Wow. I don't usually do this but sometimes there is that one special Ebay seller that catches my eye. I'm not going to name anybody, not interested in doing that - I'd just like to point out how important it is to read the seller's feedback before making any bids.

Seller stats:

17 sales - member since early '07








Not a good start! By the way, one of these marked as positive had left a negative feedback comment.

Some of the comments were along these lines (I am paraphrasing of course) :

"...Packaging was not adequate. Broken on arrival..."
"...Item was dirty and old, described as new..."
"...This item is not authentic OR rare as stated..."

You get the idea.

The phenomenal overall positive score for this person was 75% - this is the lowest score I have seen so far. Perhaps someone can correct me on this.

I was thinking of buying an item from this character until I decided to check out the feedback. I'm glad I did. The retail price of this item is cheaper than the Ebay listing by $30.

The point is, these people exist out there, so beware.

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I'm always looking for a way to save money. And I suppose the best way to save money is to get something for free. You can find a whole range of Free Stuff on a site called "That Freebie Site". The part that interested me was the webmaster section. Yes, a lot of information and tools on various sites are free anyway, but this site has a collection of useful tools for bloggers like myself. I particularly liked the page rank checker. Page rank is becoming increasingly important to bloggers and indeed anyone who owns a website. I also found the reciprocal link checker to be useful.




















The range of freebies extends a lot further than webmaster tools. You can search through categories ranging from health products to pet supplies to long distance calling card credits.

My only criticism would be that some of the offers have expired (eg. Skype credit expired on the 13th of May). That said, I can understand the difficulty in monitoring every individual offer in each individual category.

To obtain the offers, some can be as simple as clicking a button and filling out your address details. Some may ask you to fill out a survey or make a purchase. The advantage of the main site itself lies in the fact that you do not need to sign up, join up 5 friends, and do all those annoying things that take the fun out of "free" sites.

Overall, the site contains a diverse range of freebies with something to interest most people. If you are interested in getting something for nothing, then this site may be of interest to you.



Important Note: This has been a paid review. This does not mean I am paid to have an opinion that pleases others. My review contains my own observations about the subject matter - both positive and negative. The review may contain criticism, suggestions and comments of my own choosing. See disclosure policy for more details.

If you are staying in Hobart for a short or extended time, I would recommend the Hobart Midcity Hotel. The location is perfect, right in the centre of town. Prices per night are reasonable - you can find good rates on Flight Centre Hotels, the site on which we booked our holiday, or you can try Wotif for good last minute deals.

The Hobart Midcity is a 3.5 star hotel - not too fancy but better than some hotels I have seen! Full rate is approximately around $160 per night at the moment. We found a special deal online - 4 nights booked and 1 night free so it would have been approximately $85 per night.

This is a picture of the standard room. We had asked for a smoking room and were presented with a non-smoking standard room. When I made a point of the fact that we booked a smoking room and showed him the email I received confirming this, he upgraded us to an Executive / Deluxe room. I didn't realise the difference between the rooms until I compared these pictures.

Standard Room - official shot:
















Our Actual Room:




































































































Hehehe! Bonus!! Anyway, I can definitely recommend this particular room, I can't comment on the other rooms. This room was huge, comfy, secure and just what we were looking for. Room service had a good menu, prices were reasonable (eg. $4 for a toasted sandwich) and the menu included standard pub fare such as wedges, hot chips etc. I can't comment on these meals as we never ordered room service during our stay. I have mentioned the mini bar in an earlier post - the prices are not prohibitive, but they are just enough to make you pause before you open the bar fridge. I have also mentioned Austar (Foxtel) TV, 24 hour golf and movies was a nice touch. When the temperature dropped, there was a column heater, a wall heater and an electric blanket. The spacious cupboards contained an ironing board, fan, heater and various other useful items. Oh, and did I mention they give you a lot of towels?
My rating for this particular room - 8.5 out of 10. I only took marks off for the majestic view of the carpark. And the bed could have been a tad comfier. But overall, it was a nice place to plonk a suitcase.

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The last time I went to the Cat and Fiddle Arcade I was very small. Nevertheless, when I walked into the Cat and Fiddle Arcade on the 25th of May, I had a strange recollection of the place. It seemed somehow familiar. There was something charming about the place. There's that word again. Something about seeing the Cat and Fiddle Arcade and the cow jumping over the moon - it made me feel like a kid again.

This video shows the cat playing the fiddle, then the cow jumps over the moon. Apologies but the video ran out before I could capture the dish running away with the spoon. (silent, no sound)




If you are ever in Hobart, take your kids to see this. They will thank you for it. Yes, it's quite old and it doesn't have TV screens or a big lightshow. But all the kids standing there, in awe and opened-mouthed said it all.

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Hobart is a difficult city to describe, unless you have been there. It reminds me less of a city and more of a town, like Geelong - for example. However I can think of no city or town in Victoria that can compare to Hobart. It's just totally different. For example, coming over the Tasman Bridge felt like coming into a mini San Francisco - it just has that sort of layout. The hills are covered with houses, sloping down towards Hobart itself. Everywhere I went in Hobart sloped either up or down, except for the docks and Parliament. Hobart can be great for burning calories as you are either walking up or walking down, wherever you go. Each way I looked, I saw a hill or a valley. It just happened to be covered with roads and houses.

 
When first arriving in the city of Hobart, I described it as a "Wonderland". It has a strange feeling to it that is hard to explain. It feels like the past, I suppose. It's 1996 and that's a good thing. I loved 1996. A strange Neverland of dreadlocks, skateboards, punk rock, death metal, punk fashions that don't look try-hard, independent music shops, and best of all, a pub called Trout that seemed like the Punter's Club resurrected. It kind of had that grungy feeling of safety. We saw beautiful buildings untouched by redevelopment. "Quaint" and "Charming" were words that came to mind. It's also got a certain something. I don't quite know how to explain it. It needs to be taken seriously, I think. You can't joke about a place like this once you have been there.

 














The weather was hilarious. It wasn't cold. 19 degrees was the warmest and 16 was the coolest weather during the holiday. It got down to 12 degrees one night. I have heard so much about Hobart weather and to luck upon unseasonably good weather is quite amusing. On the first day we arrived in Hobart, it was windy. The biggest hazard was avoiding getting a chip packet in the face.

 

The Hobart Midcity Hotel was great. It had a big bath, you could smoke in the room, great shower, mini-bar, reasonable room service prices and to our delight, Austar TV. I didn't know what that meant until I flicked around the channels a few times. It means Foxtel.

 
One of the most useful things in the hotel was the "Do Not Disturb" sign. We left it up the whole time. And every day we got a new, ridiculously big bag of white towels, soap, and an inordinately large amount of shampoo left outside our room. How much shampoo does one person need? It's like getting a Christmas present every day.

 

The bath was fantastic. It was the most relaxed I have been in ages. The first and throat clenching terror I had felt on the plane just melted away.

The mini-bar was very handy - the prices weren't too bad considering the convenience. $9 spirits, $5 Boags, $2.80 chips, $3.75 water. Okay the water and the spirits were kind of overpriced but considering we could grab any one of these items when the shops and the city had basically closed for the night, it wasn't such a big deal.

 
Also, we got 1 free night at the Hobart Midcity, saving something like $130! We booked it through the Flight Centre accommodation website, which finds some great deals from time to time.

 
The New Sydney Hotel was right across the road from the Midcity and had a great selection of beers. Many people have warned me about the Boag's vs Cascade rivalry. I didn't know that Boag's made an excellent low calorie "Blonde" beer. I did know however, not to confuse it with the Cascade Blonde we had at a place called Maloney's near the docks.

 
Somehow, I did it anyway - asking the bartender if the Boag's Blonde in my hand was a Cascade Blonde. He looked at me as if I was mad, then there was a pause.
I said "I just made the biggest Faux Pas ever, didn't I"
He looked at me with half pity, half a wry smile. "Yes you did" he said, and walked off.

 
The New Sydney had an outdoor smoking area as you can't smoke inside anymore. How annoying. At least the weather was okay. Here is a piccy of the outdoor smoking area at the New Sydney (which became a nice place to stop off from time to time!)

 



















I'll leave this post in a beautiful setting, outside at the New Sydney Hotel drinking a Cascade Blonde.

Argh! I mean Boags!!!

Hehehehehe

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