We spend some time looking round the local shopping centre in Kingston, a few minutes drive from the house in Blackman’s Bay. We’re looking for internet access and a hairdressers – I haven’t had a hair cut since we left the UK last August – but there are no internet cafes in Kingston and none of the hairdressers appeal. Helen mentioned yesterday that the local MacDonalds has started to offer free wifi, so in the afternoon we steel ourselves and make our way to MacDonalds. For the price of a cup of coffee and a tea (and against a backdrop of children’s tea parties) we can research the next leg of our trip and pick up our emails. We plan to hire a car and see some of the north and west of Tasmania as Helen and Adrian have generously offered us the use of their new house in Shearwater for a few days. We will then spend a few days making our way back to Hobart via the west coast. We’re then going to make our way to northern Australia and do some touring in the Kimberleys – the ‘real’ Australia. We end up making two trips to MacDonalds as Andy’s laptop runs out of power almost as soon as we arrive, and MacDonalds, probably deliberately, don’t provide any sockets for recharging.
A misunderstanding about arrangements for picking up Adrian from work compounded because, unbeknown to us, my mobile sim isn’t working so Adrian can’t make contact. By the time we get back around 6pm Helen already made the trip into Hobart to collect Adrian much to our embarrassment and contrition.
Both Helen and Adrian are in fine form and we have an entertaining evening over a delicious fish curry supper.