CAMPSITE # 57 - Hobart Showgrounds Camping Ground, TAS

While we were very excited at the prospect of travelling in convoy in our Troopies, there was one thing we had to do first. I can safely say, we have learnt our lesson for being cheapies. Those bikes that we were so excited to have bought from BigW for a bargain price of $98... well the reason why they were $98 probably could have had something to do with the fact that they were made out of the same metal you make paperclips with.


Pathetic!


Shame on BigW for selling them and shame on us for having bought them. Tom's broke and after already replacing it in Melbourne, his broke again as soon as we got to Tassie and both of our right pedals had come off without being able to be replace. We were over them and we needed to return them - sooner rather than later. We were paranoid that if we left it too late, they wouldn't return our money. So, we decided to scoot down to Hobart (where the only BigW in the whole of Tassie is) and get our god damn money back.


Once we got our money back, we decided the best way to buy proper bikes that would actually last was to have a little patience and to work a little harder. So, we bought ourselves the local rag and explore Hobart city's garage sales in search of the perfect (durable) bikes. I found a ladies bike for $20 which needed a little bit of time and love (both of which we have). After searching through the junk of about 9 other homes, we gave up and have decided to keep our eyes peeled for one for Tom.


Hobart itself is a really lovely city. Kind of reminds me of a smaller, more friendly & more bearable version of Sydney. It's right on the harbour so has lovely water views and the buildings all have a beautiful Victorian charm to them. The city itself is actually protected by Mt Wellington, stretching 1271 metres high just a couple of km's from the CBD. Apparently it often has snow on its peak, even during the middle of summer. Lucky for us there was no snow but that still didn't give any excuse from the horrible winds and freezing cold temperatures we endured while we were up there.


Often, the hardest hurdle to overcome about visiting a city is where to stay. It's always hard to find somewhere that is in the budget but not out in the boonies. So, we opened up our Camps 5 and found, what we thought to be the perfect spot, The Hobart Showgrounds.

Whatever you do, DO NOT STAY HERE!!! We considered inventing a new category into our Oz360's running tally as "Our Worst Campsites" but as we don't like to dwell or be negative, I'm just going to get it off my chest once and leave it there. In the Camps 5 book, it states that you're only allowed to stay there if you have a self contained vehicle. We have stayed at sites like these many times before. Generally, this means to us - no tents and no facilities. Apparently not.
After driving around aimlessly for half an hour, due to their lack of signage, we finally found the administration office which... was closed. There were about 5 x A4 pages plastered on the wall of what you could and couldn't do and instructions on how to perform the self check in. So, I read all of the self checkin instructions and went in search for the described "Self Registration Envelopes provided in the box below" only to open the box and find there were no envelopes left. Which was fine, we made our own envelope, inserted our $13, popped it in the slot and went in search of our site. When we finally began choosing our site, we were approached by the caretaker. And it went down hill from there.

• Firstly, we weren't actually allowed to stay there because we weren't technically a self contained vehicle
• When we inquired what we would need to be classed as a 'self contained vehicle' we were advised a portaloo. And as we didn't have one, she outright would not let us stay.
• When she gave us the number to call her manager to get our money back, he calmly said "Yeah no worries, she'll be right, just stay there".
  
• Oh boy, didn't we get some serious attitude. We were ushered to our site, strictly advised where we MUST park, were grunted at when we asked for tokens for the shower and we made to feel like a pauper, by a pauper. For a moment I felt sorry for her, she was just doing her job and was just doing what she was told and then the manager went and undermined her and made her look like an idiot. Just for a moment, I felt sorry for her but then she just turned down right nasty. 
• And to top it off, when everything had settled down and we had set ourselves up, she invited herself into our campsite to parade around the Troopie in search of the Campervan, Motorhome Club sticker. Which we don't have, and never said we did. I confirmed with her that we weren't members and she proceeded to pester me that we had paid the incorrect amount of $13 instead of $15 (which we wouldn't have done if they had envelopes available to us), she wrote it down in her makeshift little diary and gave me the "you've been a very naughty girl" look, tapped her pen on her book three times and walked off. Oh dear god I hope I never get that sinister when I'm her age.

We couldn't just stay there and dwell on what just happened. So, we left Charlie behind and went in to town on the bus to eat like human beings for a change. For the second time this entire trip, we went out to dinner. We walked up and down the streets of North Hobart for about 45 minutes, just reading all of the menus to make sure we made the right choice. We finally made our decision and settled with a couple of Enchilada's at a Mexican restaurant. No chopping vegies on the ground, no eating off our laps and no washing up!! It was incredible, we sat at a table and we used a fork AND A KNIFE... what a treat!