We were due to depart Hobart at 12:45pm, so we asked the hotel if we could have a later checkout than 10:00. We were told it was no problem to stay until 11:00
Finished packing, went across to Woolworths and bought a couple of rolls and some ham for our lunch, cleaned out the fridge and we were ready to go around 10:30.
Checking my emails, I got a lovely surprise with a message from Virgin announcing that we had been upgraded to Business Class for our flight home!! Often when you fly with Virgin, you get an option to “bid” on an upgrade. I don’t usually take it, but for some reason, I decided to bid $100 for both of us, and apparently, that was good enough!!
We arrived at the airport in plenty of time to return the car and check-in. Boarding the plane we were seated in the second row on either side of the aisle, so together but not 🙂 I had a nice lady from Nambour next to me and M had a man from Brisbane.
We were offered a glass of Champagne or juice and…well it would be rude to say no 😀 The flight also came with a meal which was Cheese and Crackers, Chicken and Broccoli with Mashed Potato in a tomato-y sauce and a pistachio cake for dessert. Very nice 🙂
We arrived back in Brisbane on time and collected our bags. We did not have to wait very long at all for the shuttle bus back to the carpark and we were on the road and heading home in no time.
A quick stop at Woolworths for milk, bread and a hot chicken for tea and we were home with some great memories.
We got up and had a shower, then tried to make a cup of tea and found we had no power? The room lights were working but no power.
I spoke to one of the cleaning ladies, who said “Oh no! Is yours out too?” Apparently somebody in one of the other rooms had done something and had tripped a couple of the rooms. I was able to take the kettle to one of the other rooms and at least get a cup of tea. A light breakfast of a vegemite sandwich, and we thought we would go for a drive out to see the homemaker centre near the airport.
There is everything we will need here for our home.
Heading back to the hotel, we decided to hop on a bus and travel into Hobart. I had seen an interesting place on Facebook a while ago called “In the Hanging Garden”. It is a lovely place and we could see that it would be a great place to have a drink with a group of friends.
Another place I had seen was “Aura” this is Hobart’s first rooftop bar and restaurant. The view was certainly stunning, but sadly there is a building in the way of the view of “our place” 🙁
We enjoyed a pot of tea and caught the bus back to the hotel.
Checking with the staff at the hotel, we were told that the power should be fixed. Sadly though we found it was not :(. We went back to the cafe and told the manager lady, who apologised profusely and said she would ring the electrician back and we could have our dinner in the cafe at no charge.
The electrician arrived soon after and managed to fix whatever the problem was. I decided to do a load of washing in the guest laundry. This meant we would have no washing to do when we got home.
We enjoyed our meals and had a quiet night ready for our departure tomorrow.
We awoke to another cloudy day with the threat of rain highly likely. We decided to not go far and run the risk of getting too wet.
We had another $50 meal voucher left from our Christmas present, so today seemed a good day to use it at the Bellerive Waterfront Hotel. We chose a table overlooking the marina and after reading through the menu, chose our meals.
For starters we thought we would try the Scallops Kilpatrick. They came in a serve of 5 scallops and while they were nice enough the kilpatrick sauce was not the best and it overpowered the scallops.
For the main course, I chose chicken breast filled with salami, spring onions, brie cheese and fresh basil with a garlic cream sauce and vege. M chose to have the chicken pasta. Both these meals were very nice.
We decided on desert as well and selected the lemon cheesecake and the banana split.
After lunch we drove back to the land and even with cloudy skies, it is still stunning 😀
Another sightseeing day today and a light breakfast as this was to be an “eating day” Firstly we headed to Richmond and the famous bakery.
I chose an apricot tart and hubby had a lamington with fresh cream.
The bakery precinct has a number of other shops including the Richmond Lolly Shop. While we did not buy anything, I did take this picture of the looooong counter.
After Richmond, we headed down the south east coast to Cygnet. Again we have been here many times, but it is such a pretty drive following Channel Hwy.
We found a lovely looking cafe for lunch. It is housed in the Old Bank with a beautiful glass conservatory. As we were looking at the menu, sadly it showed that the restaurant is an all-day breakfast menu. We were looking for “lunch” not breakfast, so we excused ourselves and found another cafe.
We checked the menu at The Red Velvet Lounge, and thought it looked good… It was a good decision, I would say it was close to the best meal I have had in a LOOOONG time. I chose the Pork Cutlet with Carrot Puree and Quinoa. It was so tender and juicy. Hubby chose a sirloin steak with bearnaise and fries and it was also cooked to perfection.
We did not need much for dinner that night and just snacked on “bits” from the fridge.
Today was an exciting day as we are meeting with our builder. Paul from Construction4U had been in touch and we arranged to meet later in the afternoon.
In the morning we decided to go for a drive up the eastern side of the Derwent River, crossing at Bridgewater then up the Western side out to New Norfolk.
We have been to New Norfolk many times in the past and we were surprised at how much new building has happened there.
Back toward Hobart, we had an easy lunch with our provisions in our fridge in the hotel room.
Soon enough Paul rang and we headed to the land to meet and discuss options. We did not get given any particularly bad news, and it does not appear that we will need to make too many changes. We may have to have a sweeping driveway rather than straight up the side of the house, but we awaiting clarification on that with a geotechnical survey done.
After sending some time at the block, we returned to the hotel with Paul for a drink and more of a chat. We are very happy with him and both feel comfortable moving forward.
A quiet night and lots of talking and we went to bed happy 🙂
Nothing planned for today as it is a public holiday and not much is open. We spent the morning reading a doing “nothing” – after all, we are on holiday 🙂
Such at the pub was deemed a good idea, so we went to the restaurant and had Eye Fillet and Lamb Rack.
In the afternoon, we decided to go back to the land “just because” and again marvel at the view.
