Another early start but a lot closer to our destination. The Stamford was a good choice, the beds were comfy, the shower was hot and all up it was fuss free. Downstairs we thought we could find a cab but the Town car driver negotiated a price and took us past the horrific traffic through a shortcut that he knew and dropped us down the bottom of T2. Awesome choice! It saved us at a whole heap of time in traffic, well worth the extra dollars.

At the airport the queues were horrendous, beyond anything we had ever seen before. The security line started outside the doors. We were a little worried, even though we were 3 hours early for our flight. Thankfully the airport seemed to be much better organised than we had heard on previous days and our bags were dropped and we were through security within an hour.

After a couple of hours lazing around drinking coffee we headed to our terminal, where our flight was finally called to board, yayyy!! The flight to Hobart was so short (only an hour and a half) and before we knew it we were collecting our hire car from the airport carpark and on the road!

Port Arthur was our first stop. We toasted our first meal in Tasmania with 2 glasses of Arras to wash down our pizzas. The tickets to go into the site were $47 each, but included a free informative cruise past the Isle of the Dead and around the Port Arthur bay. This was lovely. It also included a 45min introductory tour, which we skipped because it was getting late and we needed to get to Hobart before dark. Instead we took ourselves on a speedy tour through some of the ruins and viewed the gallery, then got back into our car to head to the Movenpick Hotel in Hobart.

The hotel is very modern and the staff are very friendly and accommodating. We checked in and then headed down to the restaurant for dinner. Michele had a Cape Grim eye fillet, and Teresa had fresh Tasmanian oysters and Italian meatballs. This was washed down with a delicious Derwent Estate Pinot Gris. 5 star rating for everything!

We are so happy to finally be on our holiday and tomorrow the birthday celebrations begin. Good night!