CADBURY'S ... it's all CLASS and a HALF!

(Record of activities on 15^th September, 2010 but posted on above date)

Don't look for a page dated 14th September as I didn't do one. Barbara was again unwell with a bad headache, so we spent a very quiet day in the van at New Norfolk caravan park, one of the better parks we have stayed at since we took delivery of our unit in Melbourne last February.  However in the afternoon she went to massage therapist Rachael Aspery of "Joy", who had very wisely left leaflets offering her services at the caravan park office. It seems many people ... especially "gray nomads" ... suffer back and neck pain after the arduous trip from Strahan to New Norfolk. Rachael spent a whole hour working on Barbara's neck and shoulder muscles ... and voila ... today she is a new woman.  I won't tell you how much Rachael charged in case she is swamped with too many clients all at once!

So today off we went to Hobart, and where in that city is the first place two "chocoholics" like Gordon and Barbara are going to head?  To the Cadbury chocolate factory at Claremont of course. What a classy place that is ... CLASS AND A HALF in fact.

It cost us $7.50 each to be given the full Cadbury experience, several dollars of which we recouped immediately in gift chocolate bars.  While waiting our allotted half hour "tour" to commence we just had to try a hot chocolate at the Cadbury cafe.

Our host was Al Fabian and does this man know how to make a great hot chocolate!

Barbara had the White, while mine was the Dark.  In the past, any hot chocolate I have had was made either of Bournville cocoa or chocolate syrup. Forget that ... Al Fabian makes them out of genuine white and dark chocolate.  He says to make them at home you just freeze your chocolate bar then put in it the food processor. This will give you fine particles of your chosen chocolate which you then spoon into a large glass. You add in enough to about 1/3 fill the glass. Then you top up with very hot frothed milk (your home cappuccino machine is ideal for this).  Oh man ... is that ever a great hot chocolate!

 As you would expect, everything about Cadbury's is spotlessly clean.  I was so impressed to find in the public toilet a sheet on the wall,  beside the exit, logging the numerous times the cleaner had worked in there that day.  Each entry was countersigned by a supervisor who had inspected the work. What a contrast this was to the disgusting public toilets Barbara and I experienced at the Bega Cheese factory when we visited there before coming to Tasmania.

We left Cadbury's a whole lot wiser as to how their chocolate is produced through the efforts of some 600 obviously very happy and loyal employees like Al Fabian. Naturally we were laden down with chocolate, purchased at ridiculously low prices because we chose to buy stock that was less than perfect in shape ... good in every other way of course.

It will be obvious to readers of this blog that there was absolutely no restriction on us taking photographs inside the Cadbury building.  I am still smarting at being denied that opportunity at "The Wall" the other day but promise not to harp on that subject again in this blog.

Just near Cadbury's was a little reserve teeming with ducks and geese.  We stopped to photograph them and immediately made ourselves about 40 new "friends".  Once out of the car with camera in hand they were following me around like little puppies.

From there we headed into Hobart CBD and were enthralled to see gardens chock-a-block with brilliant pansies used as road dividers.

What a sight!

After some shopping in the heart of town we headed in the direction of Bridgewater, which was sort of on our way to the caravan.  I was busting to have a cast of a plastic lure in the Derwent River, having been told by Ted, the caravan park proprietor, that this was the ideal time of the year to catch big sea trout as they chased migrating whitebait.

I fished for an hour but, as usual, had no success.  The stop at the fishing spot did however give me the opportunity to photograph what I assumed to be ... 

... the Tasmanian version of a water taxi!

Ah well ... at least for us anyway ... tomorrow a new day dawns.

PS:  today we added a new regular reader to the blog ... the "softest touch" car salesman in Australia ... Malcolm from Southern Mitsubishi at Moorabbin in Melbourne.  I bought Ranndy from Malcolm, and, oh my goodness, was he a push-over.  I screwed him down for an unbelievably good deal, and I reckon if I can do it, anyone can!  So, if you are after a good deal on a new Mitsubishi, go see Malcolm.