We were up, packed and on the road early this morning, leaving behind our house in paradise. The boys had a big day of driving and we needed to get going. Today was the day we split and they went off to do their big adventure. But first, they had to drop us off in Hobart.

We drove back along the river and the towns along the way, stopping in Reba Sear coffee shop in Huonville to charge the energy.

We were soon in the city, the roads familiar, and we said goodbye outside our hotel, The Movenpick. The boys were off, hopefully they would survive the experience and we would see them again in a couple of days. We were very early so we went to leave our bags, but the friendly lady let us check in right away as I am an Accor member. Sweet.

After dropping our bags and getting a little organised we headed to Chemist Warehouse, next door to the hotel. Clare now had the head cold and needed drugs and I had scripts to fill. After depositing our shopping back upstairs we hit the streets. As we were leaving, we noticed a tennis player, Yulia Putintseva, being picked up. It seems the players for the Hobart International are staying at the Movenpick.

We checked out the shopping mall and arcade, but it was nothing to be excited about so we wandered back down into the tourist precinct on the waterfront. Hobart is very easy to navigate and we felt comfortable in knowing our way around.

We bought tickets for the Taste Of Summer food festival that takes up a lot of space in the area. It was $14 to enter and we were soon in a giant food arena, spreading beyond a pavillion and marquee into a garden area with seating and live music. There was also seating along the waterfront and lots in the main area. We perused all the stands, trying to decide what we wanted to try. I started with the scallops in miso butter. Scallops in Tasmania are really cheap, they chuck them in pies and on a stick for a small price. But they are no match to our scallops. They are very small. My tasting was tasty, but maybe a little disappointing. Clare had a pork belly bao bun, which she really enjoyed and we both tried a gin from the Waverley Distillery. Mine was a cherry delight and Clare had a gin and tonic. They were good. We explored the area a bit more and then were ready to try something else. I bought a rhubarb negroni. Clare was ready to try a wine so we stopped at Ponting Wines (yes Ricky’s wine) and she sampled them all, selecting a very nice red. We spied a cauliflower stall that looked good. Clare had the KFC and I had a cauliflower cigar. They were both really good. I went in one more time because I really wanted to try the tempura mushrooms. Worth the effort - they were great. We sat and chilled in the space, watching people go by.

We headed back to the hotel, stopping for a coffee at Daci and Daci. No cake today because we were heading back to Chocolate Hour! Movenpick offer tastings of chocolate desserts for an hour. It is also happy hour, so quite an enjoyable time of the day. There was a lot of people around the little window of offerings, we grabbed a couple of things. They were ok. We also ordered drinks, wine for Clare and an espresso martini for me.

As we had to leave before 7 in the morning, we decided to grab a bite for our breakfast and headed to the mall. We found a couple of buns in the Bread Talk shop. It was quite a cold day and I really had not packed enough warm clothes, so we went shopping for another jumper for me. There was nothing in the shops - they embrace the idea that it is summer here, even when it is freezing cold. In the end I got a windcheater at the Ghanda store. It is warm and bright orange.

Back into the hotel for a quick break and some unpacking and organisation. Clare was a little weary with her cold, mine was a lot better. But I convinced her to come out again for dinner. We thought we might go to the hotel restaurant, but it looked busy and everyone was a bit more dressed up than us. We looked for somewhere as we walked along. We could still get into the Taste of Summer - we had dirty big re-entry stamps on our arms. We were a bit worried that it would be too cold, but it was enclosed enough and there were a lot of people around. It was a lot busier than it had been earlier. We grabbed a glass of wine, and nabbed a table. I went and found myself a bao bun from Pink Buns and then Clare bought a brightly coloured butter chicken. The crowd was busy and bustling and it was a good atmosphere to sit and take in.

Back home to prepare ourselves for the early start and try and get a good night’s sleep.