Sydney to Hobart

Last weekend we had our first little holiday away from Sydney since we have been over here. As Charlotte had finally completed her (for what seemed like never ending) training we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get away for a few days before she starts her flying.

Despite looking at various places with a bit of sunshine this time of year (meaning 25 degrees plus, which would be anywhere north of Brisbane) we decided to head all the way down to Tasmania (not so warm).

So all booked up on our flights (standby though) and hotel we headed off to the airport, which was a nice and easy 15 minute drive……too easy!! As we were flying after I’d finished work we had to fly via Melbourne and with just 40 minutes spare to make our connecting flight to Hobart we cut it pretty fine but just about made it. Charlotte was also pretty excited about flying Virgin Australia now she was an actual Virgin Oz stewardess.



 We didn’t arrive at our accommodation (above a pub – result!!) until near midnight so we decided to head straight to bed, but what I didn’t realise was how bloody freezing it gets during the night in Hobart. I woke up more than once shivering in the cold, until finally I discovered that our bed had an electric blanket!! I haven’t used or even seen one of these in donkeys years so that went straight on and warmed us up.

 Whilst in Hobart we stayed in a great historic pub right on the waterfront in Sullivan’s Cove next to the Parliament House called the Customs House, apparently it’s been around since 1846 and it had some great pictures on its walls of the Sydney to Hobart race and the Arctic fleet which sails from here.

Arctic ship

I was just slightly excited about our first day in Hobart as we had set up a tour of the local and historic Cascades brewery, which we managed to get free passes to courtesy of our hotel and of course included some free beer sampling.


Cascades Brewery

The buildings that made up the Cascades brewery were pretty cool and have been around since 1824 and despite the size and scale of the operation, the outside and insides of the buildings were still pretty much ancient and not at all modernised, apart from the bottling, packing and filling machines. I’ve also got to say the labelling process was pretty cool, I know I sound sad but the speed at which they add 3 labels to each bottle is amazing and the amount they can do a minute is mind boggling, I would dazzle you with the actual figures, but to be honest I can’t remember (mainly due to the free sampling that took place just after).

So, onto the most interesting part of the tour……the free sampling!!!! We were given 3 tokens each (which were bottle tops) and this allowed us one free beer per token, so we ordered ourselves up some antipasti as an accompaniment and set about on our first free beers. The first to try was Cascades Pale Ale, a very subtle, delectable taste, then onto Cascade Pure (which is a low carb beer, but still 4.6%) and was very smooth. As we worked our way through the beers and stacked up the empties other people on the tour started to give us their free tokens as they had had enough….what a result, more free beer!!!



Next up I had Cascades Draught whilst Char opted for a Cascades Light (low alcohol) what a waste, but her choice I suppose. As the token kept coming I had to go round again and start back on the Pale Ale etc then finished on a Cascades Stout.

 
Our beer tokens

Once we had finished all our free beer we realised it was only just after one in the afternoon, so really there was only one thing on our agenda that we should do….hit more historic pubs and keep sampling that local beer!!!


Char getting in the swing of it

After a quick change up at the hotel, we headed off to a place called Salamanca Square which was a small little open piazza type place snuggled in the midst of some shops and museums a short walk from our hotel. Thanks to our local guide (Lonely Planet) we had heard that between 530-730pm every Friday night they held something called ‘Friday Night Fandango’, so it’s gotta be good right? As we arrived we were greeted by a great scene of a Rhythm & Blues/Rock band jamming away in front of a buzzing crowd that were being warmed by open fires scattered around the square. I quickly spotted a kiosk in the corner that was selling mulled wine and beer so we got our refreshments and spent a couple of hours listening to a great band.

On the following morning we had an early start as we had booked a tour up to Mount Wellington, which rises 1,271 metres above Hobart and is frequently covered in snow (fortunately not this time though).

 Following a 20 minute drive, we reached the summit of Mount Wellington and after the lush greens of the temperature rainforest on our journey up we were greeted by a barren scene of sub-alpine flora and glacial rock formations reminiscent of the old space movies that depicted alien lands.

 
At the summit

The summit provided spectacular panoramic views of Hobart, Bruny Island, the Tasman Peninsula and surrounding areas. Whilst the views were magnificent it was bitterly cold and the howling wind was making sure we didn’t spend too much time out of shelter. After taking in the various viewing platforms we decided to clamber up to the pinnacle point of the summit where the winds gusted even harder.





View from Mount Wellington

That afternoon we decided to indulge in a spot of culture and head over to the recently opened MONA museum (Museum of Old and Modern Art), not to be confused with one of my favourite bands. 

Virtually every person we had spoken to in Hobart raved about MONA and couldn’t quite believe a museum of this stature was in their backyard, so we had to check it out.

The main way to get to MONA was via a pretty cool 20 minute boat cruise along the River Derwent, which allowed us to take in more sights around Hobart from a different angle.

MONA is the largest privately funded museum in Australia and houses a vast array of antiquities, and modern and contemporary art which is all housed in a funky building that delves underground a few levels. Alongside classic Picasso pieces and Damien Hurst modernisms could be found some obscure works presented via TV screens, sculptures and full rooms of noise and visual stimulation. It certainly was an interesting tour after which Charlotte declared that she could quite easily create something similar to that shown in the museum and make a mint ha ha.

 

 

 

Back in Hobart, Charlotte was keen to take it the famous Salamanca Market, so I let Charlotte indulge in her favourite past time of shopping whilst I found the nearest pub and watched the AFL games on TV whilst nursing a few pints of Pale Ale.



That night we rounded off our nice little holiday with a great seafood meal at a place called Mures, which was located on the waterfront. Hobart definitely has some amazing seafood and we enjoyed lovely mussels, oysters, prawns and blue eye cod all washed down with a few bottles of the local wine…yum!

After a great weekend of lovely seafood, good music and amazing food we headed back to the sunshine of home, thankfully via a direct flight this time.

Not quite grasping the Aussie winter

Not meaning to rub it in or anything but I am still not quite grasping this 'Aussie winter' thing!!! It’s touching 20 degrees and they're all moaning about the cold, coming down with flu and wrapping up in layers of jumpers, scarfs and hats. To top it all off my local bar was this weekend offering up Mulled Wine!!! Can you believe it!!!
 

Mulled wine in this weather

Mind you I have been getting some astonished looks as I wander around town in just shorts and a t-shirt. I have this week been stood in a shop (in my shorts and t-shirt combo) next to a guy in full trench coat style puffer jacket, scarf and woolie hat!!  Come on! It’s not that cold!

I guess to us ‘pommies’ we treasure every bit of sunshine that we are offered as we never know when we’ll see it again.

I am the raft commander

To say the last five weeks has been the longest five weeks of my life would be an understatement.  At times I’ve even thought I’d rather hold a huntsman spider than carry on this training course and for those of you that know my fear will know that this course must be hard to even contemplate that!!

Almost there!!!

I am being trained on two aircraft, Boeing 737 and the little E-Jet. I hear you ask how can I struggle with this after flying the bad boy that is the Boeing 747???? The simple answer….Virgin Australia is anal!

If I can give any of you advice it is, if you ever fly V.Australia don’t mess or pick on the crew.  I have learned fighting techniques that I am too scared to use!!!! If someone is kicking off, I have to approach them with my hands guarding my face and say, “please don’t hurt me, what is it you want?” while they think I am being a helpless trolley dolly I then attack…..with my 3 middle fingers, I have been trained to gorge the persons eyes until my second knuckle in my fingers is in their eye socket! All the while shouting “Eyes, Eyes, Eyes” at the top of my voice. While they are screaming in pain I quickly retract my hands and as hard as I can I kick them in the groin area or punch them in the jaw. The instructor’s advice “if you see straw like fluid coming out of their eyes and you break their jaw you’ve done your job well”.  The moral of this story….don’t mess with an Aussie trolley dolly!!

'Special' assistance after long training session at 2am

I’ve also been trained in fighting fires.  Kicking and screaming we all had to go the local “firery” to be trained by the local fire-fighters!  We had to tackle fires in smoke filled cabins which was fun. The best part of the day had to be going in the fire engines and fighting a fire by operating the water cannons. We had great fun, although my aim was a little off!

Inside the engine with a fireman

Tackling a fire

The funniest moment from the course has got to be Tuesday just gone.  We had to go to a swimming pool within the Qantas Village to do our wet drills and life raft scenarios.  We were told that one at a time we would be given a scenario- we would have had an emergency landing at sea and evacuated the passengers into life rafts and we would have to gain control of the situation as the “The Raft Commander”. I got given the worst scenario, I had to instruct all my passengers (those being my fellow course members) to erect the canopy.  Now let me set the scene…..I HATE getting my hair wet.  We have already been in the raft for an hour and we are wet and unimpressed by this point!  So I get given this scenario. All of a sudden the lights go out and its pitch black and this freezing cold water is falling like rain on us.  I actually feel like I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! Being completely caught up in the moment I start screaming uncontrollably because I thought that the life raft had a puncture in it and the freezing cold water was the spray from the leak! After screaming like a banshee, I realise that I am in fact “The Raft Commander” and I need to take control of the situation. We finally, after 4 long cold minutes and with dripping wet hair and panda eyes from running mascara erect the canopy.  When the lights went back on I noticed the massive shower heads above the pool where the cold water had come from rather than my make believe leak! I actually passed my assessment. My feedback was “try and take control of the situation quicker and without screaming!”

Never a dull moment in this glamorous job!

I have now completed all my 22 safety exams and have aviation medicine and service training to go. Then in a week and a half I will have my well-earned Aussie wings and will be preparing to take to the skies once again.