Day 10, Saturday 4/1/2014, Hobart

Off to explore the famous Salamanca Markets today. The markets were almost called off due to the 70km/hr winds, but thankfully they toughed it out. We broke off into smaller groups and raided the place. Fun.

I found the giant leather satchel/handbag that I wanted and a beautiful leather bound diary from the LOTR (Lord of the Rings)/GoT (Game of Thrones) shop. Jordan was totally taken with a dagger. We showed it to Col and Jack to see if Col would have any major opposition to Jordan getting the dagger. You should have seen Jack's eyes! He fell in love with a Knights Templar sword which I slipped him a bit of money to help him buy. Later on Col bought a chopping board, stirring spoons, a hat and possum socks x2 (I stole 1 pair).

They were on such a high from their purchases, it was hilarious!

On getting back near our cabins, Col and I went exploring the scout grounds, finding a climbing tower and archery, then back to the cabin for lunch.

Williams and Parkes have the most adorable teenagers ever. They offered to take Eliza and Amara to the movie "Frozen" while the adults had a lovely break together cider tasting at The Apple Shed and visiting Cascade Brewery (1824-1927) which was closed, but we enjoyed a stroll around the building and park.

I had an early night. I was in bed by 8.30pm (read until 9.30pm) and slept until 7.30am. 10hrs sleep! Woooohoooo!

Day 9, Friday 3/1/2014, Kingston and Tahune

Everyone was up and ready to leave the cabins by 8am.
The rain and wind have settled a bit today and it's perfect. It was lovely to be doing something as a whole group, heading south through Huonville, up into the mountains to the Tahune Treetop Walk. Gorgeous! First we watched a DVD on the Huon Pine, then a short hike along the Huon River followed by 112 stairs up to the treetop walk and then 2 swinging bridges over the Huon and Picton Rivers.

Eliza got a huge thrill today doing the "hanglide" flying fox across the Huon River after a demo from Gary.

After lunch Leah, Gary, Eliza and Amara went their own way, food tasting their way back towards Hobart to get their tent poles fixed.
Parkes and Williams families had a lovely afternoon. First we checked out the timber boat museum at Huonville at Clyde's suggestion. So interesting! The timber boats are so beautiful and romantic. Huon is the perfect timber for boats as it doesn't rot. You can sign up to do a 7 week course and build a dingy, or a 1.5yr course to build a small yacht and get your ship wright certificate.

We detoured to the east, taking the southern coast road back to Kingston to visit roadside farms, buying cherries, strawberries, apples, cider, cheese and liqueur.
Pagan cherry and apple cider was great. They were the first to think of cherry cider, deciding to use their reject cherries for this rather than dumping them. I suggested cherry wrestling events rather than dumping them which tickled his fancy.
Our favourite farm was GrandvEwe sheep property. They sell sheep cheese, and liqueur made from the sheep milk whey (with vanilla), yum!
Our pleasant drive ended back at our cabins via the beach at Kingston. Dinner was wine, cheeses, salmon, cherries, strawberries and sourdough.

Most then had a very early night. Col watched cricket with Gary for a bit, Leah and I looked through some photos, with me running back and forth to the washing machine. I then watched LoTR2 while also reading GoT.