceston, Grindelwald

On the way to Launceston, was driving along and saw a tourist sign..."Pub in the Paddock", so thought why not. Amazing, there was this pub just sitting in the middle of the paddock. Was pretty cool.

We arrived in Launceston mid afternoon and had a quick look around. Reminded me a lot of Newcastle in the layout and general feel. We then drove up to Grindelwald.

The place we stayed in at Grindelwald was quite unique. It is a Swiss styled holiday village called Tamar Valley Resort. Has tennis courts, restaurant, small shopping village, ponds and golf course.

We had a very nice dinner, then took our wine outside by the pond and watched the sun set. While sitting there talking, I noticed a cute little duck swimming on the lake...then another....and another. In all there were 6 of them, and they were quite cute.

Day 3 - Swansea, Mt Elephant, St Mary, St Helen

Woke up on day 3 after having a fantastic sleep the night before. Cameron "UPDATE - Have since found out Jodie made the beautiful breakfast" prepared us a wonderful cooked breakfast (which kept me full till tea time).

Chance for a few photo's (one above is Cameron and Jodie..with Anita taking some video)and then we headed off further up the East coast of Tasmania. Our destination by the end of the day was Launceston, so we decided to take the scenic route via Mt Elephant, St Mary and St Helen.

Mount Elephant is a beautiful spot. At the top there is a pancake place....even thought we will so full from breakfast, we stopped for a top up.

During day 3, I learnt that Tasmania has such beautiful scenery, and getting to some of them is pretty hard. The roads are very windy and narrow....and not signed very well. Thank God for Tommy.

Day 2 - Schouten House (Swansea)

After leaving Port Arthur, we headed up to Swansea. It took a couple of hours, to get there, but of course Tommy got us there in good time.

Was fantastic to arrive at Schouten House and see Cameron and Jodie. I have been keeping up to date with what they have been up to vie Cameron's blog, and had seen so many pictures of their Bed and Breakfast.

Jodie welcomed us (Cameron was in the kitchen). Showed us around. We got to pick a room upstairs. They were expecting another couple that night that were also friends of Jodie's from Adelaide and another couple.

Unpacked, and then joined Cameron in the kitchen. Tea was already smelling fantastic. Jodie's offered me a Moo Brew Beer, a local beer. Was very refreshing. Then we joined them in their lounge room, and looked at their wedding photo's and enjoyed a couple of very nice glasses of wine. Their other friends arrived from Symmons Plains (they were in Tasmania for the V8 Supercars). We all just chatted for a while then Cameron served up his mean curries.

Each on of them were delicious. There was Cauliflower and Potato, Parsee Red Chicken and Lamb Cardamom (thanks Cameron for putting the names on your blog!) Enjoyed a few more wines with dinner, then a coffee and headed up to bed.

Day 2 - Port Arthur

We got up quite early and headed to the Port Arthur Historic Site. I felt strange driving in, knowing the history not only from the mid 1800’s, but also what happened at this place on April 28 1996.

The day was warm and sunny, which made the Port Arthur compound look beautiful. Sky was blue and the grass was green. When you first enter Port Arthur, you are given a playing card with a convicts name on it. You then follow the convicts story through a museum. It turned out Anita''s convict was pardoned and mine, well he must have stole some clothes and tried to sell them. Naughty Naughty, I was put to death!

We spent about 3 hours there, looking at the old Penitentiary, Separate Prison, Commandant's Residence, Officers Row, the Hospital and the Church.

Also, we went on a 20 minute boat ride the took us over to "Isle of the Dead" where over 1100 people are buried and also past the first boys prison in the English Empire called Point Puer.

After looking around, we were quite tired...so enjoyed a nice small lunch at the Cafe and then started heading off to Swansea

Day 1 - Adelaide, Hobart & Eaglehawk Neck

Pirate Bay - EagleHawk Neck

Well, it was a bloody hot day in Adelaide on Saturday November 17. We took off from Adelaide at 2:00pm (the plane was 30 minutes late) and landed in Hobart at 4:00pm.

Talk about climate change - was 14 degrees. Compared to the 34 degrees when we left Adelaide, was a pretty amazing difference. We got our bags and then picked up the car we had hired. The car we got was a Holden Astra Convertible. For the next 7 days, we opened and closed the roof on the car many times.

We got 'Tommy' out (nick name for the TomTom) and headed off. The first night we had booked to stay in Eaglehawk Neck, about 1hr from the airport. Eaglehawk Neck is on the way to Port Arthur and is this very small piece of land that attaches Port Arthur to the main part of Tasmania.

Even though we were freezing cold, we had to try the car with the roof off. That idea lasted for about 15 minutes. Wow it was cold!!!

The place we stayed was pretty average - but we didn't mind. We just wanted a bed to stay in that was in easy reach of Port Arthur. Had a pretty nice dinner there, overlooking Pirate Bay. Enjoyed a couple of drinks then retired for the evening.

We Are Back....

Well, Anita and I are back from our trip to Tasmania. We both had a wonderful time.

Is good to be back. We are lucky that we have this week off to actually get over the trip. We saw so much, so will blog each major event that happend.

Before I start the holiday blog diary, before we left, Anita purchase a TomTom One XL GPS. It was a wonderful investment for the trip. Made getting around so much easier, so if anyone is planning a driving holiday...can highly recommend one.

So hope you enjoy my blog trip updates.

Howdy All

OK - used to post blogs a few years back....however left for a while. I AM NOW BACK! Hope to keep all you you more informed than last time

Chat Soon
Anthony