New Year's Eve

The hotel had given us a voucher for complementary cocktails from 6pm to 7:30pm. We got there at about 6:30pm. It was very well organised with plenty of drinks and finger food. We met several interesting people including a man who works for UNICEF and is currently based in Beijing for the Olympics. He and his wife are originally from Hobart and had come back to visit family for Christmas.

Previously, we had booked for an expensive New Year’s Eve dinner. We decided to cancel the booking this morning because we thought we would be tired from the long trip to Bruny Island. Instead, we had room service for dinner.

At 9:30, we went downstairs to look at the fireworks display over the city. This display was intended for children. In Sydney, it would have been held at 9pm but in Hobart it still wasn’t completely dark even at 9:30.

The concert with Marcia Hines was supposed to start at 10:30. However, she didn’t come on stage until 10:50. It was a large auditorium with a lower level full of dining table and a sloping seating area at the rear. I hadn’t realised our seats would be so far from the stage. They were large screen on either side of the stage and so we were able to see her more clearly on these screens.

As you might expect, it was a powerful performance. At the end of the performance, she did the countdown to midnight. We then caught the end of the midnight fireworks and retired to our room after a long day.