Having sent Dani off to the airport to catch a flight back to Sydney, we arrived home to the caravan to a few messages from neighbours and friends offering to check our house out for us, due to the massive storms which had passed through Beecroft since Saturday afternoon. Beecroft was not only without power, it was also subject to multiple homes and streets being covered with fallen trees. Beecroft is still without power and we are now more than 24hours since the blackout, there is no ETA from the distribution network – so looks like it could be a ‘dark’ arrival for Dani’s dad from Ontario for his christmas holiday in Sydney.

This morning we started with a slow day at the caravan park doing 2 loads of washing whilst the girls and Lach started a puzzle in the camp kitchen. Emma and Hamish were coming to pick us up at around 11am so that we could both enjoy a beautiful lunch and matching wines – no designated drivers required today. Emma had organised a babysitter for us, so that the girls were entertained at their house whilst the four of us wondered off to start the taste extravaganza of the day at the Glaetzer-Dixon wine room  – stunning wines tasted in a black room with a lit up table surrounded by bar stools – perfect start to a perfect day.

The wines were fantastic – their 2018 Uberblanc Resiling (which was bottled only last week) will covert any non-Riesling drinker to drink Riesling  – very light with a passionfruit and mineral taste – a perfect drop for $26, their 2017 Sur Lie Chardonnay is lightly oaked, with a fresh citrus explosion with good acidity which makes it a perfect summer quoffer chardonnay for $28. Their Nouveauv 2018 Pinot was too metallic for my taste due to being in stainless steel for 6months, where as their 2018 Avance Pinot had been in old oak for 6months which mad a significant difference to the smoothness of the wine. It was earthy and full of red Derwent fruit. The gentleman, Nick, that did our tastings and ran through all of the wines with us was so knowledgable and experiences beyond his years. It just confirms to us that the person who guides guests through wines really make the experience memorable. Watch out for the Glaetzer-Dixon label – its going to be big! We purchased 6 Riesling and 6 Chardonnay before heading off to a lunch which Emma and Hamish had booked for us all a while ago as soon as they knew we were coming down.

When Emma arrived in Hobart a few months ago, she was renting a place above a friend of hers, Jo, who is responsible for organising all of the culinary stalls at Dark MOFO – which is MONA’s winter festival. It is an annual pilgrimage celebrating the dark through large-scale public art, food, film, music, light and noise. So anyone who wants a stall at Dark MONA has to come through Jo so she knows all the quirky and amazing little food holes in Hobart. She introduced Emma and Hamish to Templo – a tiny restaurant sitting 20 people tucked away on the backstreets of Hobart. We entered and the ambiance was fantastic – so welcoming with only 2 chefs completely visible and the maître-dee so smiling and welcoming, we took our seats in prime position and asked whether we would like to start with a Gin – as its that’s kind of a day. Emma and I started with a Aperol Sprtiz, whilst Lach had a Negroni and Hamish a Rose.

Then we moved onto the chefs tasting menu with matching wines. The food was fantastic with every mouthful being an explosion of flavour and texture. The matching wines were all very different – mostly cloudy due to the ‘Petillant-Naturel’ (Pet-Nat) nature of the methodology of each wine. Templo has recently been awarded One hat by Good Food Guide for 2019 – it deserves every part of that award and more.

We headed back home to collect the girls via the Lark Distillery for Lach to taste some more of the Tasmanian Whisky’s which we have heard so much about. Lach is very attached to his Islay peat whisky’s so to find a whisky which doesn’t come from there which he likes is a challenge – and dare I say – impossible. He tried a few and smelt many more – but to no avail. He introduced Hamish to the peatist of them all ‘Octomore 8.4’ from Bruichladdich – Lach was in heaven and Hamish lost a few nose hairs. 

We arrived back at Emma and Hamish’s house to find the girls having fun with the babysitter We packed up their games and lunchboxes and made our way to the local pub ‘Preachers’ for our last drink before saying Merry Christmas to Emma and Hamish. The pub had a fantastic beer garden with an old bus. The girls were clinging and climbing around the bus as though it was an adventure playground – Audrey complained of sore hand muscles at one point and Ava of sore fingers due to all the hanging. Hamish decided to show them how to hang upside down, luckily by this point it was time for our Uber so the girls didn’t get to hand upside down on the handrails of an old bus. 

We arrived back at the campsite and it was pouring rain, the rain which we were expecting this morning following all the storms from the mainland. The girls had minute noodles whilst Lach and I had pizza delivery watching the rain make swamps around us. We collected our shoes and bought them all inside in case they all floated away overnight.