Tassie, here we come.

The flight to Tasmania is quite a short one, so we had most of the afternoon yesterday to roam around the waterfront in Hobart. Our hotel is in a great location and we can walk to many of the main attractions here. Hobart is considered by many to be the prettiest city in Australia and I think they may be right. The historic buildings have been kept in wonderful shape , the waterfront is clean and attractive, and there are plenty of parks with lawns and flowers scattered around.
Today we walked to the Salamanca Market, the top tourist attraction in Hobart. Our experiences with markets in other towns had not made us very enthusiastic. They seem to be vegetables and fruits and flea market stalls. But not Salamanca!! We spent hours perusing (and buying) in hundreds of stalls containing Tasmanian handmade articles. There were lovely woolens, jewelry, leather goods, wooden articles, etc. The items were unique and of high quality. The market is about 3 blocks long and 4 stalls wide and happens every Saturday. It was full of people, but the merchants always had time to tell you how their wares were made.
We also visited the Maunston Hut Museum. Maunson was an Antarctic explorer who led an expedition in 1908. The museum is a reconstruction of the huts that they built there to stay for a year. We knew very little about Antarctica exploration but the man working there gave us lots of information and we enjoyed learning about it.
Then we headed off to Battery Hill, a quaint residential area with small cottages as perfectly kept as when they were built 150 years ago. It was very nice to just wander around and enjoy the houses and gardens.
Except for a foray off to the modern shopping area in search of Blundstone Boots, and a stop off at a whisky distillery, we spent the day in the old town and enjoyed it immensely.Read more