Tasmania: Part Two

 January 7 - 12

Nicole and Ben dropped us off at our hotel, Lowena Cafe & Accommodation. It was sad to say goodbye to them, however, I had a great visit with them and will cherish the time we spent together. 

After our somewhat rambunctious greeting by Kevin, our host, we settled in and grabbed our items for the day. Our walk down to the wharf area was about 15 minutes, mostly down a busy residential street. Our first stop was the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. This three story museum did not disappoint. There were a lot of natural history exhibits, where we could finally learn a little more about the interesting fauna we had been seeing. My favourite was a good look at the kookaburra - do they ever resemble the Kingfishers that we see on the river. The body form is quite similar, they are related so this is not surprising. There was also a very good Indigenous Peoples historical exhibit. Some of it is uncomfortable to look at, but so it should be. 

After a long day of walking around, we decided to grab a roast chicken, some Caesar salad and eat at our accommodation. Sometimes, it is nice to “stay in” and eat familiar foods in a cozy space. This was also good for Jon since he was starting to get sick. 

Monday was our favourite day in Hobart, our visit to MONA, Museum of Old & New Art. A short bus ride dropped us off at the drive up to the museum. Along the way, we were greeted with cheeky signs by the vineyards. This wasn’t a surprising sign, their tickets, which we purchased online, also had some tongue in cheek humour to them. 

Entering the MONA foreshadowed the what was about to come. When you enter, you walk down a spiral staircase and enter what seems like a huge cavernous space. When you look closer, you realize you are in fact in a cave, of sorts. The museum has been cut into the stone. The walls are raw stone. The building feels modern and ancient at the same time. 

The exhibits of the museum are quite varied and so very interesting. There would be a huge modern piece right beside a Master’s work. It was quite interesting. We had never been to such an interesting museum. In addition, it seemed to be very loosely guarded. We did see some guards here and there, but for the most part, the museum pieces are right there, right beside you. No roped off areas, no lines on the floor. We throughly enjoyed our day there. 

Back in town, we headed to the Hobart Brewery. The partner, of a friend of Nicole’s from roller derby,  worked there. We thought it would be neat to go there. It was a bit chilly, and there wasn’t really any heating available, excepting the propane fired ceiling heater. So, we sat in the most wind sheltered spot we could find and relaxed for a bit. We ended the day with burgers at a pub by the wharf. 

A beautiful residential area in Hobart is Battery Park. Our friends, Sally and Mike, lived there and had recommended we go up and stroll around. I would imagine 50% or more of the houses are heritage homes. They are up high on a hill, overlooking Hobart and the ocean. Beautiful gardens grace the front yards, and while we were visiting, many of the houses had apricot trees. Apricots were dropping onto the sidewalks; Jon tried to pick some, but they were too high up - rats! 

For lunch, we opted for a savoury pie. Savoury pies are quite common here, and for good reason … they are delicious and convenient. We grabbed two pies, took out our travel cutlery and sat on a bench and watched the people go by. What a lovely way to have lunch! 

Being in Hobart at this time, we were lucky to be able to attend the Hobart International tennis event. The tennis facility is up by the botanical gardens, so we combined two visits in one. The Tasmanian Royal Botantical Gardens are beautiful! They are also huge. We spent two hours walking around the gardens admiring the beautiful plants that we could only dare to have as indoor plants. But, it is nice to dream! 

We entered the tennis facility a bit early (we had evening tickets); allowed to do so because Jonny Ball put on some charm and asked if we could go in early. It was so hot! We grabbed some cold drinks  and found a sliver of shade, and sat to watch a doubles match. It was so neat, we were so close we could hear them breathing!  Our night match tickets allowed us to watch two matches. When we purchased the tickets, months ago, we had no idea who would show up for the tournament. Our first match was Kenin(USA) vs Saville (AUS), the second was Bouzkova (CZE) vs Putintseva (KAZ). Both matches were exciting to watch. I had no idea being the front row would see our heads bobbing from side to side so much. The matches went quite late, definitely past our bedtime. We really got our money’s worth. 

On our last day in Hobart, we visited kunanyi, Mount Wellington. One option is to take the bus up to the pinnacle at 1270m above sea level. We opted for this option. We took the Explorer Bus and got off at the top. All our clothing on, hoods up, we walked around for a while, took photos and then headed for the path to start our descent. The walk started with alpine flora, scraggly trees and lichen covered rocks dominated the paths. Eventually giving way to more greenery, ferns, epiphytes and eventually palm trees. With a lunch stop along the way, the hike down was a leisurely 4 hours. We saw a few different species of birds, but really it was vegetation that stole the show on this hike. At the bottom, we went to Fern Leaf Pub for a cool well deserved malty beverage. 

Up early the next day … we’re were headed for Sydney and our last four days in Australia. 

, is Battery Park. 

Tasmania: Part One

 January 4- 7

We flew with Nicole and Ben to Tasmania, or as it is affectionately known, Tassie. Driving from the airport to our lodging in Woodbridge, we could tell that this was our kind of place. Most of the road meanders alongside the coast, giving us the opportunity to admire the ocean views. By the time we reached Peppermint Retreat, we knew we were in the right spot! 

We spotted a ‘general store’ at the corner of our street. Ben and Jon investigated… turns out they also function as a restaurant. The shop was run by a lovely family, a Turkish man and his Vietnamese wife. The menu reflected their backgrounds. We were all happy with our food and the environment was quite lovely: local art on the walls, art for sale and soft jazz playing in the background. A great first evening in Tassie. 

 After dinner we went for a wee stroll along the water. Later we would learn that there have been sightings of platypus in the pond in this area. We didn’t manage to spot the marsupial but we tried! 

The following day, Sandra, Ben’s mom came to spend some time with us. As soon as we met her, it felt as though we already knew her. Both Nicole (who has claimed Sandra is made from fairy dust) and Ben adore Sandra, and it was easy to see why. We imagine that Sandra would have been a bit like my sister Sandra in that she had a hippy, bohemian way about her. We already knew that she is an avid gardener, but I didn’t realize she also has an encyclopedic knowledge of the fauna around her! She is a gentle souls but with a wit and touch of sarcasm (usually directed at Ben) to keep you on your toes. 

The five of us headed out for a day of touring this part of Tassie. Our first stop was ….. a cheese and distillery nestled in the rolling hills. All the products here are made from some part of sheep’s milk. The sheep can be seem gracefully meandering on the rolling hills around the cafe/restaurant. Sitting in the cafe looking out over the hills towards the ocean was an Australian postcard in the making. We did a cheese, and vodka tasting. Enamoured with the whole experience I bought  a t-shirt and some vanilla liquor. Later, I shook my head- I would never normally wear a T-shirt like that, and the liquor was never consumed aside from some tastings after our dinner that night. But that is what travel does to you- it makes you embrace the moments, act on whims and nostalgia…. Not such a bad thing, I guess. 

Our second stop was an art hike. Advertised from the side of the road as Metal Art Walk, we thought this would be a nice way to spend the afternoon .. and it was! Having Sandra with us to identify and describe all the plants that we were interested in certainly made the walk more interesting. 

Metal works of all styles found along the walk. 

Beautiful flowers were found in the sunny areas. I learned from Sandra that many of these species are South African. This kind of makes sense given the similarities in latitude, but was surprising just because this would not be true at home. 

Ben and Sandra. I love this photo!

After our day together, we headed back to Peppermint Retreat and had a lovely dinner. Sandra is not only a wealth of botanical info, she is also a fabulous cook - as was evident in the dinner that she brought for us to enjoy. We had a dinner around the table, a nice family dinner. Jon and I felt so lucky to have had this time with Ben, Nicole and Sandra. Into the evening, we played some funny card games - one trivia game where Ben made us yell out our names before answering. It was all quite joyvial. Early to bed, we were getting up early for our journey to Bruny Island. 

A good night’s sleep, a quick breakfast and we were off to the ferry. Bruny Island is two land masses that are connected by a narrow isthmus. The island is almost 100km long and has an area of almost 365 km2. I had no idea it was so large. From all the travel descriptors, I thought it was much smaller and more like a hiking area. Not true, although you can hike around the areas. There are penguins at the isthmus but we didn’t actually see any, we did see many, many rabbits. There are beaches all around the coast, small specialized shops, and little spots of interest. 

We spent the day visiting different areas including Adventure Bay, the lighthouse, isthmus and then stopped at an oyster restaurant … where incidentally the oysters are the largest, creamiest that we have ever seen - a bit too weird for me, Jon loved them. 

Beautiful views from the isthmus!

The lighthouse views were pretty 

Spectacular too!

Sandra left later that afternoon. We had dinner with Nicole and Ben back at the general store in Woodbridge. Sunday morning, Ben and Nicole flew back to Newcastle and we headed to Hobart. 

We had a fantastic few weeks with them and were so happy to have had the opportunity to see them in their corner of the globe. It is nice to have shared this time with them.