Royal Botanic Gardens Hobart

Royal Botanic Gardens Hobart, a set on Flickr.

There are many websites,booklets and pamphlets listing Hobart’s tourist attractions, but on not one of them did I find the Botanic Gardens listed.Which is a crying shame because a visit here was one of the highlights of our trip.

To say the gardens are beautiful would be a massive understatement. The sheer variety of plants alone doesn’t account for their charm.They are split into little bioshpeheres (Chinese garden, Japanese garden, french, native etc.) that seamlessly meld into one another whilst somehow keeping their unique geographical locus unblemished. Thanks to Tasmania’s climate and plentiful waterfall, there are water features aplenty and plants growing, blossoming, spectacular all year round.I would love to visit in spring when all the flowers would be in bloom, but even in late summer there was no shortage of marvellous flora.

The trees were especially impressive.It can be so easy to overlook trees, but nobody in their right mind could ever do anything but stop and stare at the massive golden elm outside the vege patch, , the huge conifers flanking the archway, or the stunted, convoluted dragon tree tucked away in the chinese garden.These gardens are home to Pete’s vege patch, of Better Homes & Gardens fame from Australian TV (which to be honest was, in my opinion, the least impressive display of the botanical gardens) and a subantarctic plant house ,replete with seabird and seal noises and subantarctic temperatures (which, in my opinion, was one of the best displays in the botanical gardens).

To top it all off, there is a restaurant with typical, exceptional fresh Tasmanian food that just inundates you with sheer flavour at every bite (be sure to order more than 2 scones, you won’t be able to stop eating them) and a charming little gift shop with everything from seeds to high end jewellery. The staff of course, were wonderful and friendly: the view across the Domain Highway andover the Derwent river appropriately stunning. Altogether, a place I will be sure to visit again.

See the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens website here.

Hobart New Years Eve Fireworks 2012

Hobart New Years Eve Fireworks 2012, a set on Flickr.

Fireworks ont he Hobart waterfront with the Sydney-Hobart yacht race finalists in the foreground

Bruny Island Isthmus

What stalks us, what ails us?

Let go of your madness

like a rabid dog it haunts us

the slaver from its jaws

turns something loving

turns something lovely

into something horrible

that i must flee.

 

Let go of your duty

like a maddened beast it follows us

the red glare of its eyes

turns all thats happy

turns all thats natural

into a sin

I must pay for evermore.

-Sarah Ahmed

Richardsons bay panorama

Panorama Richardsons bay, a photo by gomagoti on Flickr.

light up,light up

Festival Lights, a photo by gomagoti on Flickr.

Festival goer at the Falls Festival,Marion Bay 2011.

Day 8: Lake St Clair National Park

We got up bright, early and eager on day 8, the first of January of this new year. After a very late night, might I add. Anyways, we headed back through Hobart and began making our way west, through some of the pleasant farming districts. Our first stop was the Salmon Farm- its a great place, which is not something I ever thought I would say about a fish breeding station! Just look at their albino rainbow trout:

For $2 at the entry desk we were handed a huge bowl of fish pellets, which the trout leapt out of the water to catch as we sprinkled them across the pools. They also had salmon (obviously) and beautiful manicured garden full of exotic trees. My favourite was definitely the silver elm.A more lovely horticultural specimen I have not seen.Here’s a leaf (the whole tree was like this:)

After this pleasant stop staretd what I have termed the Hellish Highland drice. Tortuous, twisty, interminably lined with tall dark trees, there was nothing pleasant about it. We only reached lake St Clair around 3pm, and I must say that, though it was undoubtedly a beautiful spot, I was too exhausted from the concentrated driving to do much more than pitch tent, eat and sleep that night.

A cabin on Lake St Clair:

 

 

 

What they don’t tell you about festivals

So, days 6 and 7 in Tasmania, and we were off to the Falls Festival in Marion Bay. We were blessed with beautiful weather, a sunny yet not hot 25, and the next day was christmas eve.

Sun, sea, music; sounds perfect, right? well, it would’ve been except for the toilets.

Nobody who has ever gone to a festival speaks about the loos. The shanks remain unmentioned amongst wild tales of weekend escapades with strangers. I fear I have to break this conspiracy of silence. The Falls Festival is a ‘green’ festival, i.e. it promotes it self as being environmentally friendly (at least, as environmentally friendly as you can hope to be with thousands of beer consuming under 30s in a field). The plastic cups were ‘biodegradable’ (I take it they meant relative to other plastic; they certainly weren’t biodegradable relative to say, paper), there was minimal electric lighting to save energy and hippies abounded everywhere, selling their bright airy clothes in handmade cotton (transported by airplane all the way from obscure Indian villages).The food all claimed to be organic (except the hot dogs, which proudly claimed their non-organic heritage and were treated to long queues of enthusiastic teenage males waiting to devour them) and to be honest, tasted pretty darn great.

All the other ‘green-ness’ was but window dressing compared to the crap holes. I tried, I genuinely tried, to take my camera into a toilet and take a picture to show you,but alas, I love my Nikon too much to ever subject it to this sort of treatment.

The loos were wheelie bins, housed within a wooden structure about 2m long, 1m wide and 2m high. The door had a latch of sorts on the inside, a slab of wood you slid to keep it closed and indicate occupation to the hordes without. The top bit of the door was open to the world, presumably for ventilation, so that often one found oneself being watched by  the bright eyes of persistant and very curious swallows perched on the door.Inside, one had to climb a substantial step to get to the seat, which opened onto the wheelie bin underneath. Next to the seat was a tray full of….sand. And a blue or green plastic cup. And a cactus; inexplicably always a cactus. At night , no lights, you needed to use your own head torch. A word from the newly wise; when wearing a head torch and inside a festival toilet, do NOT look down!

And then there was the smell….oh the smell! That incessant odor of fresh decomposition and sand will never leave me. I still find myself awakening in a sweat, having dreamt of the smell….Don’t get me wrong, the festival was a highly enjoyable experience, and I’d do it again, but next time, I’m just going to take a 5km hike to the nearest bushes to do my business!

God Bless the inventor of the modern flush toilet.

Day 5:Tasman National Park

We headed back east, then south through a series of narrow straits with fascinating names (Denison Canal, Eaglehawk Neck) and into the blob of land tenuously hanging onto the lower right hand side of Tasmania. The Tasman National park is most often photographed from the sea because of its (apparently) stunning cliffs. We had to be happy with the land aspect of it. There’s several stops as the park is spread out into roughly 4 separate sites.

First we got to see the Tesselated pavement, which was amazing. Years of weathering and erosion combined with salt deposition by the sea cause this cracked, ’tiled’ appearance.

We then saw the Devil’s Kitchen, Tasman Blowhole and Tasman Arch (pics to follow soon), which are all rock formations caused by the ocean’s action over many centuries. I have to admit, I found Doo Town more interesting than the rocks! It was a little town where everything, every house, every shop, was named Doo-something, as a continued tradition from one of the town’s founders.

(I had a crayfish roll.It was truly doo-liscious!)

We got to the Lime Bay campsite, on the north west corner of the peninsula early in the afternoon and decided to relax there the rest of the day. Beautiful site, on a great curve of sand that looks out onto a sheltered bay that is only thigh deep 2km out. Fishermen were having to anchor their boats way out in the deeper water, and wade,kayak or swim to and from them. The bay was full of crabs and birdlife, including this bizarre family of black swans merrily floating amidst all the seabirds.

All in all it was a lovely relaxing camp that night, in preparation for the mad rush of a day that was to come.

Day 4: Giant trees, deep caves and many many berries

 

We got up groggily at some unholy hour and began the slow drive to the Tarkine forest because my sister (in her infinite wisdom) had booked us 2 places on a guided tour of the Tahune airwalk at 9am. The drive was very pleasant, I must say. The road climbed out of Hobart and amongst Mt Wellington’s foothills, then south with the rivers and sea on the left and hilly farmland with quaint little towns nestled within in on the right. This is the drive that made me determined to own a house somewhere in Tasmania someday. Each one we passed was more quirky than the one before.

 

 

 

 

 

On the way, the roadsigns kept us well entertained. Tasmania has astonishing signs, even by Australian standards. There’s one that looks like a warning of a giant rat (must be meant for some sort of marsupial, but driving along in a car tats not what the animal on the sign looks like!). Outside of Huonville, some wit had added a ‘P’ and ‘T’ to an “overtaking lane” sign, so that you rounded a corner and were faced instead with “Overtaking Planet”.

Picturesque as the drive was, I was relieved when we finally got to Geeveston, outside of which is the Forestry Tasmania managed Tarkine forest area. This part of the drive was a nightmare; narrow, steep and twisty roads, framed by gigantic trees that let little light in and looked like they were ready to topple onto our little car with scant provocation from the wind whistling up and down the mountainside. It was a relief to draw into the car park. We were (of course) the only ones there, and showed our prebooked tickets and went to await the tours start at the Huon river. It was to begin at 9; at 915 I went and enquired after our guide only to be told that these tours were now self guided. So off we went to walk the Tahune airwalk. I personally found it a disappointing experience, a tree being much more impressive from the bottom up, than from the top down. My fear of railing may have detracted from my enjoyment…

After the airwalk, we decided to go to the Hastings Caves, a further 50km drive south. These are dolomite caves, as opposed to most others in Australia, which are limestone caves. Unfortunately tripods weren’t allowed, so most of my images were too shaky to use, however this one turned out passably.

The caves were a thoroughly enjoyable experience; the tour took 45 minutes and it was bitingly cold inside, but there are thermal pools attached to the Hastings cave complex, which make for a very pleasant warm up.

On the drive back we were astonished at the numbers of little stalls along the roadside selling fruit directly from farms. We bought the world’s yummiest apricots from an Amish lady (6 for $2!) and mixed berries from the verandah of some random house.

(the white ones are white currants, my first time ever trying them. Quite tart.)

We got back to Hobart in time to watch the end of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race and have another waterfront dinner (Investec Loyal won the 2011 cup).

 

 

Day 3: The drive to Hobart

We only left Freycinet after lunch time, and yet made it to Hobart by 5pm, which should give you an idea of how easy it is to actually drive around Tasmania. The roads were lovely, gently meandering between hills and farms, forests and picturesque little towns. I really liked Swansea, where we stopped for petrol and the garage owner let us cuddle his big old Alsatian dog. Everyone was so friendly; everywhere we stopped we were called “Darl” and showered with smiles and free advice on the best spots to stop, eat, etc.Following said advice, we stopped 3km outside of Swansea, at Kate’s berry farm.

They make delightful homemade jams, juices and conserves at this farm. Theres a nice free tasting station where you can try everything out before you buy any (I bought a jar of mingledberry jam). They also have a little cafe, which makes one of the yummiest chicken pot pies I have ever tasted.

As we were driving along after Kate’s Berry farm, I spotted a sign pointing off to Spiky beach on our left, and made an impromptu decision to stop and check it out. Turned out to be one of the best random stops I have ever made on any trip, ever. Absolutely pristine beach, with squeaky white sand, and massive rock formations to explore, with water so shallowwe were only up to our knees 1km out.

After a good hour and a half exploring Spiky Beach, we got back in the car and made out leisurely way towards Hobart. We got to our hotel and had plenty of time to clean up a bit before heading out to Hobart’s wharf for a fish and chip dinner. Its a beautiful old city, the second settlement in Australia, and next time I go I will be sure to spend more time exploring Hobart itself. In addition, even though on the map it looked like a warren of one way streets, its surprisingly easy to navigate, with little traffic that drove at quite an unhurried pace anyway, so it was quite blissful meandering round till I found parking (it being Christmas holiday season, all parking was free).

Theres lots to see at the wharf; statues of antarctic explorers, dogs,seals and penguins, the boats coming in or out, fishermen unloading the days crayfish haul, fascinating old warehouse type buildings that have been converted to restaurants, and of course, the seagulls. Theres also quite a good collection of eating places on the wharf itself; as you’d expect, most were seafood joints, but there was also a steakhouse, a chinese and an indian restaurant, so really one could have whatever one liked. A very pleasant change from the streets full of homogenous restaurants that I’ve experienced in other Australian cities.

We had dinner and a walk around and then headed back to our hotel in Lindisfarme, on the other side of the bridge that crosses Hobart’s 2 halves. As the driver, I didn’t get to take any pictures of the bridge, but believe you me ,it is spectacular, a single arch spanning a very wide river mouth. A little sister version of the Sydney bridge. It was an early night for us on day 3 (early being 10pm!) as we had to rise with the dawn the next day.

 

Day 2: Freycinet National Park

They told me Freycinet was an awesome place before we went there but I didn’t really believe them until I saw it for myself. Our campsite was 3m from the beach, and completely private ,screened from the next one by a growth of native trees that a family of Superb Fairy Wrens spent the whole day flitting in and out of. The toilets were nearby and lovely and clean (anyone who has ever been camping will know how vitally important this is!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went on a night time penguin tour at Bicheno (unfortunately, no photography allowed) and saw lots of little fairy penguins coming ashore from the sea to feed their chicks.No matter how many times you see it, a penguin’s waddle doesn’t diminish in amusement potential.

On the second day, after a leisurely swim in Coles Bay ( oh wait, haven’t shown you that yet, here is Coles Bay and Richardson’s beach behind our campsite:)

Anyways, after that, we went to explore Honeymoon Bay. The sun had come up and the water simply sparkled.Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself.

After a wonderfully pleasant ramble in Honeymoon Bay, we decided we were ready to tackle the climb over the Hazards to reach the lookout over Wineglass Bay, Freycinet’ most famous sight. What a mistake that turned out to be! Don’t believe the signs; that hike is not for the fainthearted, or even the moderately fit. It took us 2 painfully hours to get up the mountain, and whilst the view was indeed spectacular, I’m still unsure as to whether the exhaustion was worth it.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see much more of Freycinet, as we had to drive to Hobart that afternoon, but if I ever go back its definitely a place I’ll schedule a longer stop in. Who knows, I may even make it down to that white crescent beach by Wineglass Bay next time…

 

Tasmania Day 1: Grindelwald and the Tamar Valley