Hobart - Christmas Day - NYE 2018

Looking off the side of Southern Belle's marina berth towards the Wrest Point Casino - the first and oldest casino in Australia - and the hills of the Sandy Bay suburb of Hobart.

The morning noises outside the boat remind me of the soundtrack from every film I've seen set at the seaside.  The soft whistling of the wind in the rigging, the large pacific gull's calls and the bump bump of the boat on the jetty combine to create a nostalgic chorus at sunrise.

The sun comes up early here because we're so far south.  It shines through the hatches over our v-berth just after 5 am and the light doesn't fade until well after 9 pm.   At first I couldn't get used to the almost 15 hours of daylight but I'm loving it now. 

The last blog ended with our arrival in Hobart on December 20.  Following the celebration of getting here the next few days were filled with cleaning, provisioning, exploring and spending time with friends.  We also had to go into town and find George a new phone, a task that turned out to be far more complicated than initially thought.   My husband prides himself on being one of the 11% of Australians without a 'smart phone'.  Of course he's happy to make frequent 'smart' requests of me using my phone.  Turns out there isn't much demand for dumb phones in Hobart and we had to ask the phone shop to order one.  Additionally, because his old phone had well and truly kicked the bucket, we couldn't get any of his contact numbers transferred.  What a hassle!  I must commend the nice people in the very busy phone shop for their patience with and assistance to a couple of clueless people two days before Christmas.

Our marina, the Derwent Sailing Squadron, is in walking distance of the famous Battery Point area of Hobart.  We walking around that beautiful area quite a bit.   Always in the background is Mount Wellington rising above all of Hobart.

Battery Point has beautiful homes from the 1800's and wherever you turn there are reminders of the unique beauty of the part of Hobart.

The weekend markets offer great people watching along with delicious produce - the strawberrys have been exceptional! - and good street food.  This picture of the Farm Gate market, my favourite, which is held on every Sunday morning.

Then came Christmas Day.

Before I go into what a fun, funny, fantastic day that turned out to be I first should introduce PISST!, the Personal Invitational Sailing Squadron Tasmania!  A collection of 7 or so boats and crew that made the sail down from the mainland either in company at some point or already known before arrival.  The acronym vividly describes the end result from the group's main activity which is socialising over an alcoholic beverage or two or three. 

The PISST! group decided since we're all here away from family and friends to have our Christmas Lunch together.  Everyone made food to share and, in keeping with the Christmas spirit, there would be Kris Kringle gifts under $10 to exchange during the festivities.  Well, the day turned out to be a real hoot.  The food was fabulous.  There was everything from prawns, to traditional turkey and dressing, to American sweet potato casserole and corn pudding plus several deserts!  Again, in keeping with tradition everyone departed late in the afternoon completely stuffed with food and happy with good friendship and drink.

The two highlights of the day - other than the food - were the gift giving and a perfect recital/performance of the American poem classic "Casey At The Bat".

Kris Kringle was different and better than anything I've experienced before.  Instead of the usual Santa handouts each person got to choose their present from a table heaped with wrapped boxes and odd shaped packages.  To determine the picking order each of us had to select a playing card with the highest card holder going last.  Initially that seemed odd until we learned the kicker ... you didn't necessarily get to keep the first present you selected, even if you really liked it.  If the next person picked a present they didn't particularly fancy they could take a pre-selected gift from someone who went before ... then the person now without a gift had to choose from the table again.  It was a great way to do it ... it kept everyone involved and laughing through the whole exchange.  I think everyone  pretty much got something they wanted or could use with the possible exception of Brian from Zofia who ended up with a pair of white knickers with a rather large candy cane protruding from the front.

The PISST! group with our Kris Kringle gifts ... Brian is modelling the candy cane.

 Then, after dinner and before dessert, Jim off the American boat Onora did a perfect recital of "Casey At The Bat" supported by Brian's interpretive performance.  I've heard and seen the poem many times during my American days, I loved the Disney cartoon when I was a kid, but I have to say their performance was the best yet!

Jim sharing the tragic tale of Casey at the Bat with Brian showing us how it's done.

The next few days were a bit quiet, we needed a rest.  Then on the morning of the 28th we woke to the news that the maxi yachts leading the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race were headed up the Derwent River for the finish line.  Our marina berth was perfectly placed to watch the the finish for the 3 leading 100 ft+ maxis.  We had our breakfast fruit bowls, toast and tea sitting on top of the dodger  watching the spectator fleet race alongside Wild Oats XI as she headed for the finish.  Then all the little boats turned around and sped off back down the river to escort Blackjack and Comanche to the finish as they battled each other for the #2 slot. 

Sitting up top waiting for the racers.

Wild Oats XI racing to the finish line of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

After that exciting start to the day we decided to take the local Metro bus to the Cascade Brewery for their tour.   Cascade Pale Ale is the oldest continually brewed beer in Australia.  The Cascade Brewery was started by Peter Degraves in 1831 following a stint in jail here in Hobart.  I love that Australia and specifically Tasmania has such an interesting gene pool of enterprising rogues.  Supposedly he had a sawmill plant on the site from 1824 but after jail he decided to do something good and brew beer.  We were told in the tour that the water in Hobart town at the time was awful due to the tanneries and factories up stream of the river so it was literally "drink beer or die".  Anyway, not sure about that, I haven't read that little fact anywhere else but the tour was interesting and the samples afterwards were very generous.

The iconic building housing the brewery.

We wrapped up the last days of the year visiting the Taste of Tasmania which goes over 4 days highlighting the boutique food, wine, gin and beer created all over Tassie.  It take over a whole wharf down in the Salamanca area of Hobart near Constitution dock.  The Taste has booths and trailers set up selling some of the treats of the area. 

One of the areas to sample anything from scallops to sausages to wine to boutique gin.  Great place to enjoy a sample plate and talk to people who've come there from all over the world. 

One of my favourite pictures.  That's not an ice cream trolly ... No, it's a GIN trolly!

And then the PISST! group celebrated NYE on the 64ft yacht Onora.   Thanks to Jim and Jeanie for hosting us all!  It was a terrific and fun evening.  We all made food to share and rang in the New Year in true yachtie style.  George and I even made it to the midnight fireworks over Hobart!  (Something we never manage to do at home, we always go to bed long before they light up the sky!)   I, unfortunately, don't have  any photos from the night ... way too busy having fun.