Hobart & The Tasman Peninsula

And we're back! It's been well over a month since our last post, but fear not we will continue where we left off...

After camping for 7 days on the Western side of Tasmania, we arrived in Hobart and opted to stay in a nice hotel --the lovely Macq01. It sits right on the marina and to Ethan's delight was flanked by two huge tug boats. We initially booked two nights, then extended a day, then extended a day, again. It turns out that there is much to do, see, and eat in the most populated city of Tasmania, home to a staggering 200,000 people. 

On our first full day in Hobart, we decided to book a walking city tour. First stop was the Tasmanian Museum, where we got a condensed history lesson in the brutal beginnings of English Transportation (relocation of prisoners from England), and the unimaginable horrors committed against the aboriginals as the island was further populated.

Thankfully, the museum was diverse in topics, so we learned about the unique flora and fauna of Tasmania, too. The animal displays of marsupials and monotremes were our favorite, with Ethan liking the short-nosed echidna, and Tori the Tasmanian Tiger (sadly, extinct, but there seems to be a group akin to Big Foot hunters that swears it still exists).

Next, we explored Salamanca Street, lined with sandstone buildings from the 1800s that were originally barracks and warehouses that have now gone the way of old industrial buildings around the word--upcycled. Converted into trendy stores, art galleries, and restaurants, we went through each one, and sampled what they offered. In one store we tried some local gin with a unique blend of endemic ingredients. It was fantastic, so we thought to buy some. However, after noting that it cost more per milliliter than a kilo of gold, decided against it. We feigned indecisiveness and quietly slipped out the door. From there we walked to Battery Point and visited a beautiful old captain’s house, complete with a fourth floor lookout room so that the captain-turned-fleet-owner could monitor all of his ships from the comfort of his house.

Later that evening we went to a Japanese restaurant named Bar Wa where we dined on sashimi caught fresh from the Tasman sea and our favorite newly discovered meal, okonomiyaki, a savory pancake dish we first discovered in Tokyo. We're very thankful for the diverse cuisines all over this country.

Day 2 Hobart. After learning about what the area had to offer from our tour guide the day before, we set out to do a hike on Mount Wellington. Mount Wellington overlooks the city of Hobart and at the top you can see half the entire state on a clear day. Instead of hiking to the top we chose to drive--good thing we did because the wind made it unbearably cold. We decided to do one hike on the mountain called Disappearing Tarn (mountain lake). Apparently, it only appears for a few days after hard rain and lucky for us it just had. Our informants told us it should still be there. The hike turned out to be slightly disappointing. The last mile before reaching the tarn was all big loose, ankle destroying rock. We awkwardly lunged from rock to rock, trying to maintain our balance and to not break anything. It To make matters worse there was no tarn! (Wot in Tarnation?!) Silver lining though was that we spotted a lyrebird on the way back. It looks like a cross between a pheasant and peacock. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA0tP-p7m40to for it to serrenade you.

Our consolation prize after such an underwhelming hike was ice cream, so we stopped by Van Diemen's Land Creamery. Turns out, it's one of the best ice cream places we've ever tried and we visited every day we were in Hobart, to the annoyance of our waistlines. Tori got the salted caramel and Pepperberry/Leatherwood Honey combo (unique Tasmanian flavors that tastes like vanilla with a hint of honey and pepper) and Ethan got a Raspberry Ripple and cookies and cream combo. Unsurprisingly, Tori won the tasting competition. 

We spent our third and final day at MONA, Museum of Old and New Art. It's famous for its poop machine (yes, really. A machine that poops once a day after being fed real food) on top of other absurd works. In order to get the full experience we partook in their ferry ride to get there. It ventured through the harbor with views of an Antarctica expedition ship stationed for a resupply and it went under the largest bridge in Tasmania. No surprise, the museum was a little out there for our tastes but there were pieces we enjoyed. The most notable works to us were a fat Porsche car, a live Google search waterfall, a particle accelerator, and the MONA Confessional. The MONA Confessional is an interactive piece where you walk into a small soundproof maze designed like an inner ear and when you get to the innermost point you’re supposed to confess something. Your voice travels up two floors to the outside of the museum where

people standing nearby can listen and respond. We got to chatting with a few people who were able to peg us as Americans right away. Naturally, the conversation led to football, movies, Vegas, and, of course, guns. I guess those are the foremost things Aussies think of when they think of America, and for that, we are proud. It was an entertaining and bizzare museum to say the least. 

After spending a nice few days in Hobart, we packed it up and set our sights on hiking part of the Three Capes Track. The Three Capes Track is a multi day backpacking journey that routes through forests and along the coast to three giant sea cliffs. Due to our lack of backpacking gear, we chose to just hike to one of the three capes, which we could do in a day. When we got to the trailhead around noon we realized it might not be in our best interest to start a 10 mile that's suppose to take 8 hours. Right, so we packed it up again and planned to do the hike the next day.

On to the second activity of the day, Port Arthur! If you like scary history this is the place for you. Port Arthur is an old penal colony turned tourist attraction. It once was home to the worst of the worst criminals in Australia. So Port Arthur was infamous for being the harshest prison of all. Despite its eerie past, we thought the grounds and old buildings were quite pretty. The architecture is beautiful and surrounded with lush green grass, trees, and gardens. It's such a vast site that we ended up spending the afternoon and the next morning venturing through it all.

After our exploration of Port Arthur, it was time to give the cape hike another try. Due to a rain delay, we decided to do a 6 mile hike, Cape Huay hike, instead of the 10 miler. Good thing too because this hike was incredible. The trail started flat and easy through a forest and met a friendly wallaby along the way. About a mile in we started going up many flights of stairs, but we didn't complain since we needed to work off all those ice cream cones. At around two miles the forest opened up and we got an amazing view of Cape Huay, where we were about to ascend. As walked further upon the cliff, there were many signs warning not to step off trail which was pretty obvious because you could see that just a couple feet from the trail there's a steep drop off to the ocean. We're talking about the tallest sea cliffs in Australia--STEEP. The size of the cliff amongst the roaring Tasman sea made this hike epic and beautiful. It was also a cool feeling to be looking out at the vast sea and knowing that we weren't too far from Antartica.