A long day

Wed 30

The trip started today at a ridiculously early hour. I had driven to the airport on Monday to check out parking options and the grassed area I had used before for $25 per entry was no longer available - there was an office block under construction at the site. I didn't just go there for that, as friends live nearby and I called in to see them as well.

After considering the options a taxi turned out to be the cheapest and most convenient. So after waking at 3am I called for one and left home at 3-30. As usual we were way too early to check in so an extra 30 minutes sleep would have been better.

Our flight to Hobart went via Sydney which seems to be the long way but the Melbourne connection would have resulted in a longer overall travel time, even though the flying time was shorter. A good choice in the end for the Melbourne flight out of Perth scheduled for 6:10 am was already showing a 7 hour delay before we boarded and in fact may have been cancelled altogether.

I headed to the Qantas club since my Gold card allows me entry even when not flying Business class and I can take 1 guest. I saw one of my room-mates coming up the stairs and asked her along, then found out she was a member anyway. One other player turned up later and we were able to have breakfast while we waited.

The flight was not too bad although there were virtually no spare seats, it was crowded. I did the crosswords, watched the movie (Young Victoria) and had a bit of a nap. We had about 2 hours in Sydney, so again we headed to the lounge, inviting 2 of the 60s team to join us since they just happened to be walking with us when we got there. I actually did some work sorting out some problems reported from the US but didn't have time to upload the fix before we had to board.

The flight to Hobart was much shorter but there was no film, only some TV shows and it got quite bumpy at times. I read a book, listened to the comedy and rock audio channels and again had a bit of a nap.

Pick up was well organised with a couple of vans for luggage and people movers for the people (naturally). The accommodation is pretty good and interestingly I probably stood outside the front door for a couple of photos I took when I was here last year.

I am in a 2 bed room apartment with 3 others. we have 2 bathrooms and a living area and small kitchen. The 2 person accommodation is a studio with just a microwave. WE even have a view of sorts - and an old warehouse, and old boat and bits of the water.

After a brief time to unpack we all headed down Salamanca to the deli to pick up enough for breakfast. After dropping that back, we headed to the wharves for fish and chips. After trying the floating restaurant (perhaps cafe is a better label) we headed to a more upmarket one since a couple of the girls have diet issues which could not be met at the cafe. The food was fairly good although a bit pricier than the first place. The overcast skies had cleared by evening and the water was again like a millpond.

So far my knee has been reasonably good with the walking.

Back at the room a looked at connecting via the hotel internet option but at $30 per day I will be looking else where.

The others have headed to bed and I am going to do likewise.

Later

I couldn't sleep. It wasn't just that my room mate was snoring (she had warned me and I can give as good as I get in that department) but I kept thinking about the enhancements to the program I needed to do and what to do about the internet. I eventually decided to send an email on my mobile to discuss this with the US clients and let them know I'd sent the fix the next day. I couldn't get that to work and gave up. I still could sleep so at midnight I got up again, made the changes, signed up for the internet in the room and sent it off. It was around 2 am by then but I was able to sleep at last.