Hanging out around Hobart

Hobart is Tasmania's capital city and we got to know it as our home city during our stay. It sits beneath Mount Wellington and on the Derwent Estuary. It is a relatively small city and easy to navigate around. The waterfront area and harbour is a pretty focal point with numerous fresh seafood shops and floating 'fish take-aways'. We tried some fish and chips and found that they use a breadcrumb rather than a batter, quite inferior to the British classic!

We visited Salamanca Market, which is held every Saturday. The market is very close to the waterfront set against a backdrop of 1830's sandstone warehouses that are now converted to cafés, bars and restaurants. All sorts of local crafts and food were touted, intermingled with busking entertainment acts.

There were so many local attractions on offer around Hobart, but unfortunately many of them had rather hefty fees attached. 11km south of the city we climbed up the circular staircase inside The Shot Tower to take a panoramic view of the Derwent Estuary. The tower is 58m high and was built of local sandstone in 1870. It was used for the production of lead shot for the muskets and rifles of the day. A molten lead mixture was poured through a sieve at the top of the tower and it formed into balls whilst falling to the ground. Chris counted the steps on the way back down; 259 in total.

Cross section sketch of the shot tower

Going up......!

Views over the Derwent Estuary 

We also visited Fossil Cove on the Derwent Estuary. A steep track wound down to the creek and two wallabies bounded away from us into the bush. We reached a handsome secret cove. It was flanked by a large rock arch on one side. We explored the wave cut platform to find the coves namesake in the form of layers of sea fans. Tim and Chris amused themselves skimming stones into the waves. Tim also suggested we all sampled some mussels straight off the rocks - raw! Thankful we did not suffer any bad effects. 

Tim modelling this summers fashions

Sarah and Tim at Fossil Cove

Ancient sea fans fossilised in the rock cut platform

Can you spot Chris?

Tim found his first fossil!

Stone skimming competition 

We continued further down the estuary to a seaside town called Snug. From the highway we walked down the Snug River track which seemed to be a haven for water birds. We kept a watchful eye out for platypus but we weren't lucky. We did spot a juvenile pufferfish swimming upstream and got caught out by a shower!

An Oyster Catcher making the most of low tide

A collection of caterpillars