HOBART - AUSTRALIA - PART 2

In the 1950s my great uncle (dads,dads,brother) couldn't make his mind up between emigrating to Canada or Australia. He make this life changing decision in the end by tossing a coin and Australia came up. One of his sons Len was in Hobart and I was aware of this from when I was young. I later found out that his son had the exact same name as I had so that added to the intrigue of going there to visit them.

Unfortunately Len had died a few years earlier so I never got the chance to meet him. His wife Collene (who refused to let me take a picture of her but I got one on the next visit in 2009) let me stay round her place for about a week. Her life was completely dedicated to the church but she did find a few gaps to take me out to some of the local sights.

I noticed that the Australian perception of history was a lot different to mine. To them something built in the 1800s is very old which seems strange to me because I have things built in the thirteenth century only a few minutes walk from where I live.

As well as Collene there was the 3 offspring who are all older than myself.


Bill had lots of work commitments the time I was there and as a result I seen him the least of all.



Francis took me out to a few of the local sights and was constantly asking "do you have that in England" type of questions.



Francis had 2 sons Tim and Chris by her marriage that had not long broken up. To say they were a bit of a handful is a big understatement but they were a lot better when I seen them again 4 years later.



Then there were 2 Matthew James Stanford's in one house as he let me stop round his place for the final 5-6 days in Hobart. This confused his girlfriend Tammy a bit. Both of them were local school teachers and had short notice of my arrival. As a result I had to be up and out by the time they went work. Looking back I think I spent a little bit too long there.

Matthew found it strange that I was English but hated cricket. He was also into golf which I find boring (with the exception of playing on the computer). So despite sharing the same name we didn't have massive amounts in common. Enjoying a beer and a bet was about it.

We went out to a few places and I noticed that Matthew was addicted to the Pokie machines, I noticed that unlike the fruit machines in England they have far less playability, you just press a button, watch the reels spin then do the same again.
Tammy was not impressed by his gambling but he had given up the next time I visited. Tammy always seemed stressed out and was one of those people who would bring her problems at work home with her.





I finished my stay in Tasmania with a trip to Port Arthur which was one of the top 5 highlights of that trip.
Overall the island was a great place to visit, one statistic I have read several times is about 90% of visitors to Australia miss Tasmania which is a shame..........