10th December - still no news re hostages - back in Hobart

Thursday 10^th December 2015

We are still having trouble finding out anything at all about what is happening in the Philippines.  I gather here are “negotiations” between the kidnappers and various governments (Norwegian, Canadian Philippine,) but nobody is letting on.  (I use quotation marks because I think any sort of negotiation with the pirates is a very bad idea.  It just encourages them!!)   

As for 2XS…as far as we can tell there is work being done.  I should use quotation marks here as well, because I am being very tentative re this.  Nobody is really telling us… Two of our neighbours have said that there is some evidence of work but they are obviously very busy and unable to go and poke their noses in.  Pete has sent emails to the marina management but they are keeping absolutely silent and unresponsive so…who knows??

Last supper on the Gold Coast (Sally, Cam, Tim, Liz, Pete) - delicious Vietnamese food!

Back in Hobart, back to wearing jeans, shoes and shocks.  Comfy clothes, really… It is cool and pleasant, nothing ghastly about the weather.  We had just got used to being very very hot on the Gold Coast (yes the temperature did go up, after causing a bit of consternation the first two days,) and now we are back to what seems like normal, to me at least.

Jetstar has a horrid new policy, it would seem.  They now weigh everything – all hand luggage including your handbag.   It is a very new procedure – it didn’t happen, for instance, on our way north less than a week ago.  They are very strict about it and they told us our combined hand luggage weight was two kilos over.  So we could either discard things, or pay $50 extra.   I would have just coughed up the $50 but Pete was incensed.  Not fair! he said, firmly.  He would have been quite happy(-ish) to accept the verdict if they had indeed been weighing everything eg the people as well as the luggage.  Fair enough to have a 100 kilos weight limit, including one’s person.   So off we went to the toilet area to unpack and discard heavy items.  My heavy items are: my computer, iPad, chargers.  In other words – dearly beloved precious items!  The only thing I could chuck was a 300 litre bottle of shampoo.   Pete got very creative.  He put on ALL of his clothes – three t-shirts, two shirts, shorts under his jeans, extra socks on his feet and in his pockets.  He waddled out of the change room and off we went to be deemed perfectly OK with our luggage the correct weight.

Pete craftily re-packing pack

As soon as we had got through into the gate lounges, he rearranged his possessions and packed everything back into his pack.  I think the staff are going to have a ghastly time; nobody appreciates this new policy at all! 

Other than that, our trip home was fine.  We had enough time to catch the speedy train into town and sat very happily at Circular Quay eating fish and chips and admiring beautiful glorious Sydney.