#Throwback: Tasmania

Late last year, we packed our bags and flew across the Bass Strait to the cozy city of Hobart. Compared to Melbourne & Sydney, it's quite the quaint, cute, slow city. It's nature is actually quite breathtaking and I can see why people come here to retire here. So heres a photo compilation of what we did. 

Hobart Airport

Pretty accurate sizing of the airport. Small & cosy

Salamanca Market
This market is on every Saturday. They have a wide variety of things they sell from honey, huon pine, little trinkets to food. Really good to have wonder around. Apparently one of the most famous things you should try is the "scallop pies." The award winning one is the curried pie but I ended up getting the white sauce one. It was ok....regretting not getting the curry one lol

Farm Gate Market
This market is every Sunday and is more "food based." I actually enjoyed this one a lot more than the Salamanca one. I ended up going twice and got a sausage roll, donut, oysters & sushi haha :)

Elizabeth Street Pier
This pier is quite close to the Hobart CBD. Really great views to eat and dine here (we picked Fish Frenzy & Mures)


Fish Frenzy: We ordered a fish burger and fish and chips. The presentation of the food here made me think this place was trying to be a little more "gourmet" but personally, the portions were a bit too big and the food wasn't anything too special.

Mures: Had the fish and chips which is what Hobart is supposedly known for. Pretty overpriced for what it was and I've definitely had better although their ice cream is really good :)


Sandy Bay
I stayed around this area. Had really lovely piers and areas where you could just walk around.


The Brezel Backerei: A cute german bakery in Sandy Bay. Got this raspberry danish. The pastry was quite nice, the raspberries were a bit too tart for my liking but it was pretty good still

Mount Nelson
The views here were really extraordinary. I went on the perfect day where there was sun but it wasn't too hot. Once you reach the top, they have chairs and beanbags around where you can just sit, lounge and enjoy the scene. They have a cafe there and I ordered a really expensive scone & hot chocolate. The scone & jam was really delicious though :)





Mount Wellington
This is like the numero uno of Tripadvisor. The day I went it was serious cloud & fog. No visibility whatsoever so a lot of our photos was just grey background. BUT, the cloud did end up clearing and it was really cool to watch it from so high up



MONA
Museum of Old and New. This was such an abstract experience. When you come in, they give you an ipod and headphones where you can listen along to each of the exhibitions. There was a cloaca-poop machine - it smelt like legit faeces and the great wall of vagina - which was just a legit wall of 3D plaster vaginas. These were the probably the most extreme things there and they also had an obese porsche and a library with no words which were my favs. Overall, I don't think I'd go again - it was such an abstract experience and wasn't really for me, but definitely check it out if it's your thing :)

Bruny Island Food Tour
One of my favourite days of the trip! It was just a day of eating (6 courses to be precise) and the food was AMAZING. It costed us $135 (seems to have gone up to $155) but included transport from Hobart CBD to all around the Bruny Island food places and drop off back to Hobart CBD. It started at 7:45am and ended back in Hobart around 5:30pm.

Get Shucked Oysters
These.oysters.were.the.best.



Bruny Island Cheese
Next we got to sample some artisan cheeses; learnt a bit about the process that goes into making the cheeses, and what other foods they are best to have in combination with.

Bruny Island Premium Wines

Tried a selection of white & red wines. Afterwards, we got to select our favourite one to eat with our main. There was a selection of salmon, beef and vegetarian from what I can remember. The salmon was really nice!

Bruny Island Fudge 
Here we got to taste some chocolate covered coffee beans and some rocky road. Highly recommend the chocolate covered coffee beans!

The Neck 
As part of the tour, they took us to see "The Neck". It's what connects the north and the south of Bruny Island in Southern Tasmania. As you can see in the images, there are stairs that you can climb to get a stunning full 360 view of The Neck, and probably prepare yourself to stop halfway to take a breather because it was hella tiring and the winds were real. #wemadeittho

 
Port Douglas Road Trip 
On our way to Port Douglas we made some stopovers.

Dunalley Fish Market
This was a planned pitstop for us because it had decent ratings on Tripadvisor. Overall, the food was good and decently priced, more of the "authentic fish and chips" rather than the half fancy stuff we got from central Tas. Don't forget to ask for the chicken salt!

Port Arthur - Remarkable Cave 
The drive towards the Remarkable Cave was fairly straight forward, much like the rest of Tasmania. With a short walk along the paved areas with a few stairs, you'd be staring right through the cave. The wind was strong but the clear waters and the view were totally worth it.

Bangor Wine & Oyster Shed 
Oysters were nice but not as fresh as the Bruny Island ones! The views here were really nice though.

Cascade Brewery
Cascade is apparently Australia's oldest brewery (1832) and only a short drive (7mins) from Sandy Bay. This was one of the last things we did in Tasmania as the weather wasn't too favourable on our last few days. We went there spontaneously, and just had lunch there for some fish & chips (surprise surprise!) with some beer tasting on the side.

... And there we have it, a quick photo summary of our trip. For anyone who is planning to go to Tasmania, it is better to hire a car at the airport because it makes it a lot easier to get around. The main mode of transport in Hobart are buses, which is understandable because it is more of a quiet, quaint city. There were a few other places in Hobart that we didn't end up going to because of time restraints, but I think we ticked off the main attractions according to TripAdvisor haha. If you're planning to visit places like Mt Wellington or other mountain peaks, be sure to plan ahead and check the weather forecast for fog as those get pretty intense as you drive closer up to the top!