The Taste Festival is an annual Hobart event, and quite possibly, the best event of them all. The beauty of it is that it’s free to get in to, so as locals, we’re able to wander down and grab a gourmet lunch every day for a week. That’s an undeniably wonderful treat!

We decided to go at 1pm on the 31st of December, probably not the smartest move.  We were expecting raucous crowds of starving tourists fighting over the last pink ling fillet - but what we got, was a very pleasant surprise indeed.

There wasn’t a huge manic crowd, in fact, people could comfortably wheel their children around the place without inciting road rage.  There were plenty of tables in the sun, overlooking the boats arriving from Sydney, and the food was delicious! We each tried a game souvlaki, mine a slightly less adventurous venison compared to Richard’s buffalo and later, a poor innocent little Wallaby.

We also tried the gourmet fish and chips and the world renowned oysters from “Get Shucked” on Bruny Island, all washed down with a refreshing Mercury Dry Cider.

There is also a rather brilliant Winery tent with all the Tasmanian wines a man called John could ever ask for.  There’s twilight movies on the parliament lawns, a woman who can hoola hoop ten hoola hoops all at once and did I mention the million dollar view of the Sydney to Hobart yachts arriving?