Trip Report: Day 1, Devonport

Because I was preoccupied with packing, I had forgotten about the Wooden Boat Rally over the weekend at the Seaport. I had meant to go down to have a look at. Little enough happens in Launceston, yet I still manage to miss things. Also found out late on Sunday that Duyfken was there.

In the end I went down to the bus depot an hour early (4 pm instead of 5). Once I'd got rid of my bag, I walked over to Royal Park and then down through the Seaport to see if there was anything remaining at this late stage.


Silvers Circus has been set up in Royal Park for a few weeks. I'd had some thought about going down to see if there was anything worth photographing, but hadn't got there.

They were packing up today.

Approaching the Seaport, things looked quiet, or maybe that should be normal, for late Sunday afternoon. There's always decent amount of traffic along here now, up through Royal Park, dropping off a bit through Kings Park, and then picking up again at the start of the Gorge. It wasn't that long ago that a developer wanted to put a hotel on Kings Park, justifying it because the area was hardly used, which it wasn't, then.

Approaching the Seaport.



That looks... hopeful.









Note the rowing club on the opposite bank.





Still a bit there. Definitely have to remember to go next year.

I still had half an hour to fill in, so I walked over Charles St Bridge (which gets the name for most originally named bridge in the city)



to see if I could get some photos from the other side of the river, at the rowing club



The trip up to Devonport was uneventful. Once we reached Devonport, I kept an eye out for the dark masts. In Hobart, the Endeavour was quite prominent. I had a good idea of where to look, near the cement silos. Nothing obvious though. A big, grey warship, and there just in front, a little brown ship.

I had originally booked at the YHA Hostel, which is where I stayed when I went up last week. It's quite a way out of the city though, about ¾ of hour walk and although $25.50 a night isn't a bad rate, it adds up over 3 nights. I didn't think it was worth it for the amount of walking involved. After some suggestions from others at the training session, I ended up at the Alex, which is on the road the runs along the river, just up from the cement silos. $35 a night for a single room, but if I did shipkeeping one night, that's what I was going to pay anyway. It's quite convenient.

So I get there Sunday evening. $45 per night for the room, she says. ! Or you can have a bed for $20, although you might have to share. That sounds better.



So, that's the bed.



I like the colour scheme in this place too. Flash makes it look lerky though.

Once I'd spread stuff around the room a bit, I went for a walk to get a drink and kill time. I heard the ferry making a bit of noise so I wandered down to the river to have a look while I was drinking.



There were already a dozen people here, and more at other points along the bank. I guess it's a bit slow in Devonport on Sunday night.



The highlight of the show seems to be the cars unloading.



So I made a quick movelet so you can enjoy it too. It needs music, or something. Definitely something.

After that excitement, I went back to the hotel.



There's a common room for guests. That photos makes it look a bit dowdy, but it was a nice room with a modern kitchen and a big TV. It was also directly opposite the ferry terminal, so I had a good view of the big red thing. I took a few obligatory photos and didn't think much more about it, until I looked out the window later and noticed the sun was setting.



It made for an interesting, always changing view, with the different colours of the sky and the ferry's lights.



I did wonder, as it was facing down river, how it got out. Backwards?

I ate the rice I'd taken with me and edited wrote a new scene. ABC was showing Kylie Minogue's Showgirl concert, which looked like it might be worth watching. It was. Listening though, well, I thought she might have gained some "depth" over the years. Repetitive lyrics and simple tunes, bleargh.. It's pop music, yes, and some people like it,yes. I think she's trying to go beyond that though, but the songs are still the same even if you're wearing a leopard print, bodysuit, with or without boxing gloves. Although one has to admit, Locomotion isn't quite the same when many of the dancers are wearing black straps.



Sometime after sunset, the ferry finally moved down the river, obviously with the intention of turning. How does something that long turn in a narrow space like that? Slowly.

I went to bed a bit later. Outside the window of the room is this motor thing that keep going on and off and changing the sound it made all night *sigh*