Holiday: Return to Oz – Day 3 (of 18): Arrival in Melbourne, then onward to Hobart

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THURSDAY the 21st, 6.30am local time.

Morning loyal Reader…

At last, we’ve arrived! But although we’ve reached Australia, we’re not quite done yet!

But before any more travelling, a quick fuel-stop was required!

That’s better! Now back to the globe-trotting. It’s now just one more hop (I think I AM turning into a kangaroo!) and the holiday can officially begin.

We’re bound for Tasmania but first we need a virgin!

Well, a Virgin flight that is (the VA1320 to Hobart, leaving at 11.20am and arriving at 12.35pm). And although we didn’t plan it, we actually walked about 5 miles in the airport due to THREE gate changes Gate 1… Gate 5… and eventually Gate 13!

I don’t know much about Tasmania (or ‘Tassie’ as the locals call it – the ‘s’ is pronounced as a ‘z’) so here are a few factoids…

• Half-a-million inhabitants
• 26000 square miles in size
• Located 150 miles south of the Australian mainland
• Its slogan? “The Island of Inspiration”…

The highest temperature ever recorded here was 42.2°C (in 2009) and the coolest -13°C (in 1983). Somewhere around 25°C would do us nicely for the next few days please!

…but that’ll do nicely thank-you!

12.30: With the flying finally over for a while (it’s felt like we’ve lived on planes these past few days) we’re switching to fewer wheels for our short stay here – we booked a trusty Hyundai Tucson SUV we were given a newish Nissan X-Trail, courtesy of Budget Rent-a-Car. Although it wasn’t what we were expecting, it drove well and was very comfortable  and only cost £174.33 for 6 days.

And then it’s just a short 10 mile road-trip to our first accommodation of this break: The Zero Davey Boutique Apartments.

1.30pm, Arrival: Ann’s booked us one of their Studio Apartments with a view overlooking the Harbour…

We made it! Hello Holiday! 👍😁

Our Studio Apartment (room 21).

More about the local area tomorrow, but for now a bit of unpacking and then some sleep! 😴😴😴😴😴