(2/11/18) After a jam-packed week and a half in Tasmania exploring the island of Maria and the national park in Maydena, we had our first free day in Hobart. I think I speak for us all when I say that we all took advantage of the morning to sleep in and recover from the fast paced and content rich days of the week before. Since today was a free day I can’t speak for most of the group but I can take you through a run down of the great things I found to do in Hobart.
One of the displays in the natural history section of TMAG
After a long leisurely morning – the highlight of which was some amazing waffles (after a few days of quick cereal for breakfast this was a big treat) – I decided to revisit TMAG, or the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. We had visited the day before, but due to such a detailed tour taking us right up to closing time we didn’t get a chance to check out the whole museum. Since it’s right across from our hostel (and free) I thought I would head over and learn a little bit more about the aboriginal history and culture we had been introduced to the day before as well as check out the natural history section. The natural history area was really interesting to tour because I realized that almost all of the information presented in that space, of which I had no knowledge before the trip, had been covered by the wildlife,marine life, and botanist specialists that we had been working with. There was also a really large and cool section devoted to the Tasmanian Devil that I had fun looking through.
Salamanca Harbor in downtown Hobart.
After my time at the museum I decided to go for a walk around Hobart to find a nice spot to hangout and get some work done. I headed toward the harbor because it seemed like the best place to find a beautiful spot.
After a bit of a walk I found Battery Point which is one of the historical neighborhoods in Hobart. It’s a very hilly neighborhood and if you walk all the way up there are some beautiful views of the harbor. While now it’s just a nice neighborhood, Battery Point has some of the oldest buildings in Hobart. Just from walking around and reading the signs I learned little bits about Hobart’s history – for example I found out that the first signaling system in Hobart was established there in 1818 and used colored flags to communicate shipping movements to a lookout on Mt. Nelson. Anyway, I found a nice park and took some time to catch up on journaling and correspondence.
I finished the day by watching some fireworks that were set off to kick off a Tasmanian Holiday, Regatta Day, which was the next day. Overall it was a nice day to catch up on some rest and explore the city before we head off to Lamington Plateau and dive back in to the bio work!