The scenery in Hobart is breathtaking. We’ll be returning to Hobart in a few days and will share more photos.

Each time we arrive at a new location, we do so with the utmost excitement coupled with a twinge of apprehension. With many factors important to us to attain a reasonable degree of comfort and livability, we often scamper about checking out the most important aspects.

As we drove on Highway 1 in Tasmania to Hobart (then on A6 to the Huon Valley), we were intrigued by the change in the scenery, which was more desert-like than lush greenery.

Some of our expectations may seem petty or even ridiculous, but we’ve easily determined what matters to us after all this time of traveling the world. So, of course, we’ve investigated the likelihood of those expectations before booking the property.

Windmill in another small town.

Regardless of how much research and inquiry we may exercise, there are always surprises, both good and not so good. So what are the items that enhance the depths of our experiences while living on someone else’s property? 

• View: For us, the most influential aspect of any vacation home is its location and view. On the few occasions where we didn’t have a good view, we were sorely disappointed. 
• Wi-Fi: This is tricky.  Most vacation home listings state there is Wi-Fi. However, in about 35% of the cases, the signal is inadequate for our purposes. In these cases, we have no choice but to purchase a hotspot device with a SIM card with lots of data, often at high costs.
• Refrigerator size:  This may not be important for those who’ll stay a short period.  Often staying for as long as three months and cooking most of our meals, this becomes of the utmost importance.
• The comfort of the bed and bedding.
• Shower: Showers in vacation properties may be tiny and without shelves for shampoo, soaps, and a razor. 
• Kitchen gadgets, pots, pans, sharp knives, decent dinnerware, large mixing bowl, and baking pans (if none, we purchase disposable tinfoil pans). Space in cupboards for grocery items (rarely adequate).
• TV: Is there a TV, and is it new enough to accommodate our HDMI cord? We can manage without a TV, and if the property is nice enough, we’ll forgo it. 
• Comfortable seating in lounge/living room for posting and leisure periods.
• Coffee maker or French press and electric teapot.
• Adequate and easily accessible electrical outlets: We have lots of equipment that requires charging.
• Screens on at least a few windows: Seldom a reality in many parts of the world.

The scenery changed dramatically as we drove toward the middle of Tasmania, further from the sea.

Although this seems to be a lengthy list, it became inherent in determining the degree of comfort and ease of living that we’d prefer available to us as we travel the world.

Tom stood in front of this giant tree trunk in Campbell Town.

Any one of us could easily make such a list of desired criteria when staying in a hotel for a few nights, let alone a home for weeks or months. Most properties we’ve rented have met most of our expectations. Some have had only a few of our preferred criteria, but somehow, we’ve adapted and still had an excellent experience.

River bridge in Campbell Town.

As for this new location in the Huon Valley in Tasmania, the only concern is the lack of a good Wi-Fi signal. We’re figuring this out with our Australian (Telstra) hotspot and SIM card that we already had in our possession. 

White ducks in the river in Campbell Town.

As soon as we attempted to get online, we discovered it is a necessary adjunct to our connectivity since we can’t access a strong enough signal on the house’s WiFi. Unfortunately, we’ll have to add more data to the SIM card, which can be costly, but at this point, there’s no alternative.

There’s local/state significance in each of the chainsaw carvings.  See the photo with the information.

Otherwise, for our needs, this property is ideal. Yes, as preferred, we’re in a very remote area although it’s only 35 minutes to Hobart, which we’ll visit often. Also, after checking out the nearby towns yesterday, we discovered a fabulous butcher in nearby Geeveston that carries grass-fed beef and lamb and free-range organic chickens.

This document explains the history and the carvings.

The views and local scenery are outstanding. In time, we’ll be sharing many photos of our immediate views and views of the surrounding areas, including some distant locations. 

Each sculpture displayed a sign with information.

Last night, I quickly put together a dinner of pork chops for Tom, lamb chops for me, veg, and salad, and we were content. Tom watched a playoff football game while I prepared the easy dinner. 

Tom suggested a photo displaying all three of these chainsaw sculptures.

Our lovely property owner, Anne, stopped by to ensure we had everything we needed and supplied us with a giant mixing bowl, the only item we were missing.

The Foxhunters Return building in Campbell Town.

The drive from Penguin to Huonville was delightful with perfect weather, gorgeous scenery, low traffic, and decent roads. Unfortunately, we ran into some road construction that slowed us down by 45 minutes, but we weren’t in a hurry. We even had time to stop at a few interesting spots for photos.

The unusual building we encountered on the drive.

We arrived at the house by 3:30 pm and had decided to wait to drive to Woolie’s in Huonville until today for the remainder of the groceries. So as soon as we’ve uploaded today’s post, we’ll head out to shop and check out more of this outstanding area in the Huon Valley.

We’ll be back tomorrow with many more photos and, of course, stories to tell.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 17, 2016:

Although we don’t have dress-up clothes for formals nights aboard the ship, we do our best with what we have.  This proved to be an extraordinary night for us.  Please click here for details.