Couple a'days!

After an extended period of on-shore life it's super hard to push off and get going again. All those hard won skills for docking, anchoring etc seem rusty and confidence levels low. Our friends Marcie and David on Nine-of-Cups describe it as facing the dragons again. How true.

A last minute postponement of our flights back from Perth left very few days to get organised before Christmas, the Sydney Hobart race, a visit from friends and from family were all upon us in an instant. Suddenly the days were filled to the brim and invitations for Xmas Day lunch and New Years Eve invitations were accepted.  More and more excuses or reasons not to leave. Sonja at the RYCT office, glanced over her counter one morning to see just the tips of hands in prayer and the tops of our heads as we kneeled and pleaded for "A couple a'days longer" in the pen. Our request was granted until New Years Day. After that, the pen was needed for the Sydney Hobart racers. Phew, that was lucky!

Chris and John flew to Melbourne for Christmas and while there was a temptation to delay our re-provisioning task until after the Christmas rush, we once again embraced the 'do it while you can' mantra and started to restock at the first chance seeing as they had kindly loaned us a car.

 

This is just some of our stuff.

The wine club delivery arrived while we were away.

The kids mailed a care pack.

It was our turn to be on the receiving end this time...

adding to our own Xmas efforts, we felt quite festive.

Attending Rick and Helve's Solstice raft up at RYCT.

Definitely Mexicans from beyond the border.

 We still tried to be traditional on Xmas Eve.

Hearing that we were in Hobart, RPGC golfing friends with whom we'd misbehaved for several successive Easters contesting the 'Martini Masters' sought us out. Malcolm and Dianna relocated to Hobart 3 years ago and are clearly a part of the trend of people with Tassie connections returning. We gratefully joined their Christmas lunch and even had wheels to get there. We were the last to arrive as we seem now to be unused to navigation without the help of our Raymarine chart plotter. The Bloke is true to his gender and was initially unwilling to consult a map after exiting the motorway at the wrong exit. In his defense, the General phoned to wish his brother Happy Xmas at a critical moment of lane-change-exiting-decision, which shows that Mr Murphy doesn't take holidays - the rule is that you'll always get a phone call when it's least convenient.

Of course no visit to Hobart over the Xmas- New Year period would be complete without a visit to the Taste of Tasmania (a food and wine festival showcasing the best of Tasmanian produce). Our evening to attend was made much more exciting by very windy and slightly rainy conditions resulting in our al fresco situation getting a bit out of hand.

Everyone had the same idea to put the umbrellas up and stay outside.

The organisers said "NO"!

The reserved seating was completely in the open and umbrellas not in the 'up' position to provide any shelter from sprinkling rain. Dangerous winds earlier in the day resulted in organisers banning the use of the umbrellas after an incident with an umbrella being blown apart and injuring a patron. It was not long before the security detail were deflating everyone's spirits and can-do attitude.

A brush with local celebrity - the new Lord Mayor of Hobart, Sue Hickey 

encouraging tourism to her city.

As it happens there is always something extra that comes up and eventually it's necessary to draw a line and decline invitations and resist a multitude of reasons to stay a little longer.

Happy New Year!

We hope that good health and plenty of WOW moments accompany you throughout 2015!

We are off to cruise the D'Entrecasteaux Channel for the next 6 weeks (maybe)!