How NOT to see Tasmania!

Following in the footsteps of intrepid dutch explorers, british convicts and a well known, rotund, beer guzzling cricketer, 'Little Brother' decided to cross Bass Strait and pay a brief visit to the Apple Isle.

In the good company of the Hawker,"Little Bro' spent a splendid Saturday soaking up the sunshine and the hospitality of good folk of Launceston. After a quick breakfast on Brisbane Street, we made our annual pilgrimage to Aurora Stadium via the monkey enclosure.

The main purpose of our visit was the clash of the big birds, the might of the West Coast Eagles versus the Hawthorn Hawks. After four quarters of absorbing football, Little Bro was left ruing some interesting selections from the coaches' box that saw his side run out of legs in the last quarter and narrowly lose by 7 points. 

Thinking we had plenty of time before our return flight to the mainland, the Hawker and I returned to the Grand Chancellor Hotel for a well-earned drink. If only we had known that at that very moment our plane was taxiing up the runway for the return journey home!

Mistake #1 Never assume that your travel buddy has everything under control! Having printed out the wrong itinerary, the Hawker had mistaken the departure time of our flight. Needless to say when we turned up at the airport, we were told that we had missed our flight. The gentlemen was more concerned about his Saturday evening plans than helping us getting home. Like the convicts who came before us, we had very little chance of escaping Van Diemen's Land.

Mistake #2 Never try and fly out of Tasmania at the start of school holidays! All the airlines were booked until Monday or Tuesday. Using the Hawker's 2nd generation phone, we soon realised that our only option of escape was via the City of Hobart, some 194km to the South and a $495 ticket on Qantas...

Keen to get home and clean his flat (My inspection was on Monday) Little Bro swung the credit card into action, purchased two tickets from Hobart to Melbourne and hired a Toyota Carolla for the trip to Hobart. After 194km of winding our way through the  early winter fog we arrived in the beautiful city of Hobart at 1:00am in the morning. The view of top of the Derwent Bridge was truly spectacular. We spent 4 very uncomfortable hours pretending to sleep in the hire-car before making our final escape to the mainland on QF1010 at 6:05am. For $495 we got a mandarin, a bowl of muesli and a cup of coffee. Not exactly my idea of a gourmet breakfast.

The Hawker and I are very relieved to be back on the mainland and have vowed not to let the experience deter us from a return journey next year. Be sure that we will check and double check our itinerary!