We went to Tasmania (pt 1)

For a range of reasons the itinerary for this trip had always been loose (if not non-existent). But going to Tassie was always a possibility, one that we'd agreed on even before I'd booked my flight out to Australia. It was always there, waiting patiently in the background for the right moment.

Well, that moment arrived, and off we went. Getting there and making sure we had places to stay was a bit of mission: we were not only a bunch of last-minute-lucies, but easter weekend was also just around the corner. We did pretty well, booking a place to stay on Air BnB as we were boarding the flight to Hobart (which we'd booked the night before).

I can tell you that it was absolutely worth it - Tasmania is uniquely beautiful.

I don't know why I wanted to visit Tassie over say Sydney, or Melbourne, or anywhere else in Australia. I just did. Bit off the beaten track maybe...not the obvious choice maybe...bit quirky and interesting maybe. All those things turned out to be true.

Here's an aerial view of the centre of Hobart, our first stop.

http://www.studytasmania.tas.gov.au/Tasmanian%20Images/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=2

We stayed in a little place in North Hobart, not far out of the centre and sitting right under Mount Wellington.

Hobart feels really dinky when you're in it. It makes a nice change to the rest of Australia which (as I have said several times over) seems to me to be mostly big.  Hobart actually has roughly the same population as Norwich, but it somehow manages to feel smaller - maybe my perspective has already been skewed by the towering skyline of the Gold Coast...

There are very few tall buildings in Hobart, only 20 that really qualify as such, and there are quite sturdy restrictions on height for new developments, so it's going to stay dinky - good thing say I.

This is the view from our accommodation. That's Mt Wellington in the back there, and the nearby houses climbing up the hill. Purty ain't it?

And here's the sun, setting very nicely for us.

In Hobart particularly there's quite a lot of red brick, which feels a lot like home somehow. But there are also quite a lot of pretty houses, with covered verandahs and lots of filigree ironwork.

Once out of the city there's a slightly nordic flavour to the place: something to do with the multitude of rolling hills everywhere you look (including in Hobart itself), and the countless bays and lakes and lagoons and harbours, the way the low slung houses are scattered over and nestled into the landscape.

This funny, wonky little shack was in a place called Dunalley, where we stopped to grab a coffee at a harbour-side cafe as we'd made an early start.


Such was our luck that we also got the best breakfast I've had for a long time. Here's the view from the cafe...a definite nordic or Scottish flavour about the place I think. I liked it very much.

...and I also met this gorgeous dog, who belongs to one of the local boat owners. It was a good start to her day, getting some very tasty bacon from me, but I suspect I'm neither the first nor last tourist to succumb. 

The water was clear and icy cold, and the sand was pale. It was beautiful, and serene, and I could have stayed there a good long while.

But we were headed somewhere in particular, so we had to move on...