Day 366 of Traveling the World, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. February 2, 2019.

Hobart Redux. Revisit. Rerun. Replay. Repetition. The second day of our second year of traveling the world.

It is our second time here within a month! And we experienced 2.5 failures! Our goal was to rent a scooter or motorcycle to get out of town and see more of the island of Tasmania. So, we went to Moto Adventure, not far from the ship, that advertised daily and weekly rentals. The place was filled with motorcycles, so we thought we had gotten lucky. We walked up to the desk and Mike asked, “Do you have a motorcycle or scooter we could rent today?” The grumpy old man working there said, loudly, “Absolutely NOT!” His expression was one of, Are you completely insane??? We asked if there were other places to rent a scooter or motorcycle, and he said no, that scooters broke down too often. And then we realized that it was Saturday here (we never know what day it is!), and weekends are busy with locals renting bikes. So, Strike 1 for the day.

We looked at our map and saw a movie theater nearby, with two movies we were interested in. We got there with an hour (groan) to spare. Mike was thirsty, so he went to the concession stand for a soda, and the clerk idly asked what movie we were waiting for. Mike said, “Green Book, at noon.” The clerk explained that it was a Gold Experience movie, meaning…..it costs $42 and includes snacks! Well, no way would we pay $84 for a movie for two. The regular showing wasn’t until 3:00 pm, which was out of the question. So, Strike 2 for the day.

Then, we walked around town and took some random photos, as you can see below. We sat down outside at Beaujangles Coffee on the pedestrian mall, figuring we would at least get a nice “cuppa,” as they say here. We ordered…just coffee, mind you….and voila! THIRTY minutes later, our coffee appeared. We figured they jumped on a plane to Colombia to pick the beans themselves. So, Strike 2.5….we did get some great coffee, but it took so, so lo-o-o-o-ng!

The first photo is one of the Tasman Bridge connecting the two halves of Hobart, followed by a view of the other side of the bay, where there were 20-30 sailboats, which looked lovely. Then, some photos from around town…a VW bus on top of a store’s overhang; some shiny china; a Pho noodle shop with a very cute Nat King Cole name; a sign for Abel Land, the rest of the name of the Tasman Bridge’s namesake; some animal activists with Guy Fawkes masks; and finally, some beautiful stained glass from inside the Cathedral Church of St. David, the local Anglican Cathedral.