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!

St. David's Bells

The bells were pealing joyfully at St. David's Cathedral. We were strolling around town, rather aimlessly, truth be told. We thought perhaps a wedding ceremony had just concluded. The bells stopped, then started up once again. The sound reverberated throughout the city. It wasn't just the marking of the hour or half hour. Curiosity got the better of us. We wandered over and noticed a hand-lettered sign outside of the cathedral: “Bell Tower Open Today”. Hmm...what's going on here? We ventured inside and sure enough, just inside the entrance, a door opened to a spiral staircase, leading up, up, up. Why not?

We heard a female voice somewhere up the spiral inviting us. “Come on up to see the bellringers.” Some 35 steps later, we were welcomed into a rather large chamber where eight people were resolutely pulling on bell ropes, intent on their tasks. Some were working up a sweat. Other visitors, like us, were circled around them and watching. The bells stopped and we had the chance to ask questions. I was interested in how many steps there were in the bell tower (152), how often they opened the bell tower (only once or twice a year) , how do you get to be a bellringer and if we could climb yet higher to the top of the bell tower. David asked about the knots tidying up the bell ropes. It's that pink/blue mindset at work again.

Yes, we could climb further up the tower to watch the bells tolling...another 82 steps. A volunteer handed us our padded earmuffs … the sound of the bells would knock us out of our socks otherwise. We queued up behind a few other courageous souls and followed the leader up the narrow, circular stairwell. The bells were enclosed behind a glass door and we stopped for a moment and watched them rock back and forth responding to the bellringers' tugs below.

Climbing the next 35 concrete, dimly-lit steps to the top of the bell tower was a monumental task for me. Not because of the energy exerted, but rather the confined, tight space, skinny, irregular steps, lack of railing and the fear of losing my balance and toppling down. David had my rear...and I mean that literally. There was no opportunity for pictures. I clung to the wall, sometimes with a hand on the third or fourth step above me, to maintain my balance … and composure.

It was worth the effort and anxiety. The views from the top were 360º stupendous. The city spread like a fine table before us. The harbor sparkled in the brilliant sunshine. We couldn't quite make out Cups on the pier; a building occluded our view. We could feel the tower sway in the wind and it was a bit unsettling.

The steep descent was worse than the climbing. Down and around, down and around, I carefully planted my feet with each step to avoid a tumble. It seemed darker and eerie. We reached the enclosed bells...35 down, 82 steps left to the bellringers' chamber. It seemed to take forever...one step at a time, one step at a time. We turned in our earmuffs. 35 more steps and we were back down to terra firma.

When we got back to the boat, David checked Ashley's Book of Knots. Sure enough on page 34, there's a bellringer's knot used expressly to keep the long rope off the belfry floor. Who would have thunk it?

Historic Hobart, Tasmania

I'm usually lucky coming up with a walk or two that explores a city's nooks and crannies on foot. In Hobart, I struck the mother lode. This is a small city with lots to see and the city fathers are evidently keen on everyone taking advantage of what's available. I found lots of information on the internet about self-guided walking tours including pdf downloads with maps and descriptions of key interest points. I negotiated our play dates with the captain and chose an historical walking tour as our first on-foot foray into the city.

Hobart is the second oldest city in Australia, founded in 1803. Tied up at the Elizabeth Street Pier in Sullivans Cove on the site of the original settlement here in Hobart, we didn't have far to go to begin our tour. Founded as a penal colony, there was no dearth of free labor in Hobart. There was plenty of money from timber and whale oil and there was a large local supply of sandstone, hence the preponderance of huge sandstone buildings in the area … warehouses, government buildings, houses, mansions, walls and arches.

We headed first along the foreshore to Salamanca Place. Now upscale with boutiques and restaurants, this beautiful area is lined with Georgian-style sandstone warehouses, a solid historical reminder that this was originally the docking place for whaling and sealing boats.

Tucked between two warehouses, we found the alley leading to Kelly's Steps. Built by Captain James Kelly in 1839, the steps provide a shortcut from Salamanca up to Battery Point, Hobart's oldest neighborhood.

We wandered up steep hills and down narrow streets past neat, well-preserved period cottages, their tiny front gardens overflowing with hydrangea, roses and lavender. Once in awhile magnificent views of the harbor peeked out between buildings. We walked across the tiny park at Arthur Circus, a circle of Battery Point's oldest houses … and not a clown in sight.

On Hampden Road, we saw one cottage for sale that was an absolute beauty.

“This charming cottage was built in 1840 for Angus McLeod, the Bandmaster of the Royal Scottish Fuseliers. Beautifully built from a blend of sandstone and bluestone, this timeless Georgian classic impresses from every angle.” $1.2M – this would definitely over-extend our current budget.

We stopped at The Shipwright Arms, locally known as Shippie's, for a pub lunch and a pint (more on pubs later) then consulted the map to find a chandlery David had been hankering to see (one of the negotiating points of the walk). The chandlery happens to be near the historic Mariners Cottages, so we killed two birds with one stone. These tiny cottages are believed to be the oldest remaining buildings on the site of the shipbuilding yards on Napoleon Street.

The walk looped around and took us through the Angelsea Barracks grounds. Built in 1814, Angelsea is the oldest Australian Army barracks still in use. We were free to wander the grounds and admire yet more sandstone buildings and convict-built structures.

An old war memorial stands in a separate area, the only Australian war memorial ever erected by soldiers to memorialize their own. On the far side of the lawn, we were surprised to find a pillar left from a Transit of Venus study conducted in 1876 by an American expedition here.

We finished our 5 km walk at the Victoria Docks where fishing vessels berth and tie up to offload their catches. Another row of warehouses line Hunter Street just opposite the waterfront. Previously a merchants row, it subsequently was the home of Henry Jones IXL jam factory in 1891. A little trivia: the “IXL” stood for “I excel in everything I do”, Jones' personal mantra. Still produced today, this iconic jam brand is no longer made in Hobart. However, the “jam factory” building remains, now housing a 5-star hotel and lots of upscale boutiques, shops and restaurants.

Returning to the boat, we felt a bit more in touch with Hobart's historic past and David still had time to brew up his next batch of beer.