25 December - Christmas in Hobart

We had booked to have Christmas lunch at the Wrest Point Casino and it lived up to all expectations.  The food was amazing and even more special because I didn't prepare it.  There were prawns and oysters in a never ending supply and all the other Christmas fare with drinks coming as fast as we wanted them for 3 hours.

 At 2.30 we rolled into the first taxi and headed home for a rest.
We met a lovely couple (Geoff and Colleen) next door at the caravan park who we shared stories and drinks with each afternoon and also shared our site with a couple of locals as well.

                                I couldn't get over the number of chins one of these bunny's had

 Boxing day and the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race got under way and although neither of us are really boaty people we were interested as we were at the finish line.

Looking out to where the yachts will be coming in after the cruise ship moves out of the way

The Perpetual Trophy

Television Crews waiting for the yachts to arrive

Right in front of us was Sky News

A large sailing sloop just heading out to make room for the Yachts

Despite where it looks Wild Oats was nearly a kilometre away with 3 helicopters bussing around it and the crowds gathering on the pontoons in the harbour..

Bob Oatley just getting off a support vessel to congratulate the crew of his yacht

The Australian TV Crews swarming

The 28th was our Wedding Anniversary and as it is so close to Christmas we usually don't make a big deal of it and just usually go out for dinner but this year with so much happening for us in Hobart we didn't do the dinner thing - at least not officially.
Saturday is the weekly Salamanca Markets and that combined with the annual Taste of Tasmania which runs for a week and the day the Winning Yacht was to berth at Constitution Dock.  The crowds were in their thousands and to add to the numbers there was a cruise ship in the harbour as well.  Walking around the harbour foreshore was not good.
We tried some wine and we tried some food and we tried some more wine and finally made our way up to the point where the Yachts would be coming in.  As the winner was a foregone conclusion for some hours before the end we got a good spot right in front of where the winner Wild Oats XI owned by Robert Oatly berthed after crossing the finish line 1/2 kilometre away.
The second boat Perpetual Loyal came in about 3 hours later and the third place honours went to Ragamuffin which came in about 1 1/2 hours later again.
Next morning we moved form the caravan park to the showgrounds and went back to check out some of the other yachts that had come in overnight.
I really wanted to be there to welcome in "Faceboat Sailors with DisABILITIES"  Captained by Kirk Watson who is blind with a large number of the crew also with disabilities.  Unfortunately it wasn't due to come up the river until about 1.00am Sunday night.
New Years Eve we are heading back to the Waterfront for some celebrations with friends before we head down toward Port Arthur on Thursday.