Tuesday was chilly as in cold!

We caught up with work in the morning and then Mike and I set off for a drive.

We first went through the closest suburbs to town starting with Batter Point which is the Remuera of Hobart. Close to town, lots of sea views and many larger, older homes. It is on a hill just beside Salamanca, which is the historic district at the southern end of the wharves where they have a weekly market. There are loads of wine bars and eateries and it’s very attractive.

The road around to Battery Point is quite similar to Oriental Bay and Roseneath except that the hills are not so steep in Hobart.

Further on is an area called Sandy Point. It has a nice outlook also and a real mix of older and very modern homes. In fact that’s a feature of Hobart. A real mix of old and newer architectural styles all together and apparently yet to be fully renovated.

We parked at Sandy Point reserve and went for a short walk and then up to a cafe for coffee and what turned out to be a substantial lunch.

The cafe is situated right by the harbour and is very like the Ferrybank in Hamilton to look at. It had a thriving clientele of oldies (I guess everyone else was at work) at they had an outdoor electric chair to get patrons upstairs. Goodness knows why they didn’t just build a lift on the exterior of the building. There is plenty of room and those gas lifts don’t cost that much!!

I had a very nice scallop and white fish pie and Mike had the shepherds pie. Very acceptable indeed.

We then carried on a bit further down the coast but the drizzle set in and every turn I took brought me to a cul de sac, which is not surprising given the sea was on one side and the main road on the other. We did find a secondary school located right beside the beach on prime land that seemed pretty generous!

We then turned back to town and decided to explore the suburbs on the opposite side of the harbour. We crossed the Tasman Bridge and just cruised along the seaside suburbs.

It’s very like Wellington Harbour with suburbs stretching along the edge but the suburbs and layout themselves are more like Auckland’s north shore. There is no shortage of properties with sea views, that’s for sure.

We eventually stopped at the northern end where the new housing subdivisions have come to a halt. Still an easy drive back to the bridge but that’s the traffic pinch point as there seem to be only 5 lanes.

That evening we wandered along to Salamanca with Steve and Fiona and had a pre dinner drink in a wine bar.

The boys decided against the glasses of local whisky they were going to have. Single shots would set them back $47 or $52 respectively. The gin was more reasonable and Fiona stuck with local bubbles.

We went up the road to an Italian restaurant for dinner. I had the fish of the day and a salad and it was the nicest meal I’ve had in a very long time. Totally yum.

The others also enjoyed their pasta or whatever.