Top Things to See and Do in Hobart, Tasmania

Tasmania is a treasure trove of sights and experiences and Hobart is a good place to base yourself for a few days while you suss out the opportunities. In October 2012, a writer for the Lonely Planet travel guide series ranked Hobart as number seven of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2013. That's pretty impressive, don't you think? We've visited six of the ten listed cities and we think Hobart should have claimed an even better spot. An historic waterfront town, Hobart, capital city of Tasmania, is small, compact and charming. We rarely have access to a car, so we walk or take public transit most everywhere we want to go. In Hobart, that's easy. Pretty much everything in the greater Hobart area is close or there's a bus, ferry or tour to get you there.

Here's our recommendation of things to see and do in Hobart:

MONA (Museum of New and Old Art), is a world-class, kick-ass, can't miss museum. You can take a bus or catch the ferry to get there. The ferry is more fun and definitely more impressive as you head up the Derwent River under the Tasman Bridge and catch views of the museum ensconced in the hillside.

Salamanca Market and Salamanca Place – a market every Saturday morning, rain or shine, that takes over the entire street. The rest of the week enjoy pubs, restaurants and boutiques in a trendy historical area.

The Waterfront and Constitution Dock (ConDock) – a lovely area to visit. Fishing boats and sailboats tie up here in historic Sullivan Cove. Convict-built sandstone warehouses line the wharves. Catch lunch at one of the floating fish and chip joints along the dock where you have to kneel down at low tide to place and collect your order.

Royal Botanical Gardens – even if you're not the horticultural type, there's lots to see at the Gardens including an awesome, historic carousel and a SubAntarctic species exhibit, the only one in the world. You can walk through the Queens Domain to get there with lots to see along the way.

Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary – just north of Hobart, this is a sanctuary, not a zoo, so the residents change from time to time. Touch a wombat, pat a fluffy koala and see lots of Tasmanian devils, not to mention blue-tongued lizards, poteroos and quolls.

Bruny Island – As unique as Tasmania itself, you can take a tour from Hobart or rent a car and take the ferry from Kettering across the beautiful D'Entrecasteaux Channel. Just over 100km long, the island is enchanting, offering views of the Tasman Sea, a visit to the Cape Bruny Light, the Bligh Museum and more. Don't miss a chance to view rare white wallabies near Adventure Bay.

Historic Walk & Battery Point – An easy self-guided walk through the oldest areas of Hobart. Admire the buildings and 19th century architecture, then stop at the Shipwright Arms (Shippies) for a genuine pub lunch and a pint.

Mount Wellington or as the locals call it, “the mountain”, lords over the city. From its summit of 1271m (4,170'), there are superb views of the Derwent River, Hobart and the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. It's about 20km to the top from Hobart along a narrow, unmarked, two-lane road. You can rent a car, take a tour, ride a bike or walk (long walk, but many good paths).

Walk, walk, walk ... Hobart offers so many little nooks and crannies which allow you to peek into its historic past. Visit St. David's Park, walk along the wharves or up Kelly's Steps, wander along the foreshore up to Cornelian Bay under the Tasman Bridge to see the colorful boatsheds.

Festivals – If you can plan your visit during the summer months (Dec-February), there are several festivals to enjoy along the historic waterfront including the Sydney-Hobart Race, Tasmania Taste Fest, the bi-annual Wooden Boat Festival and more. Check the Hobart festival and events schedule before making your plans.

Tantalize your taste buds:

• Try Valhalla ice cream – pepperberry flavor – this is something very unique to Tasmania.
• Tassie seafood...smoked salmon, oysters, mussels, crayfish(lobster), scallop pie
• Tasmanian cool climate wines
• Bruny Island cherries...huge and luscious (Dec/Jan) and all other native fruit as it comes into season...apples, pears and apricots were our special favorites.

Souvenirs – if you want something “very” Tasmanian, buy something wooden crafted of Huon pine, blackheart sassafras or one of the many native woods available in Tasmania. The Salamanca Market offers lots of choices although our personal favorite was Kevin “the Bowlmaker” Rayner, Stall #42 (kgrayner@bigpond.com). This man knows his wood and his craft, and his work is absolutely beautiful.

Notes:

• Hobart Information Center provides lots of good information about tours, sightseeing, accommodation plus a good, free city map.
• We don't usually stay in hotels since we live on the boat, but there are lots of hotel choices from hostels to high class in Hobart and nearby. We've stayed at the Hobart Towers Motel twice on our way to and from the airport and found it basic, but clean, friendly and one of the least expensive hotels in the Hobart area ($70/night) other than staying at a backpackers' lodge.
• We've only recommended those activities we've actually done ourselves. We have not taken the Bruny Island Cruise, but it seems to be very popular. We have also not yet visited Port Arthur because it's accessible by boat, so we plan to sail there and report back later. Port Arthur is highly recommended...by everyone...and tours are available from Hobart.
• Day Rover passes on the Metro bus system ($4.80/adult) allow you to ride all day on the buses. You can buy your ticket from the driver when you enter the bus.

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Days and Ways to Celebrate

A fun list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Epiphany

A Christian religious holiday commemorating the baptism of Christ and the visit of the Magi among other things. Also known as Twelfth Day.

Twelfth Night

This is the 12th night after Christmas and commemorates the official end of the Christmas season. Remember the “Twelve Days of Christmas”...this is the 12th day/night...the drummers should be drumming.

Sherlock's Birthday

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes crime mysteries were written at the turn of the 20th century and still hold their appeal today. Sherlock and Watson first appeared in “A Study in Scarlet” in 1886. You can download one of his 56 stories or four novels for free.

Queen's Domain & King Tides

Another recommended circle walk in Hobart is around and through the Queen's Domain. It's a huge public park owned and maintained by the city of Hobart since 1860. The weather was perfect: warm and sunny with a light breeze and blue, blue skies. We slathered on the sunscreen to prevent toasting and headed out early.

eastern rosella

We picked up the start of the walk close by on Davey Street and followed it as it meandered up the Domain's grassy, bushland hills. The area has abundant native birds, like yellow wattles, silvereyes and eastern rosella and everybody was singing in the sunshine today. Discovery of Aboriginal middens in the area indicate that the native people lived and hunted in these hills centuries before the arrival of Europeans in 1803.

The Domain has had a variety of uses throughout the years including a battery to defend Hobart from attack by sea, a venue for anti-draft rallies and various exhibitions and even a tent-city for the homeless during the Depression Years. Its primary use today is for sports fields, an Aquatic Centre, and public enjoyment. The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Garden occupies a key location within the Domain as well.

beaumaris zoo gates

We passed by the site of the old Beaumarais Zoo. All that's left of the zoo are the gates. The zoo, which closed in 1937, is primarily known as the home of the last thylacine, aka Tasmanian Tiger, which died here in 1936. What a sad thought to know that the last of a species had died and was gone forever.

government house

Just up the road, we saw the gates and grounds of Government House, the official residence of Tasmania's governor, at present, Peter Underwood. Cattle grazed on the lawn and we could barely make out the house, which is more in the order of a castle, because of all the thick foliage. In this case, the view we had sailing up the Derwent was much more illuminating than the peek we had while walking by the gates.

subantarctic house

The last time we visited the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, it was a cold, raw, windy day and we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Only early spring flowers had been in bloom then. When we entered the Gardens this time, it was a whole new world … crowded with school kids on field trips, mothers with baby strollers and people just enjoying the sun and the masses of blossoming flowers. We had missed some key features of the gardens on our last trip and had the chance to view them now. The Japanese Gardens are beautiful. We wandered through the rose gardens; the sweet scent was nearly overpowering. The Subantarctic Plant House was particularly interesting. It offers the world's only collection of plant life collected from Macquarie Island and duplicates its cold, drizzly climate. Sound effects of seals and birds that inhabit the island lend additional ambiance to the exhibit.

pacific wood ducklings

We were fascinated by the baby Pacific black ducklings in the gardens' lily pond. Ten of them followed their parents around, but when they came to lily pads, they hopped up and walked across, their weight supported easily by the thick pads.

soldiers walk

We returned to town via Soldiers Walk. Individual trees and markers commemorate the 520 Tasmanians who died during World War I. The walk overlooks the Derwent and the views are beautiful.

cenotaph

As we came back down the hill to the the city, we passed by several war memorials including the main military commemorative monument known as the Cenotaph. The roundtrip walk including our wanderings through the Gardens was about 5-6km, a reasonable outing for a sunny day in Hobart.

scraping mussels

We returned to Cups in time for the lowest of the low tides. Tied to a fixed pier, adjusting Cups' docklines and fender boards to accommodate the King tides has been a daily routine. We had never heard the term “King tides” before arriving in New Zealand. The term was coined in Australia and is used worldwide now. It means the highest tides of the year...and correspondingly, the lowest tides of the year. We'd call them “spring tides” and they correspond with gravitation forces and the alignment of the sun, moon and the earth. They're totally predictable. With a differential of 1.5M (~5 feet), the lowest tides have left us well below the top of the pier. So low, in fact, David had to scrape mussels and oysters off the pier pilings in order for the fender boards to sit comfortably and keep Cups from scraping her topsides on the pilings. Unfortunately, the scraped mussels and oysters were not suitable for good eating. Darn!

Bloomin' Tasmania

It's a great time of year to be in Tasmania. Everything is blooming. There's even a free guide I picked up that provides a list and location of all of Tasmania's gardens (60 or more) … from formal, heritage gardens to native, wild bush landscapes … and the peak blooming times for each flower. Tasmania's cool, moist climate offers an ideal growing environment and gardens thrive. We certainly won't have the opportunity to visit them all, but the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG) were on my list of places to see. David can be very crafty. So this morning when he said “How about going to the Botanical Gardens today? I've already reserved the courtesy van”, I was immediately suspicious.

“Sure”, I said.

“It's right on the way to Bunnings (a la Home Depot) and ENZED for more hydraulic fittings” he responded without so much as a sneaky grin.

Ah, well, a good compromise and off we went.

It was cold, raw and windy as we trudged from the parking lot to the gardens entrance. The sweet smells of blossoming flowers were everywhere. Rainbow lorikeets flitted from tree to tree on the beautifully landscaped grounds. Despite the gray skies and cold temperatures, the gardens were absolutely lovely. Located high on the Queens Domain, a grassy, woodland area, the RTBG venue was used centuries ago by Aboriginal tribes, their oyster shell middens still observable. Convicts worked here in the early 19th century, their handiwork evident in historic sandstone walls and buildings still standing within the garden grounds.

As Australia's second oldest botanical gardens (Sydney's first), the RTBG were established along the Derwent River in 1818 and encompass over 35 acres. In addition to the more typical botanical garden offerings, the gardens maintain a large Tasmanian flora collection including native orchids and warantah, a type of protea, and the world's only Subantarctic Plant House.

We wandered past what is thought to be the world's second oldest steam-driven carousel in existence. The Gallopers Carousel, originally built in England in 1882, has been lovingly restored and after a stint on the Hobart waterfront, it sits regally in the gardens near the Conservatory. Some people enjoy the thrill of roller coasters. Me, I'll take an elaborately painted horse on a carousel every time. Alas, it wasn't running.

The tulips are in bloom and I don't think we've ever seen such huge ones. They were magnificent. We wandered through a hall of orchids. I always thought they required a hot, steamy environment, but they most assuredly do not as the unheated Conservatory housed thousands of gorgeous, exotic flowers. We passed a lily pond, but no lilies bloomed yet. The ducks and one solitary cormorant didn't seem to mind. The rhododendron flowers along the path were so profuse, the plants could not have accommodated even one more blossom. Hot pinks, nail polish reds, vibrant oranges, even submarine yellow...huge blossoms, some the size of your fist. We could have wandered for hours if the cold didn't finally get to us.

It's early in the season and not everything we wanted to see was in bloom AND the carousel was not operating. So I've obtained a raincheck from the captain for a return visit which I'm sure he'll honor ... the next time he needs to go to Bunnings.