Hobart

Hobart was baked into the intinerary well in advance due to a service on Ken’s ute. It was our back-to-civilization interlude for a few days. We headed to The Lea Campground only a few k’s outside the city. Unbeknowns was the steep and unrelenting climb to the top of a mountain to get there. Dragging a 2800kg van in first gear for a kilometre, was not someone still paying off his engine rebuild, enjoyed – at all. Luckily, no harm done.

Now, a warning about navigating Hobart. There is NO bypass. ALL through traffic, north to south and south to east must traverse the heart of the city. Imagine going east to west through Mebourne via Spencer Street or accessing the Sydney Harbour Bridge via George Street. Certainly was an interesting if disconcerting experience. Our first bucket list call was MONA, the Museum for Old and New Art. This as it turned out, was worthy of a blog on it’s own, so look out for it in a few days.

The next ‘big thing’ in Hobart is the Salamanca Markets, held every Saturday at the foot of Battery Point and a stones throw from the city centre. It’s reputation is global and is rated in the top 10 markets in the world.

We had to park and walk, but the colonial architecture made the walk worth while. This part of Hobart is steeped in history. The semi-detached houses have been meticulously maintained. Even the stairwell down to the markets was over 200 years old. Four rows of stalls stretched out into the distance. We arrived early and the crowd was building quickly. There was just so much to see. Stall after stall of everything from wooden bow ties to fried scallop sticks, not to omit offerings from various distilleries and organic whatever takes your fancy.

It took about an hour just to wander up and down without serious shopping. By the time we left just after 10am, it was wall to wall people, so we sort refuge in a cafe before heading back to camp.

There’s probably only a few places in the world where you have the opportunity to look down on a city – Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town for example. Hobart is another. Mount Wellington dominates the Hobart skyline and is a must see. The road to the top was again winding and narrow (what a surprise), but the views from the lookout were breathtaking. Not only was the city laid out before me, but the horizons stretched out into the Tasman Sea.

It’s hard to keep on the designated path when there’s so many aspects on offer. A quick slip under the rail and I was free to wander along the cliff top, making the most of a brief escape. Even on this sunny day, a cold wind whipped across the summit and snow here is not uncommon throughout the year.

The next morning, we inched our way back down the mountain and headed south for an hour to set up at Gordon Foreshore Reserve Campground. Located on the D’entrecasteaux Channel, Ken’s eyes lit up as he scooped up oysters from the shoreline. We had some wood left over from our time at Cockle Creek and it wasn’t long before we had set ourselves up for the night and looked across the channel at our next adventure – Bruny Island.