Margate, Tasmania

Margate, Tasmania
Originally uploaded by Shiralee Matthews

Tired of hanging around the hostel, pottering around Hobart and pigging out in the chippie (more later), yesterday I went on a day trip to Bruny Island. Somewhere at the bottom of Tasmania, where the Tasman Sea meets the Southern Ocean, there is an island. And people live there (ok, not at the bit where the sea and the ocean meet). And this was where Captain Cook and Captain Bligh - yes, him from the mutiny on the Bounty - used to come to restock their boats, although not at the same time.

Anyway, to get there we had to drive south east from Hobart going through the small township of Margate which, according to our driver/guide, consists of a church, a general store, a hardware store, a bottleshop (aka off licence) and a bar - much like the original then! From there to the ferryport and across to Bruny Island itself. Like all of Tasmania, it is a beautiful place with plenty of wildlife, including the Wallaby - a lovely creature with absolutely no road sense at all - in both it's grey and white forms.

Anyhow, after a quick stop for a reviving cup of tea and a blueberry muffin, we were off on a three hour boat trip. Didn't I make it clear I was going on a boat trip? Well how else would I have been able to go to the place where the Tasman Sea meets the Southern Ocean? (I don't know, some people...)

We were extremely lucky with the weather, bright sunshine and a millpond sea (relatively speaking). We saw caves, blowholes, sealions, albatross, gannets, other birds whose names I don't remember and Whitebreasted Sea Eagles. No-one was sick and no-one fell overboard. As usual the guides where excellent, Aussies have a great sense of humour, and well informed. Back at the departure point we all took a while to get our land legs back, wobbling all over the place as we strolled back to the cafe for lunch (pumpkin soup and smoked salmon roll with tea/coffee and locally produced fudge, for those who are interested), Then back to the ferryport with a stop off at the local cheese factory so I could buy some cheese (Mmmm, cheese). I got back to the hostel at about 6pm and, considering I'd done nothing but sit in a bus, cafe or on a boat, I was knackered.

However, I was determined to have some fish and chips for tea. I'd been looking forward to fish and chips all week, Saving up fish and chips for Saturday night. Do you understand how much I wanted those fish and chips? Well, do you??? I went to a local chippie with eat-in facilities, aptly called 'fish frenzy' where I ordered the 'fish frenzy' (scallops, calamari, three small pieces of different types of fish all breadcrumbed and served with chips). And I was enjoying just sitting there drinking my beer waiting for the food when the families arrived.

Now, bear in mind that the chippie was packed (I'd had to fight for a seat). It was Saturday night and people of all ages, backgrounds, shapes and sizes were squashed into this place, and yet... and yet I could still hear the shrill, middle-class, English mummy organising the broods. Her voice carrying over the general hubbub, like fingernails down a blackboard. Two families each with three children (why can't they stop at two?) named Arabella, Henry, Isadora, Tom (and two others) which she proceeded to position on a bench overlooking where I was sitting while she and the other parents bagged a table a long, long way away. Ok the children didn't scream, shout or fight (like working class kids) but they did shove, pick their noses and talk at great length in very loud voices about nothing in particular whilst complaining that there wasn't enough ketchup* and the fish tasted funny. In VERY loud voices. What is it about middle-class children? Is it that because mummy and daddy hang onto their every word, they assume that everything they have to say is rivetting to everyone in their vicinity? Is this where their overwhelming confidence comes from? Ok, enough of this. My 'fish frenzy' was great and I went back to the hostel and slept like a log.


* they serve condiments here in little plastic containers which you squeeze in half to force the sauce out of a hole in the middle, very ingenious and much less messy than the sachets we're used to.