Day 7, Wednesday 1/1/2014, Hobart and Mount Wellington

It was a fairly late start. Everyone was tired after the noisy, late night. It's cold, windy and drizzly. Col and I packed up our Foxwing awning and kitchen to use our car to drive into Hobart. Parking seemed impossible until Fiona Googled it and found a field to park in a few blocks north of the harbour with a free shuttle bus.
I got there with only 10 minutes to spare to find Clyde. Just as they were about to leave Col, Jordan, Jack and I found him and had a chat at his yacht. They had sailed through 60 nott winds during the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and he had a gash on his face from ducking under a wave (that went over the boat). He hit his face on a winch handle. Lots of big hugs. Miss you Clyde! It would have been fun to help them sail back. Might have to do that one day!

Time for food and wine tasting at Macquarie Pier which was mostly undercover, plus strolling along some galleries and shops. The kids stocked up on some more warm clothes and raincoats at a 75% off Katmandu sale.

Suddenly the sun came out and a trip up Mt Wellington seemed the go while it wasn't shrouded in cloud. Our Hema navigator tried to take us the back way which is now blocked off by private properties. Whoops! So I used Maps on the iPhone instead and got great instructions. The mountain is so much higher than it looks from Hobart. Seemed to take forever to drive up. It is only 1200m, but as it is directly from sea level it felt so high. The view was spectacular and the wind wild! 56 notts.  you had to hold onto the tower at the top to not get blown off. The kids were lifting their feet and the wind could hold them sideways! During the gusts you couldn't physically walk against it. I played with a panoramic photo. Bruce and Fiona left early as they thought their kayaks would get blown off the car.

Leah, Gary, Eliza and Amara had arrived there before us (as we got lost) and were leaving as we arrived. Just as we were about to leave a rainbow appeared and I had to run over to get a photo, needing to push through the gale to get back to the car.
The wind was so wild back at camp that Leah and Gary's tent was flattening to the ground with each gust, then popping back up. Eliza was scared, so they set up their beds in the car.
That night the pole popped through the the top of Bruce's tent which then collapsed. Fiona stayed nice and snug in the collapsed tent while Bruce made a huge rubber washer out of a football to plug the end of the pole. It worked very well as it was much larger than the hole.

We had our Foxwing out for tea and it did OK tied down well, but packed it away for overnight. It was lovely to see the stars in the night sky for the first time.
Jordan entertained everyone last evening after tea reading out a quiz from her diary (bought in Melbourne) about personality traits. This prompted some interesting and insightful conversations. Col and Bruce were testing their new kayaking jackets in the wind. Jack is desperate to have a go in the kayak. Hopefully the wind will ease up for tomorrow. The other plan for tomorrow is the MONA art gallery.