The rest of the Tasmania cruise

 Very hot weather in south eastern Australia on Monday, and this included Hobart - the day started out quite cool but the temperature got to over 35 degrees later in the day.

My shore excursion was a wine-tasting tour.  We got to the first place - Coal Valley Vineyard - around 10:30 am which might be considered a bit early for wine, but it was all very nice.  I wouldn't have purchased any of the wine here - not bad, just not my thing - but they served it with cheese and crackers, with the cheese coming from a local producer (Wicked Cheese).  First time I ever like a blue vein cheese.

We then moved on to the Puddleduck Vineyard.  At each of these places they gave a talk about the vineyard and how they got to where they are now and this one was very interesting - it sounds like it took them longer to come up with a name for the vineyard than it did to grow all their vines.  I would have bought some of the sparkling wine they served here - very nice.

Final stop was a "Wine and Chocolate Pairing" at another family run business - they have both Federation Chocolate where they make their own chocolate (starting with the beans, which apparently a lot of fancy chocolate places don't do) and also a small vineyard called "Every Man and his Dog".  Again, nice wine and also delicious chocolate (and this is coming from someone who isn't necessarily a fan of chocolate).

It was only a small group - I think about 11 people - and overall was a nice way to spend a few hours.

For the rest of the cruise though I did my favourite thing on a cruise which is basically lazing around reading.  

Got kicked off the ship quite early. I had decided not to check in to my flight but instead to go straight to the airport to see if I could get an earlier flight.  Went and waited in the passenger service queue, opened up the Qantas app while I was waiting and realised they were already offering me a choice of six earlier flights.  So, I bugged out of the queue, accepted the next flight on the app and was on the plane by 9:30 am rather than the 3:30 pm flight I'd originally booked.  All good!

Sandy’s Tasmania cruise - day 1 and 2

 Usually Paul and I go to Sydney on the train but this time I decided to fly.  Qantas messed me around unfortunately.  I carefully opted for one of the rare 737 flights both ways, but neither turned out as planned due to Qantas driven reschedules.  The flight to Sydney on was changed to a later time than I wanted, while the flight home has been rescheduled to an earlier time which makes me ineligible to take the “disembarkation” shore excursion I wanted to do - just a bus trip around Sydney to see some sights, followed by being dropped off at the airport.  So, instead, I’ll just get a train.  Worst thing is though, the reschedule of the trip home seems to have been done because they don’t feel like flying a 737 to Canberra that day - so the flight home is on a bloody Dash. Horrible little planes with really reduced hand luggage allowances - fine for day trips by politicians but hopeless for tourists.  I’m treating this as a reminder to NOT book our flights to the UK next year out of Canberra - we’ll got to Sydney on the train and fly out of there.

Anyway the flight to Sydney was quite okay.  Luggage took a long time to arrive but finally appeared.  I was going to get the train to Central then the Metro to Gadigal but realised that the train went on to do a city loop so I just stayed on the train to Museum station and then walked to the hotel.  Not much further than the walk from Gadigal and no swap at Central needed.

Overnight stay in the hotel was fine.  I booked a late checkout and left the hotel around 12:15 then got the light rail down to Circular Quay. First thing I see is a huge banner across the front of the ship which it turns out is printed with the name of the Sydney Swans club song. I’ve since seen Swans signs in some bars and a special event for them in one of the clubs.  Obviously there’s a gathering of sorts!

I’ve never been on the Crown Princess before.  Nice ship, similar to the Regal and Royal but older and smaller.  My cabin is quite nice - aft facing balcony on Baja deck.  Breakfast this morning was very quiet - I just went up to the buffet which is two flights up from the cabin.  Suspect it will be a lot busier tomorrow.  Have had two dinners so far - traditional dining with people whose cruise experience varies from first-timer to a couple who regularly qualify for the Most Travelled lunch - so, they’ve done many many more cruises than I have 😀😀  All really nice people.

Finishing up now, need to get some sleep before tomorrow’s visit to Hobart.