Sunday, 27 October 2013
Having taken a glance at the logistic details, The Inquisitive Reader might ask why we didn't stop overnight in Downtown Hobart and taken the shuttle bus all the way there and back, but The Inquisitive Reader doesn't have the benefit of Madam's extensive and thoroughgoing research.
When scoping out the options the first notion to be discarded was any suggestion that we spend Friday, Saturday or Sunday night within your actual Hobart city limits, and there's a strong suspicion that MONA and Hobart's developing reputation as a prime food and wine destination are to blame. Given daylight saving and relatively cheap air fares it's easy to pop down from Sydney and Melbourne for the weekend, so weekend prices tend to, um, jump.
If you're looking for a reason for last night's stay in Margate, look no further.
But even though we were most of the way down to the rendezvous at Kettering, we were still concerned about the possibility of missing the bus, so after a light breakfast we were on the road before the actual bus we were going to meet left Hobart.
We'd already scoped out the rendezvous arrangements, so once we pulled into the car park at Kettering around eight-fifteen, we had the best part of half an hour to wait. Predictably, that meant we were increasingly skittish as various vehicles headed down past the rendezvous point towards the marina.
There were a swag of vehicles heading down the actual road that delivers you to the Bruny Island Ferry as well, but we'd read the instructions carefully and were confident we were in the right location. The chief cause of concern was the possibility of administrative error, and a coaster bus that blithely sailed on by.
When it arrived it was obvious that our careful approach to the matter wasn't matched in the wider community (or, presumably the non-English speaking or ESL portions thereof).
Once the bus pulled up and we'd checked in with Ido, the effusive bus driver, that was obvious. He was missing around half a dozen passengers who were supposed to be hereabouts and after giving them a goodly interval to arrive where they were supposed to be shrugged his shoulders and set off to join the queue at the ferry.
In the interim, it became obvious that Ido was a humorist of note and keen at repartee
And the bus contained a couple of chirpy types with a sharpish sense of humor.