Daniel and I flew down on the morning of Tuesday the 24th of February 2009, arriving late morning into Hobart International Airport on a cool and cloudy summer’s day in the Apple Isle. Walking through the International arrivals gate cause us to chuckle slightly, because we did feel like we had landed somewhere foreign lol.
Car rented, we began the short drive from the airport into the city (about 30mins) and we found the hotel quite easily, being such a small city and armed with a map – the lady at the rental counter actually advised us against getting a GPS! Checked in bags stowed, we jumped back into the car and made our way to the downtown area looking for something to eat. A short wander along their version of Pitt St, Elizabeth St, we headed towards the bay area/wharfs and found some very nice cafes. True to the Tasmanian cuisine, I tried the smoke salmon crepe and was happy – salmon = yum-yum! Bellies full, we meandered back along Elizabeth and the shops and back to the car, where the 3 hour parking in the CBD cost us a grand total of $1!
Our next stop was a small town called Richmond, about 30mins north west of Hobart. It's described as a quaint little English town and when we drove in, we were pleasantly surprised that it did indeed feel like we had been transported to the 19th century in rural England. There were a few historical sights important to Australian history – including the country’s oldest bridge and oldest Catholic Church. The countryside from Richmond was spectacular, but also a little sombre because of the dried grassy hills, clearly showing that even places like Tasmania are suffering from the drought that is ravaging the entire country.
Heading back into Hobart, the day was still young so we made the decision to go up to Mount Wellington this evening so we would have a longer day tomorrow to go to Port Arthur. The drive up the mountain took about 45mins or so and as we got higher and higher up the mountain, the clouds began to swirl around and the fog got heavier. By the time we arrived up at the pinnacle of the mountain, we couldn't only see about 10-20m in front of the car. What we didn't expect however, was how cold and windy it was up there. Getting out of the car, we were hit with a blast of cold air more akin to Europe in the winter than what is usually found in the Australian summer. The car began developing frost in the short amount of time we were up in the clouds. Running around the observation areas because it was so cold, our breath was sapped from us and we were blown in all manner of directions at the will of the winds.
As we made our way down the mountain though, the clouds began to disperse and Hobart slowly began to appear in the valley below, truly one of the most spectacular views of a city I have seen. The rest of the night, we enjoyed a nice dinner along the waterfront at WestPoint Casino.
Waking up leisurely the next morning, we checked out of St Ives and pulled into Maccas to get some ‘healthy’ breakfast to start the day. We were heading out of Hobart for good this morning so filled up on petrol and made our way along the Tasman/Arthur highway down to Port Arthur. Along the roads, we encountered numerous numbers of road kill, which was saddening. I also need to include here that there was no mobile phone reception once we had passed the airport at the north of the city, not even Telstra reaches this far down south! [You head north of Hobart and the airport before swinging east and continuing down to the south towards Port Arthur].
Port Arthur was a sombre sight as it has so much sad history, as well as the massacre not too long ago. We stopped in at Seven Mile Beach on the way to the airport and arrived in time to check in for our Qantas flight up to Melbourne with all the businessmen going back for the day.
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