Less than a week before our holiday!

Well, where did the time go?  After counting down the weeks, it has somehow just become days.....

I produced a 200 page (100 leaf) manual for our itinerary including real estate stats for most townships we will be travelling through or staying in.... demographics, places for sale and addresses/street maps so we can do drive bys, and travel maps for each of our daily journeys!

Just a few more hand written bits & bobs to add to the booklet (which I coil bound) and that will help us heaps.  I'm also listing the travel times/distances from town to town for each leg of our trip so that will help ensure we get from A to B (and all the bits in between) on time.

I wrote a list of things to take.... silly things.... like mosquito repellant (if there are any there in Tassie), magnifying glass (so I can read the fine print), usb stick (not sure why), phone chargers, sunglasses, some knitting patterns & some wool to knit whilst travelling in the car (passenger of course!), my drink shaker, torch and other bits and pieces.... even got a shopping list for when we arrive in Hobart.

All places are now booked and I put all copies of confirmations of bookings in a clear file along with the car hire receipt.  

Stan of course is getting ever so excited too;  I found him some sunglasses & sun hat just in case he is out in the sun too much.  I'm hoping he'll enjoy the flight over, given we arrive at 6.10am in Melbourne (which is really like 3.10am WA time).... and with a 2.5hr wait until we hop on our flight to Hobart... methinks we'll be all half asleep by the time we arrive.   Sad to say, most accommodation doesn't allow you to check in until 2.00pm - in our case 1.00pm (it took a bit of searching)...  but hopefully we will survive until then!

So now I have to keep my cool.... start my normal week of work.... and juggle getting everything into the suitcases without forgetting anything.   I grabbed a larged suitcase so I can stuff a smaller sized one inside.... um, yep.... that's for coming back.  Take two over, bring three back.... assuming of course there's something extra to bring back....  ah well... the $20 has been paid for - to cover the extra luggage on our return flight....

I even packed some tomato soup satchets & some biscuits.... and have some tea, coffee and cocoa....  just in case!   Most places we are staying at have the tea and coffee facilities.... a few are offering breakfast.... and I think we have booked a couple to include a night meal.

I was trying to work out what to allocate for food for the day.... can we get by on $15 a day?   Even for 13 days out of the 19 would be good.... and perhaps for the other six, allow up to $60 if we want to have a special meal out.  Even that could be a challenge, but have considered having an entre and dessert... my partner could have his main meal... and well... Stan, well, I'm sure he could have some of mine!

Well this blog will probably take some more pace as the week progresses.....  so I will be back soon to report before take off!

Cheers.

Tassie Holiday preparation

Well, in just under 6 weeks we will be holidaying in Tassie for 19 nights, exploring the areas for a potential township/area to semi retire in - hopefully in a couple of years.  The search through propertys for sale, climate, types of building, soils, town water vs spring water, water tanks, gardening potential and other aspects has been ongoing.  Sifting through accommodation options over the whole island has been fun; searching for ideal contacts and other info (eg: real estate, job prospects, points of interest, population in areas etc) has been endless.

Next challenge is to draw up a do list and time schedule so we can fit in all of what we want to do within the time we have in each township.

Finding a pub (or pubs) with a piano to play old singalongs would be great.... probably not too many of them around - but would be good way to get to know some of the locals for sure!

Talking to local garden owners will be one good thing - in hope of hearing about the good things in their township.... it is so good that many B&B's advertise lovely surroundings.

Without the internet, we would be travelling "blind".  At least with ample preparation, we should have all the relevant contacts on hand or emails already advising of some information we require.

I'm thinking Stan (my muppet puppet) would love the trip too.....  so might have to include him to experience this trip too!

Ah well, back to sorting out my do list.....