Tasmania Trip (3)
Mexico & Hobart
We left Ceduna on 21 December, 2001. We stayed at Whyalla for a couple of nights before going on to Adelaide and doing the Christmas thing with the relatives. After Christmas we back tracked to the Yorke Peninsula for a couple of days, staying with the brother in law in a shack. To the North of Adelaide there were some politically motivated metal sculptures. I prevailed on The Head to take a picture of one of them with me in the picture. In retrospect I think I should have avoided the profile shot because it made me look like a front end loader. Sometimes the truth hurts.
Then it was off to Melbourne via the Riverland of South Australia and Mildura. These two days were long rides but the beemer just kept loping along.
Melbourne is in the state of Victoria. To the North of Victoria is the state of New South Wales. The New South Welshmen regard Victorians as Mexicans because they are 'South of the border'. The Mexicans used to be able to play football (aussie rules of course) quite well but they seem to have lost the knack of it recently and their flag has spent the last few years being cared for by sand gropers (Western Australians), crow eaters (South Australians), banana benders (Queenslanders) and cockroaches (NSW).
We arrived in Mexico City on new year's eve. Much to The Head's disgust, we were booked on the 'Spirit of Tasmania', for the overnight trip. He thought we should be somewhere else partying the night away. The pic shows the Spirit of Tasmania at the wharf with Mexico City in the background.
We docked and disembarked at Devenport in the morning of new year's day. I only have one contact in Tasmania (an old school friend) and we headed to his place in Hobart to stay for a night or two. Jim Crotty is a lawyer and a disreputable character in other ways too. He is the sort of guy who would cheat off you during Latin Vocab tests at school and then cover his paper on the rare occasions when he had done his homework and you need a little help. However, he has a couple of redeeming features. He buys his wine in bottles, not casks, and freely dispenses it in a most hospitable way. His second likeable quality is that he has an intelligent, beautiful and charming wife. How she puts up with him I know not.
Seeing as I am short of pics for this page I include these three from a place where we stopped on the way from landing in the North of Tasmania to Hobart.
Disaster struck. January is supposed to be dry and hot. However, 2001 had to be different and we were stuck in Hobart for over a week because of rain. We managed a couple of day trips including one to Port Arthur, thanks to being able to borrow Jim's car (OK another redeeming quality I suppose but that is definitely all) but otherwise I had to sit around and drink Jim's beer and wine and sample a wide selection of Tasmania's excellent cheeses and other fare. Sometimes life gets tedious.
Jim owns a yacht. On the 5th he sailed it from Hobart down to Bruny Island. I rode the motor cycle and had an excellent if pricy lunch in a pub in Woodbridge and then took the ferry from Kettering (about 30 km South of Hobart down the Huon Peninsula) across the d'Entrecasteaux Channel to Bruny Island. Melon travelled on the yacht. The picture below on the left was taken at the Royal Hobart Yacht Club. The mountain in the background is Mt Wellington, an extinct volcano. During the week were were in Hobart there was shower after shower. I rode up Mt Wellington on the motor bike once and tried to take some pictures but by the time I got to the summit I was in cloud. The picture on the right was taken on the way down the coast to the ferry
After crossing to Bruny Island we all slept on the yacht overnight in Barnes Bay and I toured the island the following day.