The driving!
So the day had finally arrived that it was my turn to
drive. I knew there would be no way of
getting out of it as Emma does not like driving in the city and we were still
in Hobart! We got in the car, I adjust mirrors and seat, telling myself stay to
the left (over and over again) and off we went to the Cadbury Factory!
For those who don’t know, in Australia they drive on the
opposite side of car and road. This
means the gears are in the middle and the wipers and blinkers on opposite side
as well! I learned that when I needed the blinkers in a panic that’s when the
wipers would go.. Opps! I think I did a pretty awesome job for most of the
day. It was until later in the day when
I didn’t realize there was a garbage truck behind me and I was trying to figure
out which way to go and kind of stopped.
It came a little close but no accident.
And it wasn’t until the second day when I kept waiting to turn, one
direction was clear and the other wasn’t so I waited until it was clear and
went (forgetting to check the other side).
Some guy honked at me, but had plenty of time to stop and there was no
need to honk at me.
I will admit I do miss my car. We have a GPS but I don’t know kilometers or
meters, and I understand my GPS better when a turn or something is coming
up. I made a couple too soon turns, but
the GPS fixed it.
I also miss cruise control.
I didn’t realize how much I use it and how helpful it is to have, until
you don’t have it. Also, not having a
back up camera sucks! FIRST WORLD
PROBLEMS! :)
Day 2:
We started the day with the plan of going to the Cadbury
Factory first for a tour and then adventure to Mt. Wellington. We got to Cadbury to learn that they were
having community day, so it only costs us a gold coin ($1 or $2) to get
in! (woot woot). However, we didn’t find out until in the
“tour session” that you actually don’t get a tour of the factory. You basically get told by an employee how the
chocolate is made and watch a video.. I know BORING! The only good thing was you got to buy discounted
chocolate, but I didn’t want to buy any with the chance it would melt.
After a little bit of disappointment off we ventured to see
what Mt. Wellington was about. For those
who have been to Mt. Washington, it’s pretty much the same thing, windy roads
to get the top that’s very windy. Lets
just say I was very thankful for our very small car. We drove all the way up and got to see some
awesome views. It was however VERY windy
and cold but still so breathe taking! As we ventured down I stopped a few times
to just take more of the view in! By the time we got to the bottom, which felt
way faster than going up we decided to go this garden thing that was in the
GPS.
The GPS takes off and we follow the directions to learn that
apparently this garden place doesn’t exist.
We drove up and down the road twice, and nothing.. No signs probably
would have been the first hint as in Australia everything is labeled! So we
headed back to the hostel to find some lunch.
We were going to stop in this little town, I however can’t Parallel park
in the USA let alone in Australia and we ended up at the Hostel!
I pulled out my handy dandy tour guidebook of Tasmania
trying to find a responsible place to eat and found a place right down the
street called, Pigeon Hole Café. We
choose this place, as Emma has never had a Panini! We ended up eating a Panini
with beef, olive tapenade and mozz cheese.
It was good, just a little salty!
Since being in a café I wanted to an Ice Coffee, as it was a pretty warm
day. I asked if they made iced coffee and was told no, they make cold coffee,
as they don’t have ice cream to put in the coffee. I don’t know what ice cream has to do with
iced coffee but I ordered a cold coffee.
Since it was only like 1:00pm, we tried to figure what else we could do.
I wanted to go the Female Factory (Female Prison), to see
what it was all about. We were able to
get the last tour of the day. Australia
was pretty good at destroying their convict/prison history because they thought
who would want to know about this. We
were able to see what was left and imagine what would have been. It was pretty cool to hear the history and
hear the stories that were known, but sad at the same time knowing that this
place had been destroyed. Since
We ended up going to the Botanical Gardens. When we got there it also happened to only be
a gold coin donation, one could start to get use to this! We took a map, knowing we didn’t have much
time until it closed and thought we wouldn’t be able to do it. Well it just so happens that they make the
park out to be so much bigger than it was and we were able to do it all before
it closed! I don’t know what it is with flowers but I love taking photos of
them. I took so many but spared my friends
and only put a few on facebook!
We left the gardens and headed back to the hostel to get
ready for dinner as we decided to go the Blue Skies on the water as I thought
the night before it would be super expensive when it was actually pretty
responsible for a Australia restaurant.
Dad would have loved this place as they two size entrees, small or
large. I ordered a small potato gnocchi
(which they say totally different down here).
I was a little nervous ordering the small but it turned out perfect, as
I was perfectly full by the last bite. I will admit could have used a piece of
bread or two but wasn’t paying extra for that.
The little things you miss, when you come so accustom to them!
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