Dec 1 (Part 1) - Tassie Day 7

  I woke up today with a pinch in my back.  The bed unfortunately, seems to be the only bad thing about Orana House.  I can't tell if it's too hard or too soft but I just wasn't able to move myself about in it.  I'm going to guess too soft.  Anyway, Mr Smart was wonderful about it.  Lifting things so I didn't have to awkwardly reach, putting my socks on for me, tying my shoelaces, carrying all the luggage out to the car.  I was very grateful.
  It was our last day in Tassie today.  We didn't want to get stuck in the city today but we didn't want to be overly far from the airport either.  Mr Smart did moot the idea of driving back out to Nubeena but we decided that would waste too much of the day on driving, as much as we both would have liked that.  Instead we headed out to historic Richmond.
  Our first stop was Old Hobart Town, a model village of Hobart in the 1820s built by Andrew and John Quick over about three years in the early 90s.  It is at 1:16 scale and wherever possible they tried to build accordingly to maps and plans of the time.  They really have gone to an incredible amount of detail to bring the place alive.

  It's not just the historical accuracy, it's the mini story-telling they do with their model people too.  They don't just have generic 1:16 scale Colonial-style people, each person is individually created and has its own little personality.  Just look at these little characters!  Please click to get the bigger version, they really are quite charming in their own way.

  The model village is sheltered amongst a circle of tall conifers and that was a rather lucky thing.  It was cooler today, still sunny, but blowing a gale all day!  Not a cloud in the sky but we were being rained on by bits of tree.  The owner was in the display today 'bonsai-ing' the small bushes that serve as the towering blue gums of Old Hobart Town and I can't imagine it would've been easy without the shelter provided by the tall trees.
  After we'd had our fill of teensy buildings the owner furnished us with a map and directions to the famous Richmond Bridge.  It's the oldest bridge in Australia, built in 1823 by convict labour.  Today it takes road traffic and is hooked up to a whole bridge vibration monitoring station to keep an eye on its integrity which is kind of cool.

  The bridge in and of itself is nothing spectacular but it was a pleasant walk and we headed on and over it to see Australia's oldest church, perched of course on the tallest point in Richmond.  Well it was touted as Australia's oldest church but the sign actually said St John the Evangelist 1836, Australia's Oldest Existing Catholic Church.  That seems almost like a disclaimer.  It was quite lovely though.

  We entered the church to view the stained glass windows and art work and to the side of the main altar was a votive candle stand, two candles lit, close to burning out.  We each purchased and lit a candle in memory of those we've lost.  This was another of those quiet moments between us, but this time the silence felt comfortable.  We walked back down the hill and back into town along the main street.

  I can't go past a little country gallery I'm afraid, so we were only a few hundred metres along when we had to duck into Peppercorn Gallery, a shop run by a local Artists Group.  There were gorgeous hand-painted silk scarves, ingenious wooden trinket boxes, lovely glazed ceramics, shiny sparkly jewellery, framed photographic prints of local flora and fauna.  It stands to reason I had to have a souvenir!  And there it was, a Thylacine by Yoona's Designs, sitting on the shelf smiling at me.  He was lovingly wrapped in bubble wrap in order to survive the trip home.
  It was then onward to the Richmond Bakery for lunch.  They had a rather tempting gourmet pie on offer so for once Mr Smart and I ordered the same thing!  A curried scallop pie.  I have to say, for Bertie's benefit, it wasn't a patch on the curried scallops at East Empress, but it was delicious.  While at the bakery we also bought ourselves a little cheap entertainment.  For just $1.20 you could purchase a bag of duck bread!
  So it was off to the side of the Coal River once more, duck bait in hand.  It's completely funny when one duck gets a large piece of bread.  They take off down the river at a fearsome speed, tailed by many other ducks eager to 'share'.

  A seemingly older duck, waddling with somewhat of a limp, approached us from the rear at one point.  He was reluctant to join his friends in the water we think.  He had such lovely bright flashes of colour under his otherwise unusually dark plumage.  It was lovely to see the flashes of green, blue and purple in all of the otherwise dull brown and grey ducks.  It's quite a relaxing thing to sit by a river and just be.

  As we sat and fed the ducks (well Mr Smart did most of the feeding, I snapped off a ridiculous number of photos of ducks) two people walked out onto the bridge and something began to unfurl over the edge in front of us.  I had an inkling what it might be and turned to see a young couple sitting down for a picnic.  Needless to say we both got our cameras ready very quickly.  It was very romantic, and she appears to have said yes as the young man gave a thumbs up to the banner holders.

   Our duck bread was gone so we decided to mosey back into town one last time.  We climbed the stairs to the bridge again but before we left I quickly ran over to the departing bannermen, the young man's parents I think, and gave them my email.  I explained that due to being in the right place at the right time, we had photos of both the happy event and that should the young couple want them I'd be happy to send them through.*   We then turned and walked back into town towards our car.
  We had parked beside the Old Hobart Town model village and right next-door to them was The Woodcraft Shop.  I do like a nice bit of woodwork.  It's something that's stuck with me after years of working in a timber yard.  I was torn between many, but I had to have only one, luggage space was finite after the morning's game of packing Tetris.
  We perused the shelves of beautiful and functional items in various Tasmanian woods.  Hulking great burls of polished huon pine, alive with character, pen pots, cheese boards, bowls, winding tape measures, trinket boxes, letter openers, clever little 50 year calendars (I was definitely tempted by those).  We had been almost completely through the store when Mr Smart sounded the alert.  The perfect item for my collection had been found.
  Meet Mr Oinks.  He is about 5cm in diameter, and is made in stripes of Sassafras, Myrtle and Huon Pine with a little leather tail and ears.
  With the last sweet little souvenir purchased we set off down the road.  On the way into Richmond we had passed a winery whose name made me smile and remember childhood stories.  In Richmond we had spotted a colourfully labelled vehicle from that very same winery.  So it was that we found ourselves turning in to the Puddleduck Vineyard.  It was a hairpin turn in fact, onto a gravel road and I think I may have scared Mr Smart a wee bit.
  We did a little tasting and discussed the complications of ending up with more wine, because lets face it, who comes away from a cellar door empty-handed?  In the end we got their signature Sauvignon Blanc, named Bazil for one of the many ducks, and a bottle of their Verjuice.  Verjuice of course is non-alcocholic but it was a very good quality one and far better suited to drinking than Maggie Beer's which is all I've had previously.
  It was early to be heading off to the airport but we were both tired and didn't want to rush off to something new.  It was time to say goodbye to Tasmania.

  We drove to the airport and headed to the Hertz car return and sat in their waiting room while the lady behind the counter inspected the vehicle and topped up the fuel.  Under 3 litres is free so of course we'd used 3.97 litres.  $2.38 a litre those bandits charge.  I get it, it's to ensure people bring the cars back full.. but seriously!?  While waiting for the final bill we re-jigged things to accommodate our purchases then we walked to the terminal.
  We arrived at the counters a good two and a half hours before our flight and there was no one yet manning the Qantas check-in counter.  That didn't stop a gentleman I dubbed "Mr Self-Important" from standing there tutting and calling people to complain.  We took a different tack and asked at the Jetstar counter.  He explained that they only open check-in two hours before the flight so we went for a wander.

  We found the Tasmanian tourism brochure mother-load.  If we didn't collect it on our travels we collected it now.  More power to the 'next time' machine!  We also found a decorative Tassie Devil Conservation fundraising statue.  As an aside guys, the Tassie Devils are in real trouble.  They are being wiped out in their native home of Tasmania by an aggressive non-viral transmissible parasitic cancer called Devil Facial Tumour Disease.  It's horrible and leads to them starving to death.
  Zoos Victoria is plays a critical role in the conservation of the species.  They have established a healthy insurance population of Tassie Devils on mainland Australia in case the worst happens and Devils go extinct in Tassie.  If you'd like to help you can click here to donate to the cause.
  We eventually checked in and got through security.  I don't know why they always pick me, I must have an angry look about me, but of course I was checked for traces of explosives as usual.  We killed time reading, playing mobile phone games, wandering the very limited array of airport shops but soon enough it was time to board our flight.
  You get to board from the ground at Hobart so we were walked out on the tarmac and up the front stair case.  I had arranged at check-in for us to be in an overwing exit aisle.  Sure you have to help in the exceedingly unlikely event of an emergency but the trade off is extra leg room and it meant Mr Smart could have a window seat.
  Mr Smart hadn't flown in about twenty years so he was very keen to enjoy every minute.  I giggled and told him how cute it was that he could be so excited and watch out the window the whole time.  He responded, "Are you kidding!? How can you not be excited!?"  and he had a valid point.  When I saw the view of the top of Tassie, I got a little excited myself.  It looks just like the map!

  It's a very short flight, Hobart to Melbourne in just one hour and five minutes.  We were delayed about 12 minutes due to a thunderstorm passing over Tullamarine.  We watched out the window and saw another plane below us, also circling, clearly ahead of us in the queue.  It reminded me a bit of the movie Pushing Tin.  We landed and collected our luggage from the baggage carousel or rather Mr Smart collected the luggage while I waited impotently due to my back.
  Miss Mischief met us in the new Tullamarine Pick Up zone.  It still needs some work I think.  It was jam packed and needed two blokes directing traffic to make it work!  Still, it's better than it used to be.  Miss Mischief had us to Mr Smart's in no time and we dropped him and his luggage off.  I said farewell's to him and Pengi and then we continued on to Miss Mischief's house.  From there it was just me, my little green car Hester and it was back to reality.  Sigh.  Goodbye Tassie, or should that be au revoir?
  Jess

*Today (Monday 3rd Dec) I got an email from the young man saying he would be very happy to have the photos as he'd been so excited he'd only managed to take one himself.  I sent the photos through and I wish them a very happy future together.