Day 8 – The day I met and fell in love with an Aussie guy!

18th April

I woke up feeling fresh and all set for my kayaking adventure (thank goodness, my headache was gone!) Breakfast was eggs with salmon…very yummy and there was no way it would be leaving my stomach today! We headed straight for our paddle tour after picking up the guys from Henry Jones. Simon, who was our guide, told us to put on the different layers necessary to keep us safe and dry and I ended up looking a bit puffed up (which was good coz it kept me warm too =)) It gotta be a guy-gal partner so I went with Rod while Juliet went with the expert.

After listening to further instructions, we were ready to go! My initial fear was that the kayak would capsize and even though I had the life jacket on, it would not be nice to be out floating in the middle of the sea, in the cold. However, I totally forgotten about this fear as I started out on my first kayaking journey and even though it was rather tiring, I enjoyed every second of paddling, while Rod who was sitting behind guided me along. The houses along the shore were very beautiful (some even had docks with their own boats!) and I could just imagine how perfect life would be, to wake up every morning and face the calm sea, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying breakfast. Man! How I wished I could do just that everyday.

We moved around Salamanca and the docks and Simon briefly described the place to us. There was this huge cruise ship which was called the Sapphire Princess right in front of us which looked so magnificent. There was even a security boat to prevent any vessel from going too near to it. Rod and I were a little more competitive and tried to be ahead of everyone else. Once, we even hit a wharf! We spotted oysters on the pillars of the wharf and Rod was even thinking of getting some! After hanging out for another few minutes, it was time to head back to shore (time really flew when I was enjoying myself) The water was really so damn clear and I could see starfish and the seabed when I was reaching the shore (so unlike S’pore) It was really an enriching experience to see Hobart from another angle. Awesome!

We dropped by Henry Jones hotel for a quick change of clothes (need to change into some dry pants and wash our feet as they were covered with sand). Juliet and I used Pree’s room and also made use of this opportunity to explore the hotel. I must say that the room was really unique (of course not as pretty as compared to our Islington room!) and I could see that beneath those splendid décor was the hotel’s history…a jam factory! A few minutes to change turned into several minutes as I managed to find some time to visit Jam Packed which is a store in the hotel that sells a lot of sweet and munchy stuff and bought a pack of strawberry licorice, which should be some hard gummy made in Australia. Then it was time to set sail on the Peppermint Bay Cruise!

Ok, gotta admit that I was a bit afraid that something similar might happen since the cruise would also be bobbing up and down (but not really that extreme lar). But it turned out to be rather smooth-sailing and I was starting to enjoy the ride (unlike Juliet, who was feeling rather queasy) I even went out to the deck to take photos of the gorgeous cliffs and scenery. Couldn’t really stand being outside for too long coz it was very cold and windy so I went in after a while. It should be now that I started to notice this really cute guy, Brodie who was one of the friendly crew around. He looked a bit like the actor, John Cusack (but of course he’s younger and cuter!) I stopped eyeing on him when the ship stopped for too long, probably there was a problem. It seemed that there was a passenger who was not feeling well so we had to stop by for a while so that an ambulance could pick her up before we proceeded with our journey…to lunch!

Our stopover for lunch was at this really cool-looking Peppermint Bay restaurant which had a nice view of the sea. While waiting for the food to arrive, we went out and took pictures. Both my scallops and fish were mouth-watering (and dessert which was organic Tasmanian ice-cream served by Brodie later couldn’t be any better!) We visited a little shop which sold really cute but expensive items after our sumptuous meal before hurrying back to the cruise which would be leaving soon.

Not long after the ship started sailing, ice-cream was served by Brodie. Gosh! The smile on his face could easily melt anyone’s heart! It was raspberry ice-cream and it tasted real good! Very original, unlike those selling in supermarkets which used artificial flavorings. It was really, really good but due to the filling lunch earlier on, I couldn’t finish it. I was waiting for Brodie to drop by and clear the unfinished cup of ice-cream coz there was the only time I could interact with him! Well, actually he just asked me whether I had finished eating and I just said ‘Ya’…that’s all (so exciting)

Next, we were introduced to the sea life via underwater cameras. It was really cool to see the seabed, with those aquatic marine lives swimming pass the cameras as a female crew shared with us some information while Brodie was operating the camera. We also stopped by a salmon farm and every now and then, we could see salmon leaping out of the water! It seemed that they were exercising. I also learnt a bit about the Hobart bridge, how there used to be an accident that involved several casualties. And finally, we hit shore. Knowing that this might be the last time I saw him, I took a picture with Brodie, who seemed rather surprised by the request. At least I had something to remember this trip!

We did our broadcasting tonight, since we missed it yesterday and had quite some fun coz we were joking about Brodie (and his boss was around somemore!) Then it was off to Smolt (which was rather a distance from the cruise at the Salamanca Square and we actually walked there!) for our dinner. It seemed like a nice place to hang out after work. As usual, I couldn’t really finish my medium rare fillet (it was really delicious) and thus, I couldn’t finish the dessert either. We slowly made our way back to the cruise and were shocked to see captain Richard locking up the place. It seemed that Cheryl had brought the crew back to the hotel and had not come back. Luckily, Richard was kind enough to stay with us till Cheryl go back…with the crew. It seemed that they were heading to some place for a drink and they even invited Richard to join in.

This would be my first time going to a pub for the sake of partying and in a foreign one too. After ordering our drinks (we had lemon, lime and bitters coz we had wine earlier and don’t think we could handle too much alcohol), we started grooving on the dance floor. The DJs were really enjoying themselves as this would be the last night they were doing the broadcasting and they stayed on till quite late when Uncle Jimmy (the poor man looked tired), Juliet and I left at about 1am. After sending Uncle Jimmy back to his hotel, we headed straight to ours. I tried to update my blog coz it was rather behind time but was too tired to do so. So off I went to my dreamland…with Brodie!