Tas-mania: Hobart

The view from over there, looking towards Hobart

When we stayed in Tasmania last October, we stayed in a suburb called "Lindisfarne" (possible pronunciation, "Wooster").  It was just on the other side of the bridge from Hobart.  It was a lovely place (Possums), up a ridiculously steep hill that I would hate to attempt in a standard.

We loved our time in Hobart.  It was such a relaxing time.  It's a lovely little city, with buckets of history and tiny brick buildings meant to keep out the wind and the wet.  We took ourselves on a walking tour, which started in Battery Park (I believe that's the older section).  Our walk took us past tiny cafes and bakeries and we put our holidaying spirit into gear, stopping at as many as possible so we could try all of the local flavours.

May I just say, very much yum to the local flavours.  We ended up going back to this one bakery a couple of times.  Everything looked amazing and the coffee was spectacular.  Hey, I could drink coffee then...

Our walk took us through Arthur Circus, which is a roundabout with tiny little houses on it.

Arthur Circus

We walked to Princes' Park and ended up at the bottom of a hill at the Salamanca gardens.  Maps are great, and I'm a pretty good navigator, if I do say so myself, so we'd planned out the walk before we got down there.

Salamanca Market

As it was a weekday, the markets weren't bustling, but the shops were still interesting and varied in their style.  Tasmania seems sort of old world and special to me, so I was hoping for a souvenir that reflected that, but would you believe old world and special is also expensive?

We headed back up the hill to rescue our car as the parking time was almost up.  As we walked up the hill, we tried to remember exactly where we parked it.  And what colour it was.  Good times with rental cars.

It was found easily and we moved over to the CBD, which was not far at all.  Hobart is built right next to the harbour.  We happily walked most of the day, sadly losing our squeaky friend Sophie somewhere.  Adrian's glasses had busted and a man from Seattle fixed them.  He and I agreed that the best salmon is from Seattle, but Tasmania's is pretty good too!

Oh, the fish... we ate fish our first night there, just fish and chips takeaway and, my! it was delicious!  Flounder, I think.

I can't remember where this was

We went to Mures one night as well, which I highly recommend. Everything that we ate had been caught that day and fresh fish is incredible.

Fish and chip wagons

They have these cute little fish and chip wagons which are actually boats.  Unfortunately we ran out of meals before we managed to eat at one.  Next time.

I'm sure I had more to tell you, but I've forgotten.  It's been awhile.

Oh, we couldn't find little fellows socks the first morning and he had to brave the cool temps (15 C) wearing his mother's.  Upon taking a wrong turn, or as we navigators call it "the scenic route", we stumbled across a baby store and fixed that, only to find many of little fellows socks easily when we got home.  We'd also found coffee and to my knowledge, there is not bad coffee in Hobart.

We went to a cheese factory for lunch the one day.... Just a moment while I remember what eating brie is like....  Soon.

Mount Wellington

(That's the thing to look forward to with birth, right?  The food that you get to eat after?  Except not anything that could hurt baby's belly.  I have a dream day.  I wake up at 10 am, have three coffees, 2 margaritas, eat olives and soft cheeses and then go back to bed.  I told this dream to a single male friend of ours and he didn't understand.  He said it sounded like depression.  Not depression, it's deprivation.  Anywho...)

Cool rocks up high

So go to Tasmania and experience the delicious and beautiful place for yourself.  Be swept up in the mania!  And go to Mount Wellington.  We did, but I'm not writing about it.   It was lovely (and cold! Hooray!).

Hobart from Mount Wellington

[First joke, stolen from D. Barry.  That is to say, Dave, not Diana as she is fictional.]