In a fit of unplanned over-conferencing, I got home from Cambodia on Saturday afternoon and left again for Hobart on Monday morning for another week away. It was to a completely different type of conference though - the annual meeting and seminar of the association of parliamentary staff from around Australian and NZ - friendly and interactive and I even might have learned something. Maybe.
Hobart was beautiful. I hadn't been there in summer before and it just reminded me so much of a perfect NZ summer, especially in the evening. Warm but not hot, beautiful waterfront, and happy tourists having beers outside at the end of the day.While I was away Canberra heat-waved through record-breaking temperatures day after day .... and today we're still headed for 39. The overnight minimum is 24, so it never really gets the chance to cool down. Aaaaargh.
Which made Hobart even nicer, knowing what the family was suffering :) The Governor hosted a reception at Government House, which has a prime spot up on the hill overlooking the city (as they always do). Apparently it is unchanged since first built in 1858 (externally at least) and its own website says "Government House is today regarded as one of the best Vice-Regal residences in the Commonwealth" which you would expect it to say. I am not familiar with any other Vice-Regal residences but I thought it was pretty cool. I have been binge-waching The Crown (awesome! I can't wait for the third series) so wore my plastic pearl button earrings.
Unfortunately the conference dinner involved two hours on a boat, and it was very windy and rough, so I decided not to go. A shame, but after the Cambodian Carsickness debacle I wasn't willing to risk it, so went for a lovely long walk round Battery Point and Sandy Bay. It was in full rose-blooming picket-fence prettiness. So different to Canberra.
Your life is so exciting!And you make it sound funny too, though clearly you're a Very Important Person. I'm in awe of your whizzing around.
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