Happy new year everyone!
I trust you all saw the new year in with style. The past few days have obviously been pretty hectic for me, well all except day 10. On day 10, I just mooched around town with Holly, my friend who happened to be in Hobart that I mentioned in the previous posting. It was actually really nice to not have anything specific planned, and just wander round and enjoy Hobart. I only took 1 photo that day which is crazy! The 348 from the previous day more than make up for it though (note that these were subsequently trimmed down to 60).
Day 11 was not so peaceful. With Mt Wellington always watching over Hobart, I thought it would be good to do it a favour and give it a helping hand in observing Tasmania's capital. Not being a fan of steep uphill climbs, Holly and I decided to catch the tourist bus up the top, and then make our way down. On the ascent, the driver kept pointing out the walking routes for us, which made us appear like proper hardcore adventurous types - it was a good feeling. The pinnacle atop Mt Wellington affords beautiful 360 panoramas across Tasmania's South-West - with fantastic views South to Bruny Island, East to the Tasman Peninsula, West to the rugged South-West National Park, and North to something else that I can't remember. It's a shame that it was a bit hazy, otherwise the views would have been incredible.
After 10 minutes with the crowds of tourists (I seem to have become unable to cope with big crowds anymore after spending so much time with so few people around me), I was keen to start the 7km downward descent, past the "organ pipes", springs and bushland to reach the small town (if you can call it that), of Fern Tree, where we stopped for a well deserved lunch of potato wedges (a staple Australian food me thinks) and a Maxibon. Now at this point, most people catch the bus back to Hobart as the descent is actually quite tiring, being quite steep and all. Clearly I am not most people, so we decided to walk back to Hobart which is a fair distance. We followed the pipeline track which is aptly named as it too follows the pipeline which carries Hobart's water supply. It was a nice walk, through bushland, and into park lands which cover reservoirs and such like. A standard scary moment also occured, again after talking about snakes...this time it was due to a butterfly sat on the path. Moments later, Holly screamed at nothing which scared me also - snake paranoia hit in a little bit I think.
We finally hit civilisation after a while of thinking that we had gone the wrong way (as two geographers, we should never doubt our orientation abilities). Being the lovely day that it was, in addition to being a complete cheapskate, I didn't want to catch the bus back to Taroona (about 20 minute bus ride south of Hobart), where I am staying, so I thought I would do a little bit more walking. I didn't actually anticipate this extra section to take very long, but once again I was proven wrong. When will I learn eh? I finally made it back home with a sun burnt face, aching legs, and a slightly painful knee. My hosts told me that it's about a 30km walk from Mt Wellington to their house, so I think I did pretty well.
Following a quick shower, I headed back downtown to meet Holly once more to see in the new year. After a few drinks in her hostel, we headed to the waterfront to watch the fireworks.At the strike of 12, the fireworks started - I'm sure they wouldn't be as impressive as Sydneys but I enjoyed them all the same, and actually found them to be better than I expected for a small city like Hobart - good job. So that was the end of 2010 - not the most exciting of New Years but I don't really think it's a big deal.
Today (day 12), I have done bugger all and have loved it! The aurora (the ship I'm going on) is back in Hobart, so the work begins tomorrow...
I trust you all saw the new year in with style. The past few days have obviously been pretty hectic for me, well all except day 10. On day 10, I just mooched around town with Holly, my friend who happened to be in Hobart that I mentioned in the previous posting. It was actually really nice to not have anything specific planned, and just wander round and enjoy Hobart. I only took 1 photo that day which is crazy! The 348 from the previous day more than make up for it though (note that these were subsequently trimmed down to 60).
Day 11 was not so peaceful. With Mt Wellington always watching over Hobart, I thought it would be good to do it a favour and give it a helping hand in observing Tasmania's capital. Not being a fan of steep uphill climbs, Holly and I decided to catch the tourist bus up the top, and then make our way down. On the ascent, the driver kept pointing out the walking routes for us, which made us appear like proper hardcore adventurous types - it was a good feeling. The pinnacle atop Mt Wellington affords beautiful 360 panoramas across Tasmania's South-West - with fantastic views South to Bruny Island, East to the Tasman Peninsula, West to the rugged South-West National Park, and North to something else that I can't remember. It's a shame that it was a bit hazy, otherwise the views would have been incredible.
After 10 minutes with the crowds of tourists (I seem to have become unable to cope with big crowds anymore after spending so much time with so few people around me), I was keen to start the 7km downward descent, past the "organ pipes", springs and bushland to reach the small town (if you can call it that), of Fern Tree, where we stopped for a well deserved lunch of potato wedges (a staple Australian food me thinks) and a Maxibon. Now at this point, most people catch the bus back to Hobart as the descent is actually quite tiring, being quite steep and all. Clearly I am not most people, so we decided to walk back to Hobart which is a fair distance. We followed the pipeline track which is aptly named as it too follows the pipeline which carries Hobart's water supply. It was a nice walk, through bushland, and into park lands which cover reservoirs and such like. A standard scary moment also occured, again after talking about snakes...this time it was due to a butterfly sat on the path. Moments later, Holly screamed at nothing which scared me also - snake paranoia hit in a little bit I think.
We finally hit civilisation after a while of thinking that we had gone the wrong way (as two geographers, we should never doubt our orientation abilities). Being the lovely day that it was, in addition to being a complete cheapskate, I didn't want to catch the bus back to Taroona (about 20 minute bus ride south of Hobart), where I am staying, so I thought I would do a little bit more walking. I didn't actually anticipate this extra section to take very long, but once again I was proven wrong. When will I learn eh? I finally made it back home with a sun burnt face, aching legs, and a slightly painful knee. My hosts told me that it's about a 30km walk from Mt Wellington to their house, so I think I did pretty well.
Following a quick shower, I headed back downtown to meet Holly once more to see in the new year. After a few drinks in her hostel, we headed to the waterfront to watch the fireworks.At the strike of 12, the fireworks started - I'm sure they wouldn't be as impressive as Sydneys but I enjoyed them all the same, and actually found them to be better than I expected for a small city like Hobart - good job. So that was the end of 2010 - not the most exciting of New Years but I don't really think it's a big deal.
Today (day 12), I have done bugger all and have loved it! The aurora (the ship I'm going on) is back in Hobart, so the work begins tomorrow...
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI'll be heading to Hobart this coming Monday on the 10th of January. Do you have any suggestions on where to go and what to do there?
Cheers