Blogs from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, Oceania - page 7

Salamanca Markets have a long tradition of providing adventurous shopping and plenty of foods to taste, either at the stalls in the market or the many cafes and bars along the waterfront and down onto the docks. I must say that I am generally not a great fan of markets, but as these markets are a Saturday tradition every week, I went along to see what we can see, and with the expectation of recording the action. We were uncertain of the parking for the motorhome or Jim's big Troupie, so for the miserly sum of $3.40 each return, we used the bus service. That took us to within one block of the market as well, so we were ready to rock. The Salamanca Markets have a wide variety of food, both fresh fruit and vegies, ... read more

Our last full day in Tassie! Went for a run, to Blackman's Bay......more tough hills. Then had a swim.......beautiful day again, forecast to get up to 30. Clare took us to the Tasmanian Royal Botanic Gardens, where James was doing his course.........a good place to learn about horticulture! Lovely gardens.......especially the Japanese one. James had been given his homework - learning the botanical Latin names for 100 plants/trees/shrubs etc. We also met the Mr. And Mrs. T, who were passengers with James and Hatter on the the inaugural Overlanding West Africa trip........seasoned travellers, although they've never got further than Coventry in England. James and I went for a swim when we got back while Clare and Rae went for a paddle.......very refreshing. Nick and Jacqui came round to say cheerio.........maybe we'll see them in Spain some ... read more

Another lovely day here in Tasmania.........caught the bus into Hobart. Boarded the Mona (Museum of Old and New Art) ferry - the Mona Roma! On board, there are sheep (not real ones!) that you can sit on. I'm convinced that the name was thought up by a mischievous Scotsman........"Mona a big ferry and a cannae get aff"! Pleasant sail up the River Derwent to the Museum which was underwhelming at first sight. Probably because there is more of it under ground than there is above it. Unusual entrance surrounded by a tennis court, trampoline, rusty statue of a cement mixer etc. Ultra-modern inside, though with a see-through lift shaft, some amazing cliff-like walls and so on. Extensive range of exhibits ranging from the interesting to the clever to the bizarre to the downright weird (in my ... read more

James and I went for a run this morning..........mixture of road, track and beach complete with a couple of killer hills. Beautiful morning........went across the road for a swim afterwards......a bit chilly, but we did it! See pics of house and views across the road. James and I played golf this afternoon at Kingston Beach Golf Club with Nick.....only 13 holes out of the eighteen, called the chicken run for some reason. Very fast greens, great bird life and a very interesting travelator/escalator/lift sort of thing to get you up from 17th green to the 18th tee! I've not mentioned how I played yet........we all had our moments but, for all sorts of reasons (excuses), mine were fewer than Nick's or James'........different clubs, too many screeching cockatoos, too bright sunlight etc. Nick and Jacqui came over ... read more

Tak konecne prvy trip mimo uzemie Sydney. Prva destinacia - Tasmania. Nadherna krajina, ktoru sa rozhodne oplati vidiet. Prekrasna priroda, narodne parky, uzasne plaze. Zo Sydney sme leteli do Hobartu, hlavneho mesta Tasmanie. Prvy den sme si pozreli mesto, ktore sa nam na prvy pohlad zdalo strasne nudne a male. Niet sa co cudovat, oproti hektickemu Sydney sa toto mesto javi naozaj ako mala dedinka. Druhy pohlad, ktory sa udial o dva dni neskor, bol vsak uz o dost lepsi. Mesto ma sice len male centrum, ktore prejdete cele asi tak za hodinu, ale inak je dost rozhlahle. Kedze tu nenajdete ziadne vyskove "skleniky", tak je celkom pochopitelne, ze toto polmilionove mesto zamera taku obrovsku plochu. Nie je vsak tolko prepchate turistami a v meste sa viete prejst bez toho, aby ste stale do niekoho vrazali ... read more