Taylor Swift coming to town provided us the “opportunity” to leave Melbourne as pricing for accommodation went up about 500% so we went to Tasmania which was a short flight. We did a loop starting in Hobart over three days – this blog focused on the south of Hobart and the East Coast the next blog focused on the north with Cradle Mountain and Launceston.
Hobart
Tasmania was originally discovered / invaded by the Dutch – it was originally called “Van Diemen’s Land” and the English soon took over from the Dutch and renamed it Tasmania after Abel Tasman. Tasmania was a main place that the English used for ‘transportation” (code for shipping prisoners from England) until the practice stopped in the late 1800s. Hobart is the largest city and it reminded us of a 1960s city – a very nice and well preserved 1960s city. We spent some time at in the old city of Battery Point and Salamaca Square which were first built in the early 1800s. We drove up to Mount Wellington, we had almost skipped the drive and that would have been a mistake – pretty amazing views of Hobart and the coastline. We then headed north for a couple of days.
On the weekends, it is a very busy market. We were there on a Friday morning.
Wineglass Bay
On the return south, we focused on getting to the East Coast and the Freycinet National Park area. Found a good, moderate hike, from the Cole Bay side up to an overlook of Wineglass Bay on the Tasman Sea. The bright turquoise blue colors don’t come through in the pictures.
We didn’t see any Tasmanian Devils (or Tassie Devils) – but they were well represented in adverts and logos. Next blog from the north.
To answer the question that we hear Americans are asking regarding Taylor’s visit – where is the parking for 96,000 people? There is none – you have to take a train, tram, or walk.
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