Hasting Caves

This is a post without much writing as it is simply to show you some of what we saw of Hastings Caves in Tasmania.

All pictures taken by Dave - you’re welcome! 

Hobart

Friday morning, I worked an early Mackay and then sat around the airport for three hours until Dave arrived so we could start our trip together to Hobart.  I was lying on one of the couches in the Virgin terminal, after napping, when I decided to check the flight numbers... which had been fine the previous day!  To my surprise, the flight was completely full, and continuing to check, I realised that all of the Sydney flights were the same.  

Changing tack, I had a look at Melbourne flights and thankfully found one that would work - although it then meant we had to sit around in Melbourne for three hours before flying onwards to Hobart, landing at 2105.  Having left the house at 0400, I wasn’t particularly enamoured with the idea but at least it would get us there.  It was a bit hit and miss even getting on the flight to Melbourne due to a polar front, but make it we did, and finally found ourselves at our bed and breakfast.  

Orana House was a sprawling colonial style building with pretty gardens filled with daffodils.  I meant to take pictures but our plans changed quite drastically which didn’t give us any time for such niceties!  It was incredibly cold but our room had a decent little heater which kept us alive, at least.  

Saturday morning dawned bright and early - or rather, we woke early at our customary 0500, and it had not dawned, was not bright, and the chill outside took our breath away (or at least mine, because I am weak.). Four degrees is a little bit cold for me.  It wasn’t raining yet but the forecast looked terrible so we decided to make Indoor Plans for the day.

A river beside which we drove

C particularly wanted to go swimming, and when we picked the two of them up at 0730, she already had her swimmers on under her clothes ready to go.  The walk from the car to the Aquatic Centre was absolutely freezing and I began to wonder were we completely and utterly insane to consider this activity?  Thankfully, it was lovely and warm inside and we defrosted quickly.  Unfortunately, having come from Brisbane, neither Dave or I had towels, which we had been hoping to hire - no luck there, apparently the only option was to buy towels at a grandiose price of $35 each.  We settled on one towel to share!  The kids brought their towels from home but seriously seeing how they treated the things made us not want to share them!

For a venue with such a grand name as The Hobart Aquatic Centre, and from photos on google, it was a bit disappointing to find that it consisted of a main (cold) swimming pool with lanes, and a kiddies pool which was mostly thigh deep and full of small children.  This pool was pretty warm forever and C and M enjoyed themselves a lot - and we had fun splashing water at them, pretending to be sharks, and dragons, and generally rough housing around.  Two hours flew and it was time to get out (with C dragging her heels very sulkily!).  

After some biscuit fortification (that I had taken from breakfast) back at the car, we decided to stop at Coles to get Supplies for lunch and snacks, and then get on the road and head down to Hastings Caves.  It was a 1h40 trip one way, but out of the cold and rain and the Caves promised an adventure not yet experienced by C, M or Dave.  

Meanwhile, a new drama presented itself.  Dave’s ex unfortunately misunderstood our plans - although we had written the email together and specified that we were picking up the children at 0730 and dropping them after dinner, she thought that we were keeping them overnight!  We only realised this when she texted to ask could we drop them at her mum’s in the morning.  Um... we only had a small double room booked at the B&B.

We quickly rang the B&B to see if they had another room available, but they were full up.  After a lot of back and forth and trying to find babysitters etc, we eventually ended up booking a 2 bedroom apartment elsewhere for the night!

After this was sorted out, we headed off to Hastings Caves and arrived just in time for the afternoon tour.  Everyone seemed to enjoy theirselves - although C kept whispering to me “I think I might be getting a little scared now” and then got distracted and was fine again.  After this, we went on a quick walk to see if we could find the thermal springs advertised (a 1m round hole in the ground that was well fenced off and not very special) and then it was back to the car (C: I’ve got a stitch and my legs can’t walk any further.). Thankfully we did make it back to the car with mere minutes to spare before the gate was shut at 1600.    Nobody’s legs fell off, either, although by the sounds of things there could have been blood, gore and all out slaughter.

Dave has much nicer photos than me but I’ll post them separately.

The drive back was quieter than the drive there, due to sleepy children, although tempers did get a little frayed once or twice!  

We had to stop by Orana House to let C change her clothes before dinner, as she had unfortunately Sat On Something.  We decided to take all of our things with us and check out (although sadly I left my PJs in the bed!) before going to dinner.  Dinner was at the Irish Pub which is also where we went last time we went to Hobart - a favourite with the children.  I was less than enamoured with my choice of fish and chips (soggy fish), and also didn’t particularly like Dave’s steak and Guinness pie (inside cooked separately to the pastry and placed inside to serve) and C’s rare steak was medium at best!  

Our new abode was a basic apartment, but it had everything we needed - warmth, beds and a hot shower.  In fact, after the children went to bed, we thought next time we might just book something similar and keep the kids all weekend and also having an apartment would mean we could cook dinner and spend $30 on something really nice instead of spending over $100 on almost inedible fare!  Despite having been looking forward to a quiet romantic morning before flying back to Brisbane, it really was nice having the kids with us overnight and they were quiet sad when we dropped them home.  

Thankfully, our flight back to Brisbane had plenty of seats and was on time - in fact, I am writing this from the aeroplane which is why it is so very long winded - you’re welcome.