To read about the first two days of our journey in Tasmania, check out my previous post, Road Trip in Tasmania Part 1. After two days of traversing the east coast of Tasmania, my friends and I made our way to Port Arthur to explore the Southern Peninsula and Hobart. It was a busy, fun few days!
Day Three:
For the third morning, after a long day of driving the day before, we unfortunately woke up with a flat tire. At around 10:00, we woke up for to a hostel employee knocking on our door, telling us that another guest had alerted them that they had noticed a completely flat tire out in the parking lot in front of our room. Additionally unluckily, our car didn’t happen have a jack to change the flat tire. Luckily the owner’s husband was around to help us. After fixing our tire issue, we continued on our way.
Our luck only went up from that rough morning. We stopped for breakfast at a café along a beautiful pond, next to a lavender field, appropriately named “Lavender Café”. I got a lavender infused salad and a lavender milkshake and purchased a few souvenirs for my family. After our large breakfast, we went to one of Tasmania’s National Parks, Tasman National Park, to do a short hike. It was beautiful and very tranquil. I wish we had had more time to do the full four hour hike to the Candle Stick rock formation further south, but was glad we were able to check it out. We continued throughout the park in our little car and stopped at another attraction, the Tasman Arch and the Blowhole. Reminiscent of the Great Ocean Road, these national parks and rock formations were amazing to see. The Tasman Arch provided for a great lookout of Eagle Hawk Neck and the shore line along the coast, towered by layered cliffs and islands, one of my favorite views in Tasmania.
After these multiple stops, we made our way to Hobart for our final stop of the weekend. On our way to the city, we crossed multiple rivers, ponds, and streams and saw lots of wild sheep and wallabies. It was a beautiful drive that I was glad we were able to do in sunlight (especially after the dangerous drive in the dark the night before!) Once in Hobart, we dropped the rental car off at the airport and got a taxi into the city.
Our hostel was in a great location downtown. After putting our stuff in our room and recharging after the long drive, we ventured out for dinner down by the harbor. We got tapas from a cool Argentinian bar right along the water and wandered around the harbor on our way back to the hostel.
Day Four:
On our last day in Tasmania, we woke up early and went down to the local Sunday markets on one of the main streets. We wandered around for a bit then settled on some coffee and homemade sourdough donuts, which were delicious. After our sweet breakfast, we looked around downtown, checking out some of the shops and walking through some beautiful parks. Spring was quickly approaching as we visited at the end of October, and many of the trees, bushes, and gardens were abundant with bright pink, purple, and yellow flowers. We also were super lucky with the weather, as it was 70s and sunny most of the weekend. We had way over packed, with hats, winter coats, and long pants after experiencing a freezing weekend in Adelaide, but were pleasantly surprised with this warm weather, despite the fact that we were the closet to Antarctica we had been/may ever be.
After seeing some parks and buying some more souvenirs, we made our way to the harbor for a light lunch and to catch a ferry to the MONA for the afternoon. Prior to coming to Tasmania, my friend from home had highly recommended checking out the Museum of Modern Art in Tasmania. Located about a half hour from the city, you can get there either by car or by ferry. I highly recommend the ferry. Branded by the MONA, this ferry is painted with grey cargo and decked out with various sculptures of sheep and pigs. The crew wore naval attire and greeted us all with a salute. We opted for the cheaper tickets (as opposed to the all-inclusive VIP tickets) and had to “sit with the sheep” like the “peasants” that we were. However sitting on the top deck with the sheep and pig sculptures, surrounded by views of the Tasman mountains and the beautiful River Derwent, we felt nothing short of royalty.
Once at the museum, we made our way up the 100 stairs from the ferry to the museum entrance to a large trampoline at the top overlooking the bay. After jumping around and doing a few flips on the coolest trampoline, we entered the museum. At the time, they had a really cool exhibit known as “The Museum of Everything”, which quite literally had a little bit of everything. In addition to this exhibit, many of the permanent pieces like the Words in Water exhibit, Balloon Car, and Data exhibits are very unique and worth seeing.
After exploring the museum for a couple of hours, we boarded the ferry again back to downtown Hobart. After the quick 20 minute ride, we walked around the harbor one last time and made our way to a quick bite to eat before catching a ride to the airport. We found a really cute open beer garden on a hill back behind the harbor, where we got amazing burgers, salads, and fries. The environment there in the late Sunday afternoon light was fun and relaxed, with lots of families with little kids playing on the turf grass and abandoned school bus in the garden and with parents lounging and sampling appetizers with their friends. It was a cool experience to see a more laid back side of Australia after seeing the busy bustling life of a couple different cities. After dinner, we made our way to our hostel, called an uber, and made our way to the little, two gate terminal of Hobart airport for our journey back to Sydney. Although slightly off the beaten path of Australian trips, I would highly recommend paying a trip to Tasmania.
