Quiz night

I don't think I had ever been to a quiz night before I moved to Tasmania, but in the past 18 months I've been to four. They seem popular in winter, dragging everyone out of their cosy homes to share a few laughs, a couple of local ciders or ales and some food in a large room with a wood fire burning. I don't know if it's a Tasmanian thing or just more common in rural communities where people are more inclined to make their own fun.

The first one we went to was a fundraiser for the local Landcare group, held in the cricket club hall at Castle Forbes Bay. Back then we did not know many people here, so we were seated at a table of people we didn't know, and ended up having a hoot of an evening and meeting some great people. We had no idea when it came to the 'local knowledge' questions. And who knew that Elvis Presley's favourite singer was Roy Orbison?

The second quiz night we went to was held in the supper room in the Palais in Franklin, in aid of the Living Boat Trust. We had a great evening, despite our complete lack of maritime knowledge. The quiz ended with drunken renditions of sea shanties, and sad to say, I think our table won that round.

Then on Friday night was the best quiz night of all - the inaugural Pig Day Out (see, I'm already hoping it becomes an annual event) at the Red Velvet Lounge in Cygnet. We feasted on local smoked salmon and wood-roasted free-range pork, followed by rustic apple pie and cream, washed down with crisp Bligh's cider. It was kind of funny to meet and have dinner with a group of people we only really know from their blogs and from Twitter. I once heard that part of the definition of a 'digital native' is having at least 10 friends who you met online before you met in person. I think our count would be much higher than that.

Unfortunately I was no help at all in the music quiz. The music was most definitely not from 'my era'. Somewhat embarrassingly, the only question I got before anyone else on our team was a 'name the tune', Careless Whisper by George Michael. Oh dear. Lucky I confessed upfront that all I know is 80s music, plus a little 70s disco! Our team was suitably named 'The Porkers' after the band on David's shirt, and after a loss in round two, we came through in the third round to win. I use the word 'we' loosely. Actually the competition was almost single-handedly won by just one person on our team, with some assistance from his lovely partner. All up, an absolutely lovely night with great company and an extremely full belly. Brilliant local fun.