I’m in Hobart now for the annual conference of Romance Writers of Australia.  Hobart is the capital city of the state of Tasmania. It’s one of the oldest cities in Australia — the second colony to be established by the British, and was a penal settlement (for convicts), as was Sydney (NSW), Brisbane (Queensland) and Perth (Western Australia). Adelaide and Melbourne were free settlements.

Hobart is a lovely small city, set around a bay with hills forming a kind of ring in the background. It reminds me of a smaller version of Vancouver, with the hills not as dramatic as Vancouver’s.  The older buildings are built of bluestone, and very attractive, and the gardens are lovely.

Spring is beginning here and on the way to the hotel in the taxi, I saw one of the biggest, oldest magnolias I’d ever seen in full bloom. It’s the kind that has masses of pink blooms and have a sweet perfume that has a hint of lemon — just glorious.
The one in the photo is not the one I saw — I just included it so you’d know which sort of magnolia I meant.

The flight from Melbourne was very smooth—it only takes an hour. My room wasn’t ready so I went for lunch — calamari (squid) and salad, which was delicious. And once I got into my room, this was the view. I could have paid extra for an ocean view, but decided it wasn’t worth it as at conferences, I’m really only in the room at night, or for a quick change of clothes in the daytime. So this is a “mountain view” room — the big hill you can see is called Mount Wellington.

At night the hills are a sea of twinkling lights shining through the trees, like earth-bound stars — very pretty, but I couldn’t get a good photo of it. But this was the view from my bed at sunsise — looks so cosy, doesn’t it, but it was 3 degrees (38 F) outside.

But hotels protect you from the weather, so I had to go outside for a dose of brilliant sunshine and a breath of freezing, clean, bracing air.

I met a UK friend for breakfast, and we were interrupted numerous times by others who’ve also come for the conference, which starts tonight (Thursday) with a party for Harlequin authors. It’s always lovely, meeting up with people you haven’t seen for a year or more. So the excitement is building. I’ll tell you more about the conference in the next post.