Mayfair Motel

Before we could retrieve pix my choice had been a complete one-0ff - the booking ledger of our stop-off, the Mayfair Motel in Hobart, which is about as low-tech as you can get. Imagine a massive old fashioned photo album and think bigger with each page about 24 inches by 18 inches and you have an idea.

It contains the bookings covering all 24 rooms for the next few weeks and takes up a huge table at reception. There is a computer nearby as well but the book is master and a formidable tome.

The whole place is nice but like stepping back a couple of generations. It's the only motel I've ever been in which has carpets 0n the steps up to the main entrances and around the areas leading to the rooms. Even the wardrobes are lined inside with some carpeting (pictured instead of the ledger which has now disappeared from my camera) and our main lights consisted of two mini-chandeliers. Thick maroonish curtains, more lush carpeting and some old fashioned furniture reminded me a little of a latter-day funeral parlour.

Back in reception there is a picture of Nurse Edith Cavell. Bizarre until you learn that the motel stands on Cavell Street and the road was given that name by a former bigwig of Hobart who had been nursed by the great lady in World War One. Dave

Hobart

We’re not picking up the hire car until tomorrow so took the hop-on hop-off double-decker round town followed by the cruise up the Derwent River.

The second was more better than the first as we were always surrounded by water and the buildings/coves/points on the banks afforded more interesting commentary.

The Tasman Bridge is about 1400 metres long but the spans are not symmetrical. In 1974 the bulk ore carrier, the Lake Illawara, smashed into the bridge causing two pylons and a huge section of concrete decking to collapse, sinking the ship and causing the deaths of seven seamen and five motorists who plunged over the gap in the bridge before traffic could be stopped.

The ship remains on the river bed and when the authorities camme to repair the damage they

couldn’t put in a new foundation/pier so had to leave a gap and strengthen the span above to ensure the extra length would be safe.

Jean