Hobart and Surrounds

13 November - Hobart

Julie's brother Brett arrived around midday, we picked him up from the airport and checked him into a cabin at the same van park we were staying.  The next six days were spent showing him around Hobart and basically anywhere within 100klm from where we were staying. Some of the places we have already been too but the majority we had held off awaiting Brett's arrival.

First up we went to the top of Mt Wellington which offers wonderful panoramic views of Hobart, the Derwent River and the many bays and inlets of the Tasman Peninsula.

Hobart from Mt Wellington

Mt Wellington conquered

Dinner was held at the Drunken Admiral on Constitution Dock which is a great restaurant decked out like the interior of an old sailing ship. The three of us were squeezed into a two person bay - the food was really good.

The next day started by dropping the car off in Hobart for a service then while that was going on dodging some light showers in the city that led us to Kathmandu outdoor shop on Salamanca Place. Any of you with shares in Kathmandu will receive a healthy dividend this year courtesy of the three of us. 

Arthur's Circus, Battery Point, Hobart

A quick wander around Arthur's Circus, Battery Point was cut short by a message that the car was ready. Off to Mt Nelson we drove for lunch at the Signal Station Brasserie which has commanding views over Hobart. 

Lunch views at Signal Station Brasserie, Mt Nelson

Signal Station Brasserie

Taroona Shot Tower near Kingston Beach

Wanting to completely exhaust ourselves we went to the Shot Tower at Taroona. In the olden days rifle shot was made of lead. To make the little lead balls they had to melt the lead, put it in a sieve and let it dribble through and allow it to fall around 48 metres into a tub of water. The falling process cooled the lead as it formed into a ball. The barrel of water at the bottom of the tower merely completed the cooling process but did not influence the shape of the lead. The easy part was melting the lead, the hard part was finding something high enough to create the falling process. A tower was the answer. Hence a Shot Tower was born. The one in Taroona, Hobart was the first one built in Australia and produced very high quality shot.

Inside the Shot Tower

Top of Shot Tower

Built in just 11 months with metre thick walls at the bottom tapering to a half-metre thick at the top, the top is accessed by 300 wooden steps that spiral up the inside. For a mere $8 one can climb to the top via these stairs. We paid a mere $8 and climbed to the top. At the top the mere 40+klm winds blowing made walking around the top worse than the walking up the mere 300 steps inside the tower.  However we all walked around the top just to say we had done it.

View from the top of the Shot Tower

Because we hadn't done much today we all went for a walk along Seven Mile Beach in front of where we were staying before having dinner and falling into bed.

A walk along Seven Mile Beach

Salamanca Market Junkie

The next day was Saturday and what else is there to do in Hobart on a Saturday morning but go to the Salamanca Markets. The only better thing I can think of to do is not to go to the Salamanca Markets. After wandering around for an hour or so we saw nothing, ate nothing and bought nothing - markets .... why?

One of  the AmHudson's in Hobart

The other AmHudson in Hobart

This is an artwork - the whole room!

An aborted attempt to visit MONA the previous day, because it was closed due to an international chefs gathering, was reenacted with great success today. MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) is filled with great art works, some clever, others confronting and the rest confusing. iPhones are provided free with the modest entry fee. The phone tracks your location in the gallery and provides detailed explanations of what you are looking at. With this technological aid the level of understanding is greatly increased while confusion levels tend to remain the same.

Made from discarded incense ash, MONA

This is also an artwork

MONA's owners' car parks

For some of the exhibits the setting for the display is better that the actual exhibit. Throughout the whole of the museum in the background, strange music plays creating a wonderful atmosphere.  The ambience in this art gallery is really special and it is one of the best art galleries we have ever visited.

GASP flowers and some crazy lady (not public art)

Keeping with the acronyms, after MONA we visited GASP (Glenorchy Art and Sculpture Park) (otherwise known as Great Another Stupid Place) just nearby. An attempt to see it yesterday was also thwarted due to some sort of event going on just like MONA. Today it was open but everything in it had been stolen. Thank heavens Brett (an architect) was there who explained that nothing had been stolen and that buildings can be art in their own right. I still kept looking for the stolen art works to no avail.

GASP - one of understands and the other doesn't

Richmond cemetery

Next we were off to historic Richmond to visit its iconic 1832 convict built bridge, its beautiful church and the scariest cemetery I've ever been in. The old part of the cemetery was built on the side of a soft earthen hill. Over time the soft earth has given way and the tombstones are leaning at all sorts of angles. If ever there was a site for a scary movie in a cemetery this is it.  

Richmond church

Richmond bridge

Arriving home for dinner outside under the awning we went to bed because tomorrow was to be a long day.

Who said tomorrow never comes because today is yesterday's tomorrow and we left early in the morning to head to Port Arthur Convict Site. In the early 1830's England used to send all their convicts to Australia. As everyone now knows these convicts were the bright and inventive people in England at the time. The ones that could play cricket better, rugby league better - better at everything really. Look what is now left behind in England and one can see that this social experiment of the early 1830's was a failure for them and a success for Australia. Even the 10 pound Pom trade of the 1950's couldn't dilute the superiority that Australia still enjoys today.

Yes, it was raining for a change

Cell in solitary confinement (the separate quarters)

Separate Prison chapel

Port Arthur Penitentiary

We wandered around the site for half a day marvelling at the old buildings and imagining what life would have been like in its heyday. Ooh the quality of the football and cricket matches that would have been played on the grassy field in front of the penitentiary ruins. 

Church at Port Arthur

Included in our entry fee was a boat ride around the Isle of the Dead, a little island with 1100 burials on it. Convict graves were unmarked as their souls were owned by the state and not God or the church. Surprisingly, just offshore of this sad island was an Australian submarine floating on the surface. The boat skipper said it was extremely unusual to see one, with the last sighting being seven years ago.

Aussie submarine sighted as we take boat trip to Isle of the Dead

Tasman Arch (Julie and Brett top right)

Heading towards home, but not going there, we revisited Tasman Arch, the Devil's Kitchen and the wild cliffs of the Tasman Peninsula.

Having our fill of Port Arthur but not old ruins we took Brett to the Coal Mine Historic Site just up the road and then a little further on to Lime Bay to show him where we camped the week before. This was followed by a visit to Eaglehawk Neck and the dog line. The Neck is only a 100 metres or so wide and is the only land access to the Tasman Peninsula where Port Arthur lies. 13 vicious dogs were pegged across the isthmus to guard against any escaped convicts trying to cross. 

The dog line on Tasman Peninsula

A visit to the tessellated pavement and then to a spectacular lookout over the coast south to the Tasman Peninsula rounded off a great but big day for all of us.

Tessellated Pavement, Tasman Peninsula

Looking down the Tasman Peninsula

Getting a photo in the snow, Lake Dobson

Next day we headed northwest back to Mt Field National Park. The weather looked favourable to revisit Russell Falls and even more favourable for the possibility of snow up at Mt Field. The falls were again spectacular with the sun in just the right position to light up the cascading water. After all that effort (20 minute walk) a good coffee and brunch were in order at the cafe at the information centre.  

It still looked promising that the chance of snow up the top of Mt Field was likely, so we embarked on the 14 klm dirt road to the top. Despite the pessimism of the architect in the car, we did see snow and, much to my delight, a snowfall at the top! After taking photographs of the snow and snowing to prove that I was right and the architect not as right (wrong) we descended into more temperate climates.

Well all that success could only be rewarded with a visit to a whiskey distillery. NANT whiskey distillery in Bothwell was our next destination. The distillery has a lovely restaurant overlooking a little creek that feeds their water wheel that turns a gearing system that seems to do nothing else but look good. So it was here that we had a great lunch while I looked at the whiskey list. A sip was $28. A bottle was $205. I can't tell you what NANT whiskey tastes like but according to the reviews it is nice.

Nant Distillery

With our fill of fine food and no whiskey we headed home for dinner under the stars that were above the awning. So I also cannot tell you what the stars looked like because the awning was in the way.


So that, everyone, is a summary of our time in Hobart and its surrounds. A truly great place to visit made even more enjoyable by having Brett with us.

We dropped Brett off at the airport, between road closures for the visiting President of China here to sign a deal that will benefit China and the local farmers and increase prices for Australians. 

Our trip to Tasmania is entering its twilight period. We leave in a couple of weeks. We are now heading north towards Freycinet National Park with no real plans as yet. The next part of our adventure is yet to unfold and will form the next Post.

We really love travelling Tasmania. The weather is slowly starting to settle and is more predictable. It is getting warmer too.

So that's it for this Post. The next one will be from Freycinet or somewhere further north or west.

Bruny Island to Hobart

2 November - Last time we spoke we were in Tasmania leaving Bruny Island. Well we have left Bruny Island and are still in Tasmania - a lot happens when you're on the road.

Our plans were to head south towards Dover, spend some time in a bush/freedom camp on the way. If none of the bush/freedom camps were any good we would set up in Dover caravan park. We have set up in Dover caravan park. We had high hopes for a site in Franklin but it was under reconstruction and the ground was sodden with puddles everywhere. We weren't disappointed though as we had a lovely lunch at the popular Petty Sessions Cafe, Franklin.

Dover campsite

The recent wild weather took down two big trees in the Dover van park and with them more than half the power to the park. The good sites are off limits as well as the main amenities block. We negotiated a site out the back with views of the stream and its many ducks. To get to the site 4WD had to be engaged due to the soggy ground from the rain I think I mentioned earlier.

Next day we set off early to the Tahune Forest AirWalk - an air walk in the Tahune Forest.

Tahune AirWalk

Tahune AirWalk - Cantilever bit

Petting a wild Huon Pine

We had the AirWalk to ourselves and the spectacular cantilever viewing platform was empty the whole time we were on it. Walking 35-40 metres in the treetops of south west Tasmania was very special. We did all the other walks in the area with the highlight for Julie being to pat a live Huon Pine tree for the first time. These trees live to over 2500 years old.

Whale Walk nr Cockle Beach

After the AirWalk we drove further south to the end of the most southerly street in Tasmania at Cockle Beach. We were scouting for a good bush camp for a couple of nights but all the camps were sodden from the recent rains that I think I mentioned earlier. The nearby Whale Walk provided a bit of interest though.  Disappointed but philosophical we returned to Dover where we remained set up for another few days.

Snow on the track - Hartz Range

Lake Esperance

The following day was a gem - weather wise. A drive up into the Hartz Ranges and the Lake Esperance walk was on the agenda. I don't know whether I mentioned it before but in recent weeks/days we have had some wild and cold weather. As a result the walk to Lake Esperance had quite a bit of snow. With clear skies, cool temperatures and snow around us, we had the track completely to ourselves.

This is one of the rare walks where the journey and the destination are both spectacular. A couple of extra walks to the Arve Waterfall and a lookout completed a wonderful time high in the Hartz Ranges. 

Hartz Range Lookout

On the way home we wanted to do another of the top 60 Walks in Tasmania - that being Duckhole Lake, another sinkhole. With 2 GPS's, my iPhone with MudMaps running, several hardcopy maps and two adults who are pretty used to orienteering we still got lost. Well not lost really - it was more that a closed fire trail stood between us and Duckhole Lake. Replanning everything we had, we were taken up and along a very slippery, winding, narrow, overgrown, 4WD track by both our GPS's, iPhone with MudMaps running and hardcopy maps.

The road/track to Duckhole Lake

The sign to Duckhole Lake

The walking track to Duckhole Lake

Finally we popped out of the jungle and there was the start of the track to Duckhole Lake in front of us. 

Just us and Duckhole Lake

Tasmania's/Australia's most southerly road

Not caring how good the walk was we were more rewarded by the fact we found the start of the track. As for the walk, it was pretty good. It followed a mossy stream through thick forest to a football sized lake created from a collapsed limestone cave. All pretty good I suppose although we had to dodge the rain a bit. But did I emphasise enough that we actually found the start of the track! We headed home mighty pleased with ourselves.

South Cape Bay walk starts at the end of the most southerly street in Tasmania out of Cockle Bay. It was there we headed the next day under cloudy skies. The 15.5 klm walk tracks through scrub and then along narrow boardwalks through marshy plains and up and down sandhills to a headland that overlooks South Cape Bay. On arrival the wind was howling and the grey skies were threatening. Perched high up on the headland on dark grey shale rock we had our lunch. The fact we were right down the bottom of Tasmania/Australia was reason enough to feel pleased with ourselves. This was another walk off my Bucket List.

There were some trees down and across the track and it was a bit muddy......

Heading back home the sky made good with its threats and down came the rain. Comfortable enough in our wet weather jackets but rueing the decision not to throw in our rain pants, we arrived at our car a little damp but rewarded.

At South Cape Bay

South Cape Bay

At South Cape Bay

7 November - Having seen much that the area had to offer, with forests and tall trees aplenty, we packed up and headed north not before stopping once again at Franklin and the Petty Sessions Cafe for brunch. We journeyed through Hobart and north into central Tasmania to the historic town of Oatlands.

There is no caravan park in the town but the council provides and encourages people to camp on the edge of a wetlands and bird sanctuary. Getting a good site, we set up for a couple of nights to empty our pockets into several local businesses rather than to just a caravan park owner.

Oatlands working windmill (Callington Flour Mill)

Oatlands has the largest number of colonial sandstone buildings in Tasmania with many of them built by convict labour. 87 Georgian style buildings line the main street with the majority restored and well presented. A feature of the skyline is the Callington flour mill built in 1837 and now fully restored and milling flour and attracting tourists to the area.

Oatlands campsite - our van , our car, our view

From our camp we looked out over the wetlands and watched the interplay of hundreds of birds. Swans with their cygnets sat and preened themselves on the banks in front of us, various types of ducks dived underwater to feed, plovers screeched all the time for no apparent reason and all the birds went crazy when huge hawks soared above from time to time. We easily filled our time here wandering the town and its shops and relaxing outside the van with our beautiful views.

8 November - the Tasman Peninsula lies south-east of Hobart and has the famous Port Arthur convict ruins there. Our interest in this area is not Port Arthur just yet. Julie's brother Brett is coming to Hobart for five nights later in the week so we are saving our visit to Port Arthur for then. Our interest initially is in Lime Bay Campground. We would love a site high up overlooking the water in a nice bush setting. Well that's exactly what we got.

Lime Bay campsite

Arriving on a weekend (Saturday) is not a really good idea if one is expecting to have the pick of the sites. Well we really lucked out. The campground was not at all crowded so we had plenty of choices so we chose the best water view we could get.  The views from the van are just beautiful and many an hour is spent sitting under a shade tree looking out across the bay.

I forgot to mention the weather, silly me. Travelling today from Oatlands to Lime Bay, the temperature was 33 degrees (yes 33 degrees!) at 11 am in the morning. At 3pm that afternoon it was 15 degrees and falling. There I mentioned the weather, I feel better now. Given it has rarely hit the 20 degree mark since we arrived in Tasmania, 33 degrees, albeit very temporary, was certainly worth a mention, or two.

Morning tea view on Bivouac Bay walk

Next day we continued with our quest to do as many of the Top 60 Great Walks of Tasmania as possible. Today's walk was Bivouac Bay on the Tasman Peninsula. Setting off along the whites sands of Fortescue Bay the walk took us along a path around a few headlands, through a penguin colony, past a bay with a scuttled ship in it, across a swing bridge and up, over and down a very long and steep headland.The track ends in Bivouac Bay which has a couple of sites for tents and a drop toilet. 

Lunch view at Bivouac Bay

Deep water crossing

Fortescue Bay

Whilst not a particularly unique destination it was pretty enough. We sat on some logs and had lunch and enjoyed the serenity and the view and were visited by a lone kayaker who chatted for a while. Retracing our steps we arrived back at the car 4.5 hours later. A deep creek crossing on the way required me to take off my shoes while Julie could just walk through as she wore boots. She found she had a hole in each boot - a big one at the top - which let some water in.

Roast on the fire - Lime Bay Campground

Returning back to camp, and being a Sunday afternoon, everyone except for one site had left. I lit the fire, cracked a beer and put the camp oven on the coals to roast some veggies for dinner. The wind had eased, the sun was out and the camp was quiet - the perfect end to a great day.

Waterfall Bay Walk, Tasman Peninsula

The following day we targetted the Waterfall Bay walk, near Eaglehawk Neck, which traverses along the 200 metre high cliffs of eastern Tasman Peninsula. The cliffs are very similar to Bruny Island and at one point we saw the same tour boat company taking a load of sightseers below us. The walk was very spectacular and while we were admiring the scenery at Waterfall Bay we watched a seal swimming in the crystal clear waters below looking for a feed.

Waterfall Bay

Returning back to camp we discovered we now had the place to ourselves and it was to remain that way for the next two days. Our chairs were set up on the cliff in front of the van and we spent the rest of the day reading, looking at the view, looking at the view, reading etc.

Entrance and historical information

Just outside the campground is the World Heritage Coal Mines Historic site. After finding coal there just three years after Port Arthur was settled in 1833, an outlying convict settlement was set up and they started to work the site. The original sandstone and brick buildings still stand as do the convict cells and isolation cells.

Building ruins

Main coal mine shaft

Inside isolation cells corridor

Inside a convict cell

Mysterious air shaft

We spent a few hours wandering the site, going into the underground isolation cells while trying to imagine the place in its heyday. 

The main shaft is still visible as is the Incline Plane that went down to the port. The Incline Plane was a 650 metre constant slope (1:11) that ran two parallel trolley tracks. A loaded trolley connected to ropes and pulleys would roll down the hill to the port while the loaded weight pulled up the empty trolley. Once filled up the top and the other trolley emptied down at the port the cycle would start again. Very clever engineering feat for those times.

The old Semaphore Station site is still there as is a mysterious air shaft. The air shaft is a beautifully constructed and very deep round hole made of sandstone blocks but it doesn't connect to anything and there is no surviving documentation to explain its existence.  

A walk on the nearby Lime Bay beach

With the campground to ourselves we again lit the campfire, set up the chairs and chatted, looked at the view, put some wood on the fire, chatted, more wood on the fire, looked at the view, chatted until the wood ran out, night fell and dinner in the van seemed like a good idea. And people wonder what we do all day!

Having a rest

Having a rest with a fire 

12 November - its been a week since we've been on power and water. The clothes washing is building up, the food is running low, water is low in the tanks and the big city lights of Hobart beckon. So today is moving day. We are off to Hobart. Julie's brother Brett arrives tomorrow so the three of us will explore the sights of Hobart and its surrounds for the next week.

Until the next chapter of our trip we say "farewell".  We are both well, happy and enjoying Tasmania immensely.