Tasmania

Wineglass Bay, Freycinet - Tasmania

27-30 November 2017
We decided at the weekend that a little diversion to Tasmania was feasible, neither of us ever having visited the isolated island state 260km south of the mainland, so we booked flights and  accommodation and hopped on the one hour flight to Hobart on Monday morning.            

Monday 
First stop was MONA - the Museum of New and Old Art created by millionaire philanthropist David Walsh six years ago which has propelled little Hobart into a top tourist destination. Definitely worth a visit - and you need at least half a day to enjoy the fascinating, bizarre, and sometimes explicit exhibition.

Agar Wall

Cloaca Professional: Wim Delvoye.
Active digestive system including defaecation at the far end! 

Snake: Sidney Nolan

We then spent a delightful hour wandering around the Royal Botanical Gardens before heading out for dinner at Peacock and Jones to mark our 24th wedding anniversary!

Hobart centre 

Tuesday
We drove north inland via Tunbridge (!), Ross and Campbell Town enjoying the “historic” villages with pretty sandstone houses.

Callington Mill 

Ross church

Scallop pie in Ross - yeugh

Inquisitive Wallaby 

After curving east through huge forests of blue gum trees (Eucalyptus), we reached the Freycinet National Park and enjoyed an 11km circular walk to Hazards beach and up for the famous view over Wineglass Bay.

Hazards beach, Freycinet

Wineglass Bay, Freycinet

We headed south to Swansea for our “colonial” B&B, and supper in the Tavern, the only eaterie still serving at 8pm after the recommended pizza restaurant closed literally as we knocked on the door...

Wednesday 

After forcing down a full-cooked B&B breakfast (what diet?) we headed south down the stunning coastal road to the Port Arthur peninsula.

Kelvedon Beach

Spring Beach

Wielangta road view 

We crossed onto the peninsular of Port Arthur

Dunalley Bay

and hugged the east side taking in the incredible geology of this rugged coastline:

Tessalated pavement 

Robin

And then a beautiful, peaceful stroll from Devil’s kitchen along the high coastal path with huge drops into the deep blue water from the impressively eroded cliffs.

Tasman Arch 

After a quick look at the Blowhol (wasn’t really blowing in the calm conditions), we sauntered across to the Port Arthur Histoic Site at 4pm - to discover a massive, beautifully restored world listed heritage site that requires a whole day to appreciate in detail! Half price tickets for late entry, and we sprinted around the fascinating and in some cases gruesome buildings of the Penal Station established in 1830,   and finally closed in 1877, becoming a small town until convict history became a major draw in the 1920’s.

The Government Cottage and The Church 

Smith O’Brien’s Cottage

The Penitentiary 

Guard Tower (L) and Penitentiary (R)

We called into Lucky Ducks in Nubeena for a delicious supper as the sun shone across the sea - and  then found our AirBnB accommodation hidden away down a dirt track 6 km outside the hamlet of Murdunna. Jen and George bought the 100 acre plot 30 years ago to build their retirement home; a suitably remote location with wallabies, possums and birds galore.

A perfect end to a great day: squid, chips and beer at Lucky Ducks!

Conical Hill AirBnB 

Thursday

Male Blue Wren 

A short journey back to Hobart completed our 665km drive. An hour’s flight back to Melbourne - and back to the tranquility of the Maartens’s home.

We absolutely loved our first taste of Tasmania, and can’t quite believe we hadn’t considered it before when planning our visit to Melbourne. Thank you to those who encouraged us to go and recommended MONA.