Hobart, Tazmania

A Tasmanian Devil, little holy terrors.

Tasmania is gorgeous. When I was flying in I was looking out the window at thick forest and green after green, tons of coastline and rugged mountains. 

The first night we got in we checked into our hotel The Tasman which is a Luxury Collection Hotel under the Marriott portfolio.  We then drove to the wharf and had our first supper in Tasmania at Mures Lower Deck.  I had some delicious seafood chowder with some bread on the side and they gave me free of charge a whole bottle of sparkling water.  Darren had fish and chips and it was a good meal and one of the cheaper meals in Hobart but by no means cheap.  

Our hotel was close to the wharf and Mures Lower Deck Restaurant was right on the water.

Historic buildings of Salamanca  down by the docks

These are all historic buildings on the water in Hobart.

A fishing boat right outside the doors of the restaurant.

The docks and wharf area of Hobart are extremely pretty with old 1800's buildings and a mixture of new builds. 

We had a great sleep our first night and prepared for our next day.  The plan was to drive to Port Arthur which is approximately an hour and a half and it is on a narrow two-lane highway with no shoulder.  Darren keeps telling me these are the streets he grew up on in Germany so he felt very comfortable driving on them.  The drive was extremely pretty grasslands, wheat fields, mountains and ocean and tiny strips of land or isthmus to drive on that connected the islands. 

Our first stop was on a beach and it was so extremely windy this day that I could barely hold my camera without it shaking from the extreme force of the wind. I just wanted to capture a picture of the water because it was actually quite pretty but frightful at the same time, knowing that Antarctic was the next land mass away.

The beautiful countryside of Southern Tasmania

Ocean on both sides of the road.

We continued driving and the deal was we were going to stop and take advantage of any type of lookout or anything that interested us.  We stopped at the Tasman National Park and the views were glorious.

We continued on and there was an area beach side where it was fenced off and humans could open the gate and walk down the path to the beach where there is a little tunnel under the road and this is for the Fairy Penguins to keep them safe.  They feed all day and march in at night quite predictably at dusk.  They walk up the beach and through the tunnel under the road.  This way they don't get run over by vehicles or attacked by dogs or wildlife. We saw the area but of course it was during the day so we did not see any Fairy Penguins.  We had plans to see them on Phillips Island back on the mainland.

We stopped at the Blowhole but it was low tide so no holes were blowing unfortunately. But the area was quite cool and we checked out the beach and because the tide was down we could walk out and see shells and things like that.  

Tuna Club of Tasmania building.  I thought that was kind of cute.

Tasman Arch was gorgeous and the photos do not do it justice to show the height of this arch.  The arch had to be seven or eight stories high.  Devil's Kitchen Lookouts were absolutely stunning and you realize what a gorgeous piece of paradise you're in on the planet when you're in Tasmania when you stand at these lookouts. Wow!  Once again we were as high as 10 floors up on these cliffs when taking these pictures or even higher. 

This was an unfamiliar tree to us with this soft bristly acorn that eventually becomes an acorn below.

Devil's Kitchen

This was awe-inspiring scenery.

This was a form of Eucalyptus Tree that had bends and wrinkles in it which was so unnatural. 

We stopped at the Tasmanian Unzoo to see the Tasmanian Devil.  What interesting little creatures. We only had the chance to see the males and the males are hungry always and extremely angry always and they want to mate always so it's kind of a lethal combination. They seem like very nasty little creatures and they have nothing better to do than fight with each other so they're continuously chasing each other trying to attack each other and waiting to be fed.  These were injured Devils that came to the Unzoo to be looked after and cared for. They're probably in a permanent state of injury because they do kick the s*** out of each other on a regular basis.  We were up close and personal beside a low rock wall  which stood between us and the Devils.  They are smaller than I thought and angrier than I thought They are still kind of cute in their own way.  They sound like little tigers when they growl at each other.  We probably spent over an hour along with the presentation. The girl who did it was very knowledgeable and really did care about these little buggers and said there's no way that there would be a time to feed these little guys for tourists because they have the most lethal bone-crushing pressure in their jaws of any animal on the planet per square inch.  I listened to one chew the bones in whatever meat he was eating and I just thought 'oh my God that could be my hand'. 

A Tasmanian Devil did this painting.  How is it that they are better at art than I am?

Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine really did exist and went extinct in the early 1900's.

A little Devil asleep in his den and looks quite harmless.  They are nocturnal and come out to hunt at night and unfortunately often become roadkill.  They are on the endangered list.

Just waking up for a feed and some self-imposed exercise

Starting to get angry because the food is not coming as quickly as they want it.

Starting to get really angry and looking for a fight.

Running away from a bigger Devil

Chow time

Running away from the bigger bully Devils who tend to get all of the food.

The Unzoo also had birds called Rosellas which are native to this part of the world and they had put out bird seed for people to put it in your hand.  They would fly onto your hand and eat it. But apparently there was a Raptor and a Falcon on the prowl that the staff had seen. The Rosellas were very nervous and flew off every few minutes or so in fear.  But they were an absolutely gorgeous birds. 

We went for a walk down to the ocean to see the White Bellied Eagle which was huge and to see nature. 

The Eagle was sitting up in the tree when we went down to the water.

Many Black Swans in the area.

Some of the nature on the way.

We passed through a huge area with a Kangaroo breed that are endemic to Tasmania only. They are a little bit smaller than the Big Grays of the mainland of Australia.  We did get to feed these guys and girls and some babies as well which were 8-months-old. There was one mom with a Joey in her belly and she even let Darren rub her chest. They love it when you rub their chest. They throw their head back in ecstasy and really do enjoy it but don't touch their ears or their head. They don't like that and you might not like what happens after you do. 

The Wallabies are so pretty with smaller heads and a shorter face.

Joey in the Mamma's pouch

Baby on Board.

8 month old Joey asleep on Mom's tail.

The Aussie Geese were just getting boxed by the Kangaroo because they were trying to steal the food.

Rubbing their chest and they throw their head back because they love it.

Little 8 month old beauty.

It was a fun few hours at the Unzoo. 

It was at this point too late to drive on to Port Arthur. We had to save that for another day but we did start our drive home and towards the outskirts of Hobart is 7 Mile Beach. I asked Darren to turn off the road to see the beach.  Because it was so windy I was getting a sandblasting but still very pretty. On our drive back out of this 5 km road to the beach, we stopped because we saw these large black birds which I had mistaken as crows but no, they were actually Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos.  Darren also stopped the car later because he spotted a big rat-like looking thing which is actually another marsupial called a Long Necked Bandicoot.

Lovely country side.

Seaside is everywhere.

The windy beach

Bandicoot.

Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo

Driving down into Hobart and the surrounding mountains. 

Back at The Tasman Hotel I had asked for a tub, and they were not able to honor that request our first night so they moved us from Room 256 to 161 the next night.  We then went to Sawak Cafe a Malay food restaurant for some Nasi Goreng which was delicious.

  Then we settled in for the night and I had bought a bottle of wine at Cellarbrations and had time to super chill it in this gorgeous pull out refrigerator that we had in the room and I had a wonderful tub and a glass of wine.  For me this is what holidays are all about.  A day of exploring and then soak in a comfi tub with a glass of wine and read my book.

The next day Darren dropped me off at the UNESCO  world heritage site - Cascades Female Factory or prison which was extremely interesting because finally the female convict's voice has been heard.  Women's groups from across Australia had been trying to get the ball rolling on the female convict story in Australia for decades and they kept being ignored. All the government money was going into the historic male prisons and finally they had to strike out on their own and hence this great piece of herstory has been realized finally.  I really enjoyed this herstory. Darren doesn't like history so I enjoyed it on my own. He got a chance to catch up on work and I had 3 hours to myself engrossed in female Australian convict herstory.  I did a separate blog on this.

If these Prison walls could talk?

The next day we drove up the mountain to Mount Wellington which was an adventure all on its own and actually took probably six times longer than I thought it was going to. But it was all good. We really enjoyed these most phenomenal views I've ever seen and I did a separate post for this because it was warranted 

Wallaby on Mount Wellington.

Our last full day in Hobart, Tasmania, Darren and I drove down to the Tasman Peninsula once again and passed the Dog Line where dogs and soldiers were posted to keep the convicts down in the Tasman Peninsula.  I immersed myself in the history of another UNESCO world heritage site called Port Arthur which was the largest male convict prison in all of Australia imprisoning over 70,000 male convicts.  Darren was not interested in this so he got a chance to sit in the cafe for four plus hours and do some much-needed work.  I also did a separate post on this. 

Port Arthur would be arguably the prettiest prison site in the world.

The Prison was built by the convicts.  The stones were hewn by them and the bricks were made by them at their factory on site.

Original wool convict uniform.

Some various photos of Hobart and area while driving and walking:

Some beautiful colors on the seaside just outside of Hobart.

The Hobart Marina

Beautiful old buildings of Hobart now a Museum.

Floating Restaurant in Hobart that the Fish Nazi worked at.

You can hire this ride in Hobart.

Original Heritage wall just down from The Tasman.

The Tasman Luxury Hotel Collection

Old heritage buildings

This was a wall that bordered a park close to The Tasman Hotel.  We were out for a walk and came upon it.  These were old gravestones reclaimed and moved and remembered by countless walkers in Hobart.

In Battery Point the oldest area in Hobart.

Beautiful old house in Battery Point

Gorgeous entry way to a beautiful old home in Battery Point.

My favorite old home in Battery Point which is close to the ocean in Hobart.  The stone is so pretty.

Super Cool tree

Roses were in full bloom in Hobart in Tasmanian Autumn, not fair.

Hobart

Cool looking original architecture in a home in Battery Point.

Limes growing in the Autumn in Hobart, also not fair.

Full hedge of Rosemary in Hobart, also not fair.

Historical Salamanca area of Hobart.

Salamanca heritage buildings.

Cool Salamanca area of Hobart which gives a European vibe with the old original cobblestone.

Interesting Salamanca history.

Salamanca heritage buildings

Gorgeous old sandstone building in Salamanca

Marilyn Munroe Tazzy style.

Gorgeous sandstone wall.

Salamanca Place is a cool shopping area now

We drove the next morning to Launceston, Tasmania.  We drove up the center of Tasmania through the Midlands area to Launceston which is in the north of Tasmania. Consequently  it was 3° warmer than the South because the South is that much closer to Antarctic.  The Midlands area is beautiful, its all rolling hills and forest and hills that have obviously been logged because Tasmania had a big logging industry and now sheep roam these fields. But here and there you can see trees have been planted because you can see the rows of trees and slowly the forests are coming back.  It is a single lane road.  

We stopped in Ross which is a small quaint little town and it's about halfway to Launceston. 

Some vineyards in Tasmania

Convict built

I had read that this town had quite a few convict built buildings and the bridge in particular was noted that it was a stunning bridge built by convicts.  The bridge didn't look like much as we drove over it, just a stone bridge going over this tiny little river.  It however had stairways down on each side, most likely to admire the beauty of this bridge.  I took a picture and I thought oh yeah, it's very pretty and then I actually took a close-up and realized that each individual rock was a face or a different design. It was stunning and I'm not sure why you would spend so much time doing this when hardly anybody gets to see it unless you were on a boat going up and down this tiny little river.

Gorgeous old Sandstone carved convict built bridge.

Each capstone is an individually carved and unique stone, some have faces.  A highly skilled convict artist did this work.

We stayed just one night in Launceston at Peppers Silo Hotel. This hotel was built around these old grain silos and we had one of these rooms with the round concrete walls of this old silo which was kind of neat. 

The Tamar River in Launceston

Tamar River has a tide in and out and flows to the Tasman Sea.

On the Tamar River.

The Autumn colors of Tasmania

Launceston has some stunning old buildings.

Beautiful old mansion in Launceston.

Launceston as the sun sets.

We had 3 nights booked at this hotel but we needed to get home to see my sister and left Tasmania early and flew to Sydney and then LAX and on to Canada.