There's got to be a morning after.

Saturday 9^th Sept, 2017.

Cindy has told us she’ll pick us up at 11.30 today, so we’re in no hurry to get going. We need a few things from the shops, so head off to find them. Just 2 blocks away, again, very handy. 

Looks like Craig has pulled up alright after last night, he’s in the car with Cindy, which is nice. I wasn’t sure if he was going to be coming with us today. Everyone has friends that are so dear they are considered family, and Cindy has Jamie, a lovely guy who we saw at the party last night but didn’t actually get to meet. Turns out he and his wife Lutzea are scientists who work at the University of Tasmania and Mt Pleasant, so they took us on a guided tour. It’s such interesting stuff, they monitor  ‘noise’ from space and different observatories around the world monitor the same part of space at the same time and they can deduct all sorts of interesting conclusions from the information. Things like the rate at which the Earth’s rotation is slowly yearly and the rate at which the tectonic plates move. Jamie explains the observatory as being one ear on space, and (say) Hawai’i is another ear and between them they ‘hear’ space.

On site is the Grote Reber  museum showcasing the life and work of Tasmanian radio astronomer Grote Reber, the father of radio astronomy. He was born in the USA but came to Tassie in the 1950’s because of the location, being high magnetic latitude in the southern hemisphere. Google the guy, he’s incredibly interesting. 

Very conveniently, just down the hill, is one of the Coal Valley’s vineyards, Frogmore Creek Winery, so we have to stop in a have a taste, which turns into a bit of a session, and why not, when you’re in the comfy lounge in front of a massive fireplace chugging away nicely. We buy a bottle of the Pinot Grigio because it’s the pick of them, in our opinion. The reds are not as sturdy as the reds we’re used to from the Hunter, so we pass on them. Tastings are available at the cellar door, for just a couple there is no charge, but if you want to sample the whole list (8 wines, 1 sparkling, 3 whites, 3 reds and a dessert wine) there is a charge of $5, refundable with purchase. There were 5 of us doing the whole list tasting, and when we bought our bottle, we were only charged for 2 tastings, so that’s pretty good. The cellar door is expansive and beautiful, full restaurant facilities, or you can do what we did and just sit and have a bottle. For the warmer weather there is also a very nice outdoor area overlooking the vineyard, but that damn radio dish spoils the view somewhat. LMAO! Apparently some bigwig with a property across the road complained when the dish was being relocated from closer to Hobart due to light pollution. It’s now out a bit past Cambridge, 12 kms from Hobart but could be 100kms away, so lovely, not unlike the Murrumbateman wine area, outside Canberra.

We can’t spend all afternoon out here though, Craig has another 50^th birthday to go to, so we get dropped back at our hotel and Tarasa and Shane are going to pick us up later and take us out to Cindy and Craig’s for dinner. There’s quite a bit of food that never made it out at the party last night, so it’s our task to help clean it up! Tarasa and Shane have been hiking up on Mt Wellington this afternoon while we’ve been lounging around at the winery,and boy, did they see some dumb-arses! It’s no wonder people go missing or turn up with frost bite! The top gates were closed due to snow so it wasn’t possible to drive all the way to the top, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. Tarasa and Shane have all the right clothing for the conditions, as they hike a lot, but they saw people in runners, lightweight clothes, shorts even! They were sensible enough to realise they weren’t going to make the top before it got dark and on their way back down they tried to talk others into turning back, but they wouldn’t because they figured it was better to continue on and walk back down the road. Didn’t hear about anyone being lost up there that night, so it all must have ended well. I really like Tarasa, she makes me laugh.