Hobart, Derwent River, Botanical Gardens

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Instead of returning north to Launceston we decided a day around Hobart would be good instead of driving all day. We agreed that a bike ride and a visit to the Botanical Gardens would be the program for today. The first problem arose as we couldn’t contact anyone to see if they had bikes for hire since we would require 4 bikes. A&M loaded their bikes onto their car and followed us into the Domain where there are usually bikes for hire. However it wasn’t open. We knew there had been some downtown on the wharves so we went there and sure enough there were 4 bikes left for hire. What luck. They were all blue, had only 3 gears and brakes on the pedals but they were adequate for our purposes which was a flatish ride up the river. We all biked back to the Domain where the bike path started and yes, the other bike hire place was now open with more normal bikes. Never mind. Off we went cycling alongside the Derwent River initially, then alongside the railway. The latter part wasn’t scenic given that you were looking at either the railway or people’s back yards, but it was great to be out biking again. We stopped for morning tea at a park by the river then stopped at the end of the path to buy some lunch and take it down to a picnic area. From there we biked back into town again to return the bikes. 30kms all up.

A&M returned home and the four of us went to the Botanical Gardens which sit with the Domain and the Governer’s house on a hill above the Derwent River. These are a “must see” in Hobart. They are really lovely with huge old trees from the 1800’s, a Japanese Garden, a vegey and fruit growing area, a fantastic conservatory and other themed garden areas. The area seems to be really sheltered so flowers and all other fragile plants thrived. My favourites were the conservatory with it’s formal settings and the large exotic trees about the park.

Our day was completed by a dinner of roast pork with roasted vegetables, apple, broccoli, carrots, beans, gravey and of course, crackling. Yum. Then, lemon delicious with icecream for dessert.

We played Uno again which has a tendency to swing wildly in favour or not for particular people. No more needs to be said about this.

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Photos

Biking in Hobart
We hired some very basic bikes (the blue ones) to bike along the Derwent River biking track

The conservatory
The conservatory in the beautiful Botanical Gardens.