New Year's Eve in Hobart

Thor and I had a bang-up day in Hobart--he gave me a great tour of the city, and we had a great lunch and some beers on the waterfront. New Year's Eve, Eva cooked an amazing canneloni stuffed with ricotta, spinach and silverbeets, with homemade pasta that she and Jasper made. Shortly after dinner we retired to the lawn, where Thor and I imbibed some Aussie chardonnay while Jasper hurtled down the hill on his toy tractor.



Just before dusk, Jasper and I went off in search of some native wildlife. While we had no luck, Eva spotted a wallaby not more than 20 meters away from the front of the house down in the paddock. Ole Wally seemed somewhat oblivious to our presence so I got plenty of photos; we were able to watch it as it grazed within a stone's throw of the veranda. It was pretty amazing to me, as the only time I have ever seen wallabys is in the zoo. As Eva pointed out, a squirrel is exotic to them--it really depends on what fauna is commonplace in your neck of the bush.

Thor and I stayed up to ring in the new year, but watching the fireworks on TV just isn't the same. Still, we had a grand time watching a movie, snacking on Violet Crumble and polishing off the chardonnay.