On one mildly warm, semi sunny afternoon on the Gold Coast with Jodie (who has since flown to New Zealand and is now at home), Nathan and I were deciding what to do with our time out here and figured we’d fly to Tasmania for a few days to break up the time. We thought, stupidly, they’d stamp our passports too, but no they didn’t. Still heartbroken about that in case you hadn’t realised! We did originally think it was a different country we could tick off but upon further research, it turned out to be a state of Australia. Whoops!

Nevertheless, we woke up at stupid o’clock Wednesday morning and left behind our homely Airbnb in Freshwater, caught an Uber to the domestic airport, dumped our bags and headed through to find breakfast.Good to see we both have an equal tan! I mean seriously how is his face the same colour as when we left six months ago??? I jest, I jest…

The flight was a measly just shy of two hours, plenty of time to read the rest of my book and have a browse through the Virgin Australia book. Lovely. We landed in no time headed off the plane, along the tarmac and into the very small terminal. Some of the islands we flew over we’re amazing. The sea looked a mixture of blues and greens with islands of all different shapes and sizes. Oh it was just magnificent. I do love me a window seat!!We exited through the terminal to collect our baggage. The only reason we chose Virgin Australia was because 23kg of baggage was included with the ticket. There were sooooo many brochures by our carousel it was a-maaaaaz-ing!! So whilst Nathan was he muscle, lugging our 22kg bags off, I was happy to peruse the brochures to see what was what! Next up was an Uber to our hostel. That’s right folks, we were back in the hostels!It was a private room which was the only one cheaper than an Airbnb on the island. Reviews were saying no storage for luggage but we found it just sufficient. Best part was we were yet again able to check in early! I’m not going to lie, we were pretty shattered after that damned alarm woke us up at an ungodly hour, so we had a nap, which then turned into a sleep. Baaaaaad idea, for when we woke, to which I won’t say what time, we only went out to seek food. The place? ‘standard’…and the food by no means so. It was actually called ‘Standard’ and the burgers were immensely tasty. Mine was just chicken, cheese, bacon and mayonnaise but it was delicious. From here we sauntered down to Woolworths to pick up noodles and beverages and treated ourselves to a pack of 15 mini freddos for $2.30. Win!!

When we got back to the hostel, we were treated to entertainment consisting of a guest, taking on the phone to his ‘mate’ about his ‘mrs’ going round to his parents to blah blah blah. We couldn’t quite figure out why she was going round there. From what we could gather, he was ‘right’ she was ‘wrong’ and he wanted to save up money and go and move somewhere else. We did not know that this would be night one of three of the Jeremy Kyle show, the Australia spin off…

What we did find out was there was a Royal Hobart Show on for the next three days and the Thursday was to be a bank holiday. Now back home, a bank holiday means everyone brings their kids out shopping to destroy the shelves within retail. In Hobart, it means everywhere shuts! It’s like going back decades to a proper bank holiday, where we didn’t have shops open and deals enticing people to spend money whilst not at work. So, we booked tickets, set an alarm for Thursday, ignored it, woke up, had a couple of Tim Tams and set on our way.

Why oh why did I agree to walk???? Five miles in actual sunshine!!!!! We ended up going the long way round just do I could see a bloody church!! It added a mile on to our journey. The views from the tops of hills were pretty though!We arrived at the Hobart Showgrounds just before midday after an incredibly sweaty walk there. When we entered, our tickets didn’t scan, so we probably could have got away with only paying for one ticket! And then it felt like we were in some sort of Gypsy sitcom. No disrespect at all, but, well, it wasn’t what we expected. We entered the huge hut and they had these things called ‘show bags’ which are bags that contain pretty much double the value of what you pay and they range from chocolate to Lego to kids toys. There was a bar and stalls selling items locally sourced and produced. Outside, there were stalls akin to a funfair with rides and throw a ball at something to win a prize as well as numerous food stands.From stop the hill you could see the town. There was even a terrifying looking rollercoaster!We casually strolled round looking for the stunt show and the rodeo, of which we found neither. Instead we found equestrian, some dog dancing thing, men smashing their logs in half (which is actually a sport over here, lumberjack) and then possible the most gorgeous cows I have ever seen.So the cows. There was a sort of airplane hanger looking building and in it were all different types of cattle. They looked like show cows or something. There were even tents and sleeping bags where the owners slept for the four days the show was on. The coats of the cattle were gleaming and I couldn’t believe the size of some of them! Nathan has now said he won’t be taking me on holiday anywhere in the future…just to Farmer Palmers…

They had all sorts. From the cows we went and saw the baby animals, including a baby Tasmanian devil.The little animals were so cute! It was probably the kids petting zoo but I didn’t care! I was happy snapping away. Considering the weather was meant to be shocking the only clouds covered the summit of Mt Wellington. They had steam engines and even a dog show. I mean you couldn’t have picked more random things to chuck together and call a show!The dogs came in all shapes and sizes and were made to run round the greenery for some reason. The owners then moved their legs into, well what looked like the same position they were in anyway and some old woman then glared at each dog. It was weird. The best part? The clothes! Holy moley I have never seen such garish suits! Bright blue, bright green, pink, an array of colours that looked truly bizarre. Couple them with trainers so they can run with their dogs and you have the worlds most daringly colourful fashion show. Good job they weren’t the ones being judged. Some lady in a bright green suit won. Well her dog, not herself…

We found ourselves back at the entrance and originally we’d planned to catch the bus back but as it was still early we walked. As we exited you had teens swigging alcohol from a brown paper bag. We followed a cycle track the whole way back which gave us a nice view of the Tasman bridge. We found ourselves at a beautiful bay where there were hundred of white shells along the waters edge.It was here we stopped to check we were going in the right direction. An old couple said we looked lost and gave us the idea to walk back through the botanical gardens as it was a nicer walk than along the highway.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Until next time….