Hobart with my hubby....

Within our first week of living in Australia, Brian had been taken to a 'footie' dinner (Aussie Rules Football NOT soccer!) and had, by pure fluke, won the footie quiz (he knows NOTHING about Aussie Rules) the prize of which was a weekend break in Hobart! So off we went last weekend to enjoy time together, leaving the children in the very capable hands of Auntie Dottie (they couldn't wait for us to go because we all know what life is like when your auntie looks after you!!)



We had a fabby time with the only downside being that there were so many things we wanted to see and only a weekend there so we had to limit ourselves. We took advice from people who have been to Hobart and decided on three places.... Salamanca Market on Saturday morning, Port Arthur on Saturday afternoon and Mount Wellington on Sunday morning before our flight home. We managed to fit in fish and chips sitting on the harbour wall on Friday night too so that was a bit of a brucey-bonus.



A view of the Salamanca Market .... it reminded me of the French markets that we like to spend our Saturday mornings strolling round when we holiday in the south of France...


The Penitentiary at Port Arthur taken from the boat as we cruised round the harbour.... antartica is only a couple of thousand nautical miles south from here!


The view of Hobart and surrounding area from the top of Mount Wellington.

Hobart and surrounds is beautiful, reminding us of home (especially the Lake District with all those mountains, hills and water!) and was in such stark contrast to where we are living in Ballarat which is very brown and flat. We will definately try and make it over there again during our time here in Australia and will probably take the ferry next time so we can drive through the country and see so much more of what this delightful place has to offer.