Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Day 9 - Mansfield

A day to be grateful - for wonderful family, for my fantastic team back home at work, for the new friends I am making here and for great service from a car dealer!

Up at 5:30am to watch our local area on Channel 7's Sunrise weather crosses. This is the 3rd time we have worked with Channel 7 on this and they are great to collaborate with. I had done a fair chunk of the work before I left but my fantastic team put the finishing touches on it all, were on site yesterday afternoon and super early this morning and even appeared in some of the crowd shots! It went so well and I am so happy with how Northern Tasmania was represented. In between watching and cheering and sending texts, I got ready for an early departure as the car was heading to the local Ford dealer for someone else to look at the rattle.

I dropped the car off at 8:30am, went to a local cafe and was sitting down with my coffee in time to watch the final Sunrise cross on Channel 7 Live. After an hour or so, I had a call from the mechanic because he couldn't hear the noise and could I come and go for a test drive with him. So we did, and he heard it and had some ideas about pin pointing it, but didn't know if he'd have enough time today. So I left him to it and walked back to the van.

After some more birthday cake for sugary energy, I walked back into town to meet Greg and Sharon for coffee and to plan our day. We had thought of hiring e-bikes and riding on the rail trail but there were some rain showers this morning and the clouds were still ominous so we ditched that plan and considered the local winery. The biggest problem was that without my car, we only had the two seater Lancia available to transport 3 people! In the end, we decided it was still the best way to spend our day so Greg did two trips, taking me first and then coming back for Sharon. While I waited, I had a complimentary glass of sparkling rose and enjoyed this magnificent vista.

The restaurant wasn't open but the snack menu was available and that proved sufficient and tasty. Greg and I also tried several wines which was really quite nice.

Greg dropped me back to the Showgrounds before going to get Sharon and we made plans for a dinner catch up. Upon my return, I learned my lovely neighbour here had had a fall and sprained her ankle. In very sympathetic fashion - having learned over the course of the last few days that she enjoys sparkling wine and coffee as much as I do - I decided she needed some Tasmanian sparkling wine to help her recuperate. She said it helped!

Bless the lovely team at Delatite Ford here in Mansfield, they rang to say they wouldn't have time to do everything to my car, but they came and picked me up from the Showgrounds (it seems everyone in Mansfield knows we are here and why we're here!) so I could collect it. Now that's good service, even if they couldn't fix the problem.

Then it was "yappy hour" and they had obviously run out of guest speakers because they coerced me into talking - a bit about how we got Sunrise to town (I had told them all yesterday to watch!), lots about the new Spirits, and a bit about Tasmanian tourism. It turned out to be very popular - I had lots of questions and ended up speaking for about 20 minutes! Surely I can claim this trip as a tax deduction now?!?!?

Back out to Greg and Sharon's air BnB for this amazing sunset and an absolutely delicious dinner.

My direct family might be small but they are absolute gems. Greg and Sharon have been so caring since my Greg, coming over not only for his service, but to spend a weekend with me a few weeks later, and now the two days here. I am so lucky and grateful.


posted by Tracey @ 9:33 pm

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