Arriving in Hobart, Tas

Monday March 17 was another warm day in Melbourne.  We caught the free tram to Southern Cross station and then took the Skybus to the Airport.  The Skybus shuttle runs every 7 minutes-- excellent service.  Our last weekend in Melbourne coincided with the Grand Prix-- a huge event in Melbourne.  Luckily for us, the race took place in the St. Kilda neighbourhood in the southern part of the city.  The finals were taking place just as we were leaving Melbourne, so the airport was actually very quiet.

We had a short one hour flight to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania (Tas) and arrived there at noon.  We took an Uber to the Montacute Boutique Bunkhouse, an award winning boutique hostel in Hobart. It is located in central Hobart in the historic village of Battery Point.  While we share a bathroom, we are in a lovely private room. There is a deck outside our room and the kitchen is well-equipped and large with a separate dining area.  It is owned and operated by a 5th generation Tasmanian, Antony Langdon, who was out of town on our arrival but whom we met at dinner time.  It is named after his ancestral village of Montacute in England and after his great-great-great-great-great grandfather's land, Montacute, in central Tasmania.


Outside of the Montacute Boutique Bunkhouse


Another view

Our room

Outside deck area 
We are in a wonderful neighbourhood called Battery Point.  Very quiet and lots of lovely older homes.  The area was named after the battery of guns which were established on the point in 1818 as part of the Hobart coastal defences.

Nearby street in Battery Point

Notice for a sculpture trail
We wanted a coffee and a bite to eat and folks recommended Jackman & McRoss, a fabulous bakery and café about 3 minutes from our hostel.   It opens at 7:00 a.m. but closes at 5:00 p.m.

Jackman & McRoss


Fabulous baked goods...
... and breads


We will definitely be getting our bread here

We had breakfast food for lunch- poached eggs with spinach on wonderful sourdough

Horse drawn carriage through the window of the restaurant

View of the harbour from Battery Point

Checking out the 'hood


Another map called Bobby's footsteps-- in our 'hood
We started our walk to the Visitor's Information centre.

More wonderful homes with wrought iron
Beautiful houses-- we hadn't seen this type of roof before


Walking down the Kelly steps at Kelly St.

Lovely walk down to the harbour

Kelly steps

Art Deco building


We made our way to the Tourist Information Centre, which also booked excursions.  It reminded us of the I-Sites in NZ.  We booked a Bruny Island Food Tour for Tuesday and a tour of Port Arthur on Friday.

We then headed to the Harbour area.

Lots of fish restos on the water

Flippers looks good

We stopped at the Van Diemans Land Creamery for some gelato/sorbet
The creamery

Very interesting flavours

Alain with our gelato/sorbet. I had the boysenberry sorbet and Alain had a very exotic
pepperberry and leatherwood honey

Lots of boats in the harbour

Abel Tasman sculpture
On November 24, 1642 Tasman discovered land unknown to any European nation and gave it the name of "Anthony Van Diemens Landt" in honour of the Governor General of Batavia.  


Alain- Retro guy-- we just checked this place out

Michael Gleave- We Are Made of Stardust- 2018 - near Kelly Steps


As we were walking back to Montacute, we noticed a number of cool motto's on the licence plates.

Tasmania: Your Natural State
Tasmania-Explore the possibilities

Tasmania-Holiday Isle

We went back to the hostel for a great salmon dinner along with a very nice Tasmanian 2018 Sauvignon Blanc from Laurel Bank winery.


View from the deck
We are liking the slower pace-- a bit of a breather from big city life.

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