February 26,2016 – Hobart

February 26 – Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Yesterday I got to my hotel at 4:30pm and was met by our tour guide Troy. He told me that the group orientation would by at 5pm which gave me a little time to change out of the clothes that I had been wearing for 30+ hours.
This is an Overseas Adventure Travel tour. There are 9 of us doing the Tasmania pre-trip and 5 more people will join us in Melbourne for the main tour. One woman was delayed by airline problems and will be arriving today.
After an orientation talk we walked to a restaurant for dinner. We had sweet potato and bacon soup, choice of entrée (I had fish and chips), and sticky date pudding with ice cream and caramel sauce. Portions were huge. The food was delicious. If this keeps up I may gain weight despite all the walking we do.
I got a good 7 hours sleep and woke at 5am. After breakfast at the hotel, we had a walking tour of Hobart. It was very interesting and there are many beautiful buildings from the 1800’s. We learned that the national symbols are the kangaroo and the emu because they are the only animals that can’t step back so they only move forward.
We left Hobart and drove to the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. They rehabilitate wild animals and release them to the wild when they are ready. We saw wombats, Tasmanian Devils, Emu, and lots of kangeroos. We were given food pellets and hand fed both the emus and the kangeroos.
Next we went to the town of Richmond. We had time for lunch and to walk around. I had a curry scallop pie. It was great. A real Aussie pie. It was a quaint town filled with craft shops.
At 1:30 we headed back to the hotel. The rest of the day is free time. Four of us decided to walk to the Cascade Brewery with Troy perchance to have a glass (or two). It was 2 miles each way which brings my walking total so far today to 6.3 miles. When we got to the brewery we each had a beer and then Troy arranged for us to each pull a glass to see who did it best. I didn’t win. We each got to drink the glass we pulled.
Tonight is an on your own dinner, I think most of us are going to an Indian restaurant near the hotel.
Tomorrow we will do a quick tour of Salamanca Market and then head to Port Arthur.