Recently my partner and I have been on a two week trip to Tasmania.  I was hoping for some picturesque landscapes and time away relaxing.  Well one of those things came true – the landscapes.  Because of that I had Chris walking up hill and down dale to get to some places and each day was filled with activity.  We are making our way home now and hoping to relax when we get back to work!  Holidays can be so exhausting.

Our first stop on our two week sojourn to Tasmania was Hobart.  We arrived mid afternoon to a warm day.  We hadn’t expected warm so were a bit panicked to think that most of our clothes were winter and we would have to run out and buy summer clothing.  Luckily it returned to normal the very next day and we were relieved to find all of our winter clothes suitable for pretty much most if not all of our journey around this wonderful island.  Cold of climate but warm in the nature of its inhabitants.  We found everyone delightful and very interesting to talk to.  (As I type this it has snowed there again which is unusual just a few days out from summer for most of Australia!).

Hobart is the capital of Tasmania.  It was founded in 1804 as a penal colony.  It now has approximately 218,000 people inhabiting its fair shores.  At the time of colonisation the Mouheneener tribe of aborigines inhabited this area.  Unfortunately between violent conflicts with the Europeans and diseases that were brought with them also, their numbers soon dwindled  and by 1829 those that were left were soon bundled up and sent to Bruny Island but this was a failure and the remaining people were brought back and eventually settled at Oyster Cove at an abandoned penal site.  The history of the aboriginal peoples of this land can be resourced here.

All around Hobart, most especially on the waterfront you can see the beginnings of this city in its architecture using predominantly sandstone as the main building material.  Except for the traffic lights and cars, you could almost imagine it back in the 1800s.

Mt Wellington (Kunanyi) looms over it at 1,271 metres high.  A great place to get your bearings and look down on the city and regional areas surrounding it.  The rock formations from up here are fantastic in their own right.  It is quite a few degrees cooler up there than down in the city so a few layers were required before getting out of the car.  The dolorite columns (organ pipes) found up here were particularly fascinating and a favourite for rock climbers.

Mount Wellington

Mount Wellington

Mount Wellington

Just before heading to Tasmania in preparation of taking a lot of photos I noticed my camera was very dirty and I thought I could clean it without too much hassle. A quick You Tube video and “Bobs your uncle”! Well it would have been if the compressed air container only contained air… who knew it had a liquid in there which promptly decided to land on my sensor causing all sorts of dark blobs, I almost cancelled the holiday after seeing my Hobart and Mount Wellington photos but a quick trip to my savours at Walch Optics , and a nervous hour or so wait and the diagnosis – it will be okay… I was expecting to come out having to buy another camera at the very least so very thankful for a wonderful team that got straight to it and helped me in my time of need.  So for all of you looking at these photos – yes I know there are dark blue blobs on the top of them all.  I couldn’t edit them out unfortunately so I have had to realise my mistake and never to do that again EVER and to realise there are worse things that could happen in life.

Onwards to new adventures …..