Andrew and Kathleen

Day 1 (Wednesday)

Stepping onto the tarmac at Hobart airport is like a homecoming. You suck in a lungful of clean Tasmanian air (trying to avoid the plane fumes), and realise how nice it is to be back. We arrived at 8.30pm, just in time to borrow the family car and head down to a New Years Eve party in Kingston - luckily Mum and Dad were ok about the lack of facetime!

We were lucky to see a lot of friends that have spent time overseas and who we haven't seen in ages. Like Olivia - her time overseas has changed her drastically - she's a different person now, vastly more outgoing. One of our closest friends, Greta, my flatmate from Hobart, is now living in the UK pursuing her dream. It was fantastic to see her again. She's going to be one of Kathleen's bridesmaids next year, which will be excellent!

Anna and her sister Chelsea, who hosted along with their fantastic parents, just got back from Canada after visiting Mexico, hence the "Fiesta" theme to the night. New Years' Eve, the obligatory countdown, Auld Lang Syne, blah blah blah. New Years is always a bit of an anticlimax, unless you go to a fun party - luckily we went to a good party... just a pity we were so tired from the flight!

Day 2 (Thursday)

A quiet day, since we spent time catching up with my family. Everyone's growing up (except Mum and Dad who are already grown up) - Nicole's working, just got accepted into honours at the University of Tasmania, and had to defer her teaching degree until next year. Lisa's still getting stacks of hours at the casino, and just put in to buy a block of land at Tolmans Hill.

Also went out and visited some of Kathleen's friends, some of whom have had babies/got married/had their shop go gangbusters. Had dinner at Phil and Debbie's, which was cool - dinner for three families, with about 8 kids scattered all over the place.

Day 3 (Friday)

Went to the Taste of Tasmania with Greta, and Kathleen's cousins Gary & Anita. The Taste is fantastic - a million food and drink stalls under one roof. I noticed that the trend in recent years has been for bigger portions, and bigger prices. It used to be quite cheap, cheap enough to sample several different things.

Went to Kelly and Andrew's place for an hour. They, too, had just got back from England, but were happy to be back in Australia after having experienced crap weather for so long! It was a shame to spend so little time after having not seen them for so long, but we had to get to Heath's wedding.

The wedding was blessed with amazing weather - gorgeous blue skies with only a faint hint of rain. When we arrived, Heath was his usual self, stressing about the namecards (in Japanese for his in-laws). That sorted, Tomoko arrived with her parents, looking radiant.

At one stage, a duck even hopped out of the water, craning its head and looking around as if wondering what was going on. Tomoko's father remained ramrod-straight, his wife hiding slightly behind him against the fierce summer sun.

Heath and Tomoko hired the Lady Nelson for the trip between the Botanical Gardens and the reception at Mures. They even took the wheel at one stage!

The reception was filled with little Japanese touches - from the sake cups used for the toast (with good Japanese sake!), to the paper cranes representing long life folded by the Asanos. Even the Pocky served as part of delight was Japanese through and through.

The highlight of the night was Masao, Heath's father-in-law, giving a speech in English, prefaced with the usual Japanese "Please excuse my poor English!" - you've never seen anyone so relieved to finish! And to thunderous applause, too.

Day 4 (Saturday)

Dad and I went into the wharves to take some photos of the Sydney to Hobart yachts, but most of them had gone - we could even see Skandia, the line honours winner, raising its sails as it sailed down the Derwent. Just missed it! Still, there's always next year.

Caught up with old school friends Emily and Danella at the Taste. Emily was apparently walking down the street when she realised a big, tall, scary-looking bloke was coming after her, trying to get her attention. Turns out it was only Danella!

Danella is an electrician at the mines in Victoria. The last time I saw him was a few years ago, and in the meantime he's become a machine, tatts everywhere, resembling (in his words) a prisoner on day release. He's the same ol' friendly, cheerful bloke, doing pretty well for himself.

We'd set aside Saturday afternoon to check out a few places we'd shortlisted for the wedding and reception - not nearly enough time, as it turned out. Falling in love with the first place as a reception centre made things a little easier! Newlands would have been perfect for the wedding - but we didn't want to have the reception there as well, and they only do both, and some of our preferred places in Richmond were just too far out of town for our liking. We'll probably end up going with our first choices - the Botanical Gardens and the Hobart Function & Conference Centre.

Unfortunately, that was all the time we had. We didn't get much of a chance to even relax, but sometimes quick trips are good trips.

Photos