What a day… I elected to get up at 6:45am and scarper before the staff found me on the sofa. I then headed to McDs nearby for some hotcakes and syrup to give me energy and then trundled round the corner, dumped my bags and stuck out my thumb.

I ended up being one of two hitchers when a Swedish guy in his 60’s appeared. Fortunately the first car to stop was more than happy to take both of us all the way down to Hobert. Two ladies on their way down for a hospital appointment and to collect a wedding dress respectively! Thank you to both of them for the lift and the chat – and I’m sorry I nodded off when we got close to Hobart. I’d only had three hours’ sleep!

This saved me around $30 on the bus fare, and I also emailed the hostel from last night and told them what happened. Hopefully I won’t be charged for that.

In Hobart I’m staying at the Central City Backpackers and it’s a lovely looking place. I arrived shortly after 10:30 (two hours before the bus would have got me in) and too early to check in. I dumped my bags and followed their map to do some sightseeing.

First stop was the nearby Citizens Advice equivalent for free internet. Swap your passport/ID for thirty minutes online. Sweet except that attempting to access GMail freezes any of their terminals. Which is annoying as it was email I wanted to check! I ended up in another place at $6 an hour which seems to be the going rate in Tasmania.

After lunch, I walked like a fiend to get to the Cascade Brewery in time for the 1:00 tour. I was just too late, but they squeezed me on anyway and I spnt an enjoyable 90 minutes or so being shown around the oldest brewery in Australia. The three samples of beer at the end were also rather welcome!

I then decided to walk back towards the city centre and do the “2 1/2 hour” walk around Hobart detailed in my Lonely Planet. This was quite entertaining, though I was getting a bit on the hot side by now. A good job the walk only took an hour! I don’t know who would take 2 1/2 hours to do it unless they only had one leg and their hands nailed to the pavement.

Back at the hostel I checked in and got a load of info about the airport shuttle and surrounding area. It seems the airport closes overnight, so I can’t go straight there when I get back from the trip. Instead, I’ll have to stay here and get the 4:45am shuttle. Argh. Ah well, a comfy bed at least.

I’m fairly certain I won’t be online again until I return from the trip on the 27th, so don’t worry if things go quiet for a few days. I’m just busy enjoying myself!