Following my return from the Frenchman's Cap, I had a pub dinner with Melanie, Hannah and Chloe.
Thursday was a lazy day until James rang and we met for drinks at Knopwoods, down at Salamanca. Melanie joined us and then we headed to Zum for lunch. Afterwards I met James' parents and then Susan Doyle, who is from Hobart but now is a winemaker on the Macmurray Ranch in California.
On Friday Melanie took me to Pepermint Bay for lunch.
After lunch I was "suckered"! I was told that I has to have hygienist appointment, but no sooner was I in the chair than Bernard was looming over me, ordering x-rays etc. Perhaps by way of making up, Bernard arranged a fantastic meal for me and James at a shoreside sea food restaurant at Lower Sandy Bay, Prossers. Later, we headed for Grape at Salamanca before "retiring hurt".
Yesterday (Saturday) I had a slow start, mooching around the Salamanca market. After a coffee I headed for my rendezvous with Tim, my brother who lives at 7 Mile Beach. I was standing at the appointed place when a car cruised past. It was the right type of car, but on seeing that the driver had long blond hair, I assumed that it was being driven by a "blond bombshell". It was only when Tim shouted my name that I realised that I had been looking at him sporting his new surfer image.
It was good to see Tim, albeit briefly, after 7 years, and to meet his son Noah who is effervescent and full of life. We had a good lunch at the Shoreline, where Noah had plenty of play area and new friends to keep him occupied.
Tim dropped me back at Salamanca, where after listening to the Red Hot Roosters (at the Ten Days on the Island) and bumping into James' parents at the Hobart Book Shop (which is fantastic) I headed back to Melanie's house before she Bernard and I went to a 2 man show at the festival called "Wheeler's Luck".
The show, which ran for about 90 minutes without a break, is well described as featuring a cast of 52 speaking roles, 300 extras, farm yard animals, dancing girls and an action packed finale to rival Ben Hur! Add to the mix that it is a NZ production about the risk to a local community of a big money development that was being resisted by the locals and you have some idea of what was going on. The only prop/set was a bell suspended in the centre of the stage. It was hilarious!
Afterwards we headed for Annapurna for a good Indian meal and later to T42 down by the harbour.
Today, Melanie took me to the Eaglehawk Neck, the narrow spit between Tasmania and the Tasman peninsula where Port Arthur is located.
In the days of the penal colony, the spit was patroled by soldiers with dogs, making escape from Port Arthur near impossible. This was a top down, rubber burning, Gary Moore blues sort of experience! After doing the touristy bits we had a picnic lunch and relax on a jetty, bathed in sunshine but protected from the strong wind.
Tonight I am having a last supper with Melanie, Chloe and Hannah. Tomorrow afternoon I leave Hobart. The plan is for me to kayak in the morning, then Melanie and I will head to a Winery called Meadowbank for lunch as it is near the airport. After flying to Melboure and drawing breath, I shall finally see Sophia again, as she is due to arrive a couple of hours after me.
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