Celebrating the good days is right and proper because New Zealand have had plenty of grim ones to keep reality close at hand. Wins over Australia don't come around every year, and New Zealand played with spirit and skill through a final day of tingling tension on Monday.
The bowlers collectively had a test to remember, albeit in conditions in which if they had not been on the job should have had them questioning whether they were really up to the mark as test cricketers.
It was nothing like a 10 out of 10 performance in conditions which put batting techniques in a harsh light, and found several on both sides wanting.
New Zealand did however display admirable fighting qualities and sharpened their catching significantly, both qualities notably absent in the first test loss at Brisbane a week earlier.
New Zealand have an exciting addition to the bowling attack in 21-year-old seamer Doug Bracewell, who combined wicket-taking with parsimony in finishing with nine for 60 from 26.4 overs in just his third test.
They have a middle order batsman, Dean Brownlie, who looks to be made of the right stuff. They can prepare for the rest of the home international summer feeling better about themselves than they would have done after Brisbane and the dispiriting nine-wicket defeat.
And what of Australia? The word which leaps to mind - and out of the nation's papers yesterday - was crisis.
Their bowling is solid but they have just two batsmen from Hobart sure of their spots going into their next test against India at Melbourne starting on Boxing Day, captain Michael Clarke, and bouncy opener David Warner, and he's played only two tests.
It's a far cry from the halcyon days of Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Waugh, Martyn, Waugh and Gilchrist when bowling attacks felt a power of hurt.
If opener Phil Hughes was a dead man walking as he returned to the pavilion on Monday, Ricky Ponting is a dying legend.
One theory why so few Tasmanians turned up for the test, which should certainly be hometown hero Ponting's last, was they wanted to remember him as he was, not what he has become, trying vainly to rediscover the glory days.
Australia's media were magnanimous and genuine after the match. New Zealand thoroughly deserved the win; the eventual seven-run margin flattered Australia. These are sounds not often heard at a transtasman cricket clash.
It's rushing to say New Zealand turned any sort of corner in Hobart, but they opened a door and had a glimpse of what might be possible.
Australia saw a steep and uncomfortable path ahead.
