A New Year

The new year will soon arrive in this part of the world.  We will spend it with family on an island off Tasmania almost identical in size and shape to Whidbey Island in Washington (but with about 1/50th the population).  As we sit drinking bubbly on the deck of a beach "shack" as they're called here in Australia, watching the sun go down on 2012 over mountains at the bottom of the earth, just a few dozen kilometres away the city of Hobart will be pulsing with an energy that is possibly one of the most exciting places to be on New Year's Eve.

Outdoor movie at Parliament House Lawns

Sullivans Cove, downtown Hobart and Mt Wellington

The Taste Festival will be in full swing on the waterfront, with special entertainment, fireworks and some of the best food and wine in the world being showcased at the annual event. The smaller Sydney to Hobart yachts will be arriving in the harbour as the party goes on, exhausted sailors cheered on by increasingly rowdy and appreciative crowds. 

The big maxi yachts that took line honours several days ago will probably have already left town, on to bigger and flashier places for their next race.  But if there was ever a place that feels like you're standing at the centre of the world at a moment as significant as the start of a brand new year that some people believed we wouldn't see, I don't think it gets much better than this little city at the bottom of the world. 

"Wild Oats" line honours winner in Sullivans Cove

With best wishes for a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year...

Rosie