Quiet Day in Hobart

Thursday March 21 was cloudy with bits of drizzle and a high of 18C.   We were both tired from our visit to MONA and decided we would take it easy.  We decided to explore a bit more of our neighbourhood before having lunch out.

We followed Bobby's footsteps-- the Battery Point Historic Walk, which conveniently started across the street from our hostel.  We are at 1 Stowell Avenue and one of the earliest homes in the 'hood was built in 1831 and located at 6 Stowell.


Great signage on poles

1831 home, now apartments at 6 Stowell Ave.
We went to see the old Queen Alexandra maternity Hospital, where Errol Flynn was born in 1909 and also where the owner of our hostel was born.  The hospital closed in 1980 and is now an apartment building.
1908 maternity hospital

Old hospital - now apartments
We passed an historic 1926 house designed in the arts and crafts style called Markee House Museum and Garden.  We were thinking of a visit, but one needed to make an appointment during the week.
Markee House

We are really in a fabulous historic neighbourhood

Typical Georgian cottage built in the 1840s

Congregational Sunday school from the 1850s, now the Battery Point Community  Hall
Our final stop was Rosebank, built by Andrew Inglis Clark, a "significant figure in Australian public life".  He was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly in 1878.

Rosebank with plaque outside

We stopped for lunch at Jackman & McRoss (the nearby bakery) for lunch.  They are known for their meat and fish pies.  Alain had a lamb and rosemary pie and I had their specialty scallop pie.  Tassie is known for their scallop pies.  I took some lactaid pills, as it was too good to pass up.  We also shared a lovely green salad.

Alain with his lamb and rosemary pie

We walked down to the Salamanca Arts Centre to check out a few exhibits.  The best exhibit, which is also part of a celebration called Ten Days on the Island, was Eyes As Big As Plates by Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth.  The exhibit is part of an ongoing collaborative project by the Norwegian-Finnish artist duo Karoline Hjorth and Riitta Ikonen.  They started in 2011 studying personifications of nature and folkloric explanations to natural phenomenons in Norway.  The project has evolved into a continual search for human's belonging to nature.  The artists have travelled to a dozen countries on a quest to understand our relationship with our surroundings.

The exhibit featured new photographs and sculptures produced in collaboration with Tasmanian seniors in Bruny Island, Burnie, Kingston and Hobart, along with works from Norway, Finland, Greenland, USA, Czech Republic and South Korea.  The series is created in collaboration with their subjects, often retired and senior citizens.


Agnes II, Norway 2011- 97 year old parachutist.
Brit, Norway 2018-- she has an impressive career in arts and crafts and is a ceramicist.
She is clad in the picture in 'London clay'

Bengt, Norway 2011- ex submarine captain-- photo taken in the peat bogs outside of Oslo.

Malcolm, Tasmania 2019-he is a researcher, academic, engineer and an author.
His headdress

Ernst, Norway 2017- Karoline's grandfather who grew up in a fishing village the most northern part of Norway.  He is 87.

Salme, Finland 2012 - one of Riitta's grandmothers best friends.  'Very calm and tough, just like the cottongrass'.
Uncle Dougie, Tasmania 2019- 'a proud Tasmanian Aboriginal man and a passionate singer song-writer.'

Max, Tasmania 2019- 91 year old who grew up in Boat Harbour and worked in Burnie and
surrounding areas his whole life.


It was a wonderful, creative exhibit set up beautifully in the gallery.   After checking out a few more stores and galleries in the Art Centre, we headed into town.


Old Treasury building

Old Mutual Life Society Bldg 1876
We found a few of Hobart's street art laneways.


We stopped at a wonderful second floor store called Oyster & Pearl, with clothes designed by local designer Lou Whiting.  I bought a great pair of pants there.  She had lots of Hobart stories and suggestions.

One of the women visiting her store told us that her favourite coffee shop was Villino, just a few blocks away.  We stopped there for a coffee and piece of orange almond cake (non-dairy and very good).
Late afternoon cake and coffee
We wandered around a bit more and then headed back to the hostel for a delicious salmon meal.  A bit strange to be eating Atlantic farmed salmon in Tassie, but the salmon is very good and the fish farms are very well run.

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