Recently we made a brief foray to the mainland for the weekend. Each year we try to travel to Sydney see the Archibald Prize exhibition, and this year was no exception. As well as seeing some amazing art, we got the chance to play in a big city again for a few days. If (or more likely, when…) the desire to move interstate grabs me again, I’d be very, very tempted to give life in Sydney a try.
This is our first “proper” winter in a long time. It’s tempting to hide out inside, huddled beside the heater, but we’ve been brave and dragged ourselves out to explore. Recently we ventured to the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, one of my favourite places in Hobart, even during the chill of winter.
I’ve been a bit quiet lately, preoccupied with things that keep me away from my computer, and honestly, transmission is likely to be patchy for awhile. But there have still been adventures, oh my, have there been adventures.
This week I take you to a small piece of the world of Dark Mofo. Enjoy.
What better way to spend a wet and gloomy Saturday than on a road trip? Especially one that takes our little Fiat500C to places I’m pretty sure Fiat never intended it to go. This trip took us back into Tasmania’s Far South, through the Southern Forests to the D’Entrecasteaux River and Recherche Bay.
Tasmania has no shortage of amazing places to stay. However, there are are a handful that are truly spectacular. The Peninsula Experience in Dover is one of those. To start with you get a beautiful house, complete with wood fire, and outdoor spa. But on top of that you get an entire peninsula to yourself, complete with 4km of walking tracks, and an army of birds and wildlife.
As I’ve mentioned before, the D’Entrecasteaux Channel region is one of my favourite parts of Tasmania. Here are a few highlights of a weekend adventure from Hobart down to Conningham.
Last weekend I took my new toy out for it’s first spin. It’s been far too long since I’ve been on a bike, but living in Tasmania is the perfect time to get back in the saddle. Life looks different from on a bike – it’s one of a handful of ways that I can really live in the moment without a care for my day to day life, and I love it. I’m expecting lots of our future adventures to involve these little beauties, especially with all the effort that’s going into developing places to ride in Tassie.
Last weekend found us at the Bream Creek Show, an iconic event in the Tasmanian calendar.
Attendance averages about 7000 people, which is about 16 times the usual population of the surrounding Kellevie district. Highlights include the giant pumpkin competition, the Blunnie (or Blundstone boot for those of you from outside Tasmania) toss, local musicians, and wood chopping competitions.
While I’d say the Show is an event more suited to families with young children than grown-up explorers like us, it was still a fun day out.
This weekend’s adventure took us up on to my favourite feature of the Hobart skyline, Mount Wellington. The mountain is covered in hiking trails, and we did a loop which included three trails and covered about 8km.
We started at the Chalet (a very grandiosely named lovely, but simple mountain hut), headed along the Organ Pipes Track in front of what has to be one of the most recognisable features of the mountain, up the Zig Zag Track to the Pinnacle, down part of Pinnacle Road, on to the Panorama track, and then back down some more of Pinnacle Road to find our car at the Chalet.
It was a glorious Tasmanian autumn day with temperatures on the mountain ranging between 0 and 3 degrees Celsius, but feeling much colder whenever the wind gusted past. The start of our walk even featured light snow. Like I said, autumn in Tasmania.
As always, the hike was spectacular – ranging through bushland, over rocky terrain and rewarding us with stunning views throughout. I love that this amazing place is right on our doorstep.
shy fox photography 