Southern Tour Day 5: Mona

By the numbers

20.97 kms

27,699 steps

 

The night before I had booked tickets to see the  art gallery orned by David Walsh, a Hobart identity and eccentric. It ios pretty famous for its antics due to artworks that can and could cause offence. I booked myself a one way ferry trip and was somehow going to return by bus or walk. I didn’t know what I was going to do at the time. I slept in and it did feel a touch cold. One of the rules for entry was no bags, so this time round I had to leave my bag behind. I had plenty of pockets in my trousers so all was good there. I had my charger, phone, wallet, sunnies and Ipod in them. I had to charge my Ipod on the go as it was flat and I had not noticed for a week. I wasn’t worried as I headed out.

 

The boat I was catching required the people to wear masks and I already had mine in my pocket so I wasn’t that concerned. It takes around 20 mins to travel from the wharf in Hobart to Mona as I had my time booked to enter at 11am. We were heading up river so got to see several places of interest like the iron smelter that had a ship waiting there and what looked to be a boat building yard, but I couldn’t be too sure even though there were warehouse like sheds big enough to store big boats. I was able to enter the art gallery 10 mins before my allotted time and what you had to do was make your way to the bottom of the stairs and work your way up. There were many controversial art that was in the building and I am guessing some were meant to offend in some way. It was easy to get lost when going through the galleries and  wonder what the line ups were about. The first room I walked into there was a portrait of Burke and Wills with a kangaroo doing questionable things. I was surprised and I think people who visit would know something like this would happen. There was an app that told you what things were nearby and I was happy for that even though I still got lost. Towards the end I found a map on my phone through the app. I came across a wall of vaginas that looked like they were plaster casts, I could have waited to see a sarcophagus although I was wondering if the gallery owner had been allowed to bring a few Egyptian artefacts back. No idea if those were real or not. There was a poo making machine that was fed twice a day and then had a poo at 3pm. They had specific times for the feeding too. It made me think about the cow milking machines. I did enjoy myself and found a few interesting things there.

 

I was getting hungry and after getting myself a tote bag, I found somewhere to get something to eat. I was after something fast and easy and that was hot chips. Once I had eaten, I realised one thing and that was I had missed the boat as I thought it was going to hammer down with rain and a bus was another hour away. I asked at the ticket desk if it was easy to walk back to Hobart and was told unless you like walking and there might be a big bike path. I made my way out the front and followed the footpath until I came to a sign saying bike track. I nearly didn’t choose to walk it and realised it was a great idea. It was around 12 kms back to Hobart and I was walking. I had music so was happy for that. Along the way I did stop at a shopping centre to visit Coles for a bottle of water as I thought I would need it. People on foot and with bikes did pass. The great thing about the track was it followed rail lines though I am unsure if they are actually used as there were no stations apart from the transport museum. I havnt seen such a great bike path before in all honesty on my other trips especially one that basically went 12 kms into the city. Along the way I seen another river that you could follow from Mount Wellington to the waterway. I did see the exit of the Hobart stream, but you had to know what it was or else you would have thought it to be a storm water drain. There were plenty of places that you could jump off the track and head elsewhere. It was starting to get dark when I made it to the city and got some food before returning to my room for a well earnt rest.

 

I havnt planned anything for my last day in Hobart, but I don’t think I will make it to Richmond this time round as I havnt visited the Maritime museum yet and I have been wanting to do that one. There are still places within the CBD that I want to look at and I think I need an easy rest day since its my last day.

 

Southern Tour Day 4: Cascade Female Factory

By the numbers

11.18 kms

14,963 steps

I got up early enough so that I could catch the bus near the location of the Cascade Female Factory as it was my next location to visit. The great part of the bus’ in Tasmania at the moment is they are free, well I hope they are outside of Hobart as that would be a touch embarrassing. It wqas different just hopping onto the bus without having to tell the driver where you are going. The morning was kinda nice and clear if a touch chilly. I could see the top of Mount Wellington and could have walked up it if I felt the need.

 

I had arrived an hour early, so decided I wanted to walk up the hill to Cascades Brewery following the Hobart rivulet that went up to Mount Wellington. At first I didn’t realise one of the Cascade brewery buildings was part of the brewery, but some building that was part of the park I wandered into. Behind the brewery is the beginning of the Cascade walking trail and I walked up it a little way. If I kept following that track I would be walking all the way up Mount Wellington. I did turn around and walked down the hill back to the Female Factory so I could wait for it to open.

 

I had no idea what gates would open when I got there. There was an entry way that I had not thought about as I had been watching the gates to the complex. I soon learnt you could open a website to listen to the audio tour of the yards and explanations of various parts. Yard 1 for example had the isolation blocks where women stayed for 23 hours a day, but also meant you were the worst of the bunch. Have to remember that women had few rights back in the 1800s and included no employment being a convict apart through the system or getting married. If you were pregnant then you would be punished for another 9 months after the child arrived. The Cascade Female Factory had taken up a huge area and what we were visiting were the three yards that had survived. New yards were added onto the originals and during those times the yards were prone to flooding. No one did anything to prevent the flooding and the women had to live in the mud and other gunk that came from where the Cascade Brewery was up the road. They washed clothes in the smelly sewerage water from the little stream that went by. There was a high infant mortality rate too with examples of blankets being black with fleas. The women were punished if they made a noise, and that was passed onto the children who learnt to be silent around strangers. Apparently there was a cemetery and everyone had been told the remains had been removed, but there were no records so they could very well still be under a local road at the end of the street.

 

I did two tours of the facility one was a performance and the other was a introduction. Both were worth doing and the funny thing was the lady doing the performance about various convicts happened to have a convict in her family who did spend time at the Female Factory. The researcher who was part of the introduction tour told a story where she had been speaking about a convict woman and one of the people on the tour was in tears. Turns out the person being talked about was an ancestor of the person. You never know what would happen. After the Female factory had shut the site were used from everything from tennis courts to a car yard, but luckily some of the walls had remained. That was Yard 1, 2 and 3. The rest were now gone, with a side note that next door was a child care centre.

 

Towards the end the weather started turning and I was getting cold. I planned to walk back to the city by following the river. I found there were some specific paths that took me most of the way into the city with some information panels telling me that the area had once been dotted by mills. I followed the stream as far as I possibly could as it was interesting to see it go from a tree lined stream to becoming lined by concrete and then going under buildings instead of between. I hadn’t followed it to where it drained into the Derwent, but I thought it to be interesting all the same. Along the way I looked at where I would be catching the bus from the Transit Centre to make sure I could finds it. I decided since the weather had turned cold that I should head to the hostel and do some washing. Hopefully it wont stay wet and cold, but we shall see.

 

Southern Tour Day 3: Wandering Port Arthur

By the numbers

1 bus

13,014 steps

9.58kms

The morning started early enough that when I went outside the sky was still dark in Hobart and I was hunting down food and a coffee. For some reason Brad turned into Brian and I got confused. I laughed it off as being early in the morning and still half asleep. I did have to walk down to the harbour with a hot coffee. I made it to the tour group where I let them know I had arrived and someone before me asked if there was an earlier bus and if there was a public bus service. The answer to both was no. Though I did think it was a touch funny. Today the tour was to take me out to the historic convict settlement that was Port Arthur.

 

The bus takes around an hour and half to get out that way and not far out of Hobart there are road works and new estates being built. It was some nice country out that way on the route to Port Arthur and there was one story the driver told that I thought was interesting as we were close to Port Arthur. On the Tasman peninsular there is a place called Eaglehawk Neck, which at the moment has road works happening. At this location was a line of vicious dogs chained up to prevent convicts from escaping. Apparently there were dogs on the water, though a few convicts were said to have been non swimmers so they would have water problems. There is a monument to these dogs, but couldn’t get a great shot of it. Always something you miss along the way. The day wasn’t actually that bad at all as it turned into a really warm day as it went on.

 

Once we arrived at the Port Arthur site there was actually a town outside and I later learnt there was an actual township of Port Arthur wityh a cemetery. We would be catching the same bus home, but with people from the 3 capes walk. As part of the walk through of Port Arthur there was a tour and the boat cruise that I was booked to go on. The tour guide was pretty knowledgeable and put the lives of the people at that point in time into perspective. It was the beginnings of the industrial revolution and the sky of London was black along with two other cities due to the smog, water sources were not clean and could kill you, people grew up with rickets and were simple people with issues that could likely be fetal alcohol syndrome. It cost money to send people to the settlements and the time of Port Arthur was when the colonies had been established with the convicts being sent here. Port Arthur was one of the first places to stop flogging prisoners as they knew it wasn’t helping them reform, though other states didn’t stop flogging like NSW until the 1970s. Apparently with the convicts working as labour the harbour was humming with activity. Not all the buildings were part of the convict settlement as there were more modern ones like a police station. Once Port Arthur had been closed the Tasmanian government at the time had a dismantling sale and most was sold off including some of the sandstone bricks that ended up in Hobart.

 

Once the introduction tour was done, I had time to kell before the lunchtime cruise where I had a look through the first building was the penitentiary that was once a flour mill and a granary before being converted to house prisoners. It does seem a few of the buildings on the heritage site were burnt during the bushfires in the late 1890s I wandered my way up the hill visiting the remains of the hospital before taking a bush walk that was known as the Convict Water supply trail, though there were little bits about the water it also meant I had to keep an eye on the time as I was running out. I popped out where the commandants house is as that was all to do with the highest official at the site. I had to rush back down the hill as I seen people gathered ready to board the boat. I passed the guard tower that looked exactly like a turret for a castle. What I had originally thought of a 1230pm boat cruise leaving was actually a 1220 leave. As I tend to be is early even though I needed the loo. I had been on time by 5 mins and looked at my ticket wondering why we were leaving early. Really I should pay more attention.

 

The tour would take me past the Isle of the dead, and the point Puer Boys prison that was a purpose built prison for young offenders to basically protect them from the older prisoners as they would teach them bad habits. They did receive an education and learnt a trade even if the discipline was harsh. The Isle of the Dead was where the people were buried that included convicts and notable people. Convicts were buried on the lower side of the island and usually no headstone. The prominent people were buried on the higher end of the island with a marker of some sort. If I had chosen that tour I could have gotten off the boat, but I had not so stayed. There is always another time. The boat basically did a loop before returning to the dock. Once I was off I made a quick walk to the ship yard where they launched and built ships at Port Arthur, on my way to another part I came across the Port Arthur Massacre memorial for the 1990s and that was really sad to see, but at least they were remembered and was the eeriest place at the whole site.

 

I headed to the Asylum where the cafe was and I was getting hungry and wanted to sit down somewhere. That was until I tried to find it and it wasn’t open, but there were chairs. I was annoyed and hungry though I had a quick look at the separate prison that was later a hotel. It was all to do with isolation of prisoners. I didn’t really stick around as at the time I was tired and hungry. Outrside I found I had a museli bar in my bag and I was happy for the 20 min rest. Turns out this cafe might only be open at certain times, but I had something to eat so felt energised and ready to move on. I made my way around the top half of Port Arthur where a house had been converted into a post office that once housed the local reverend to the penal colony, a church that was just a shell as it had burnt during a fire in the 1890s and government house with its gardens, although through painful research the garden was recreated. I headed off to the cafe where I had a coffee and a sandwich as it was getting close to the time for me to leave. The bus did come on time, but we ended up in Hobart after 6pm, which wasn’t too bad, but I was feeling exhausted after my long day out running around.

 

Southern Tour Day 2: Hobart touring

By the numbers

10.44 kms

13,933 steps

1 boat

1 museum

 

I got up early enough so that I could go shop hunting through Hobart that was nearby to where I am staying. I wanted to know what bakeries were in the area so that I could get coffee and maybe a pie before wandering off onto my tours especially when I am on the run and going on early tours. I stopped at Maccas first as I wanted to have a full belly before taking a wander.

 

The tour I was taking today was the Iron pot tour run by one of the local tour companies that takes you out to the oldest lighthouse in Australia known as the Iron pot. I had to check in with them and I confirmed my Port Arthur tour for the next day as I would be up pretty early to be there. The boat tour would take us right out of the Derwent River, which is the Hobart river going through the city. Before we left the city I had asked if two ships that were nearby were icebreakers aka research ships for Antarctica. They were indeed those sorts of ships. There was the Australian one that is relatively new called Nuyina. There was also a French one too. Basically I was lucky to see both and I was happy for that. We were taken past Battery Point a historic area of Hobart with plenty of older buildings and even past the point where the Sydney to Hobart boats cross the finish line, but we were doing it backwards. There were stories of the boats making it into the river only to take hours to get over the line as there was no wind, so the boat that would win wasn’t the one that was taking line honours or something like that. I would get to see some of Bruny island out near Storm Bay. Storm Bay was meant to be rough and today was basically an exception as it was pretty calm while we were on the water. I was happy to be taken to different parts of the bay with other people. I did get to see the salmon farms where Houn had their fish. We did see some dolphins that were around and did follow them. The other sealife were seals lounging on the rocks, sea eagles, seaguills and the Mutton bird otherwise known as the short tailed shearwater. It did rain a little while we were out on the water, but it was well worth going out and we were late in returning, which was lucky as I had not made any plans.

 

Once we were docked and back on dry land, I headed off to get something to eat and found the bakery I had found earlier. After a pie that sent me back towards the hostel as I wanted to visit the Tasmanian museum. That is luckily free to visit and I had to hand over my bag. My phone was getting low on charge, but that wasn’t a huge deal as I had my powerbank with me and it was on charge while I wandered around. There was only one dinosaur and that was sitting out the front entrance to the museum. There were parts that did hold my interest like the room that housed information about the Tasmanian Tiger, also known as the Thylacine. I was interested in watching video of footage that I had never seen before and all that would run in my mind was ‘bastards’. Basically they were killed because they wandered near farms where a shoot first policy occurred and maybe ask later. There was a little bit of information, but not much. Maybe I could get a book on the subject later. I did learn that Jack Jumper ants were not good for your health and you could end up getting pretty sick from their bite that includes being fatal. There was plenty of information about Antarctica and some of the expeditions that included some of the gear they used and the various islands that tend to be disputed between mainly the British and Argentina. Macquarie Island that is in Australia territory and has research stations in various areas that includes one place where the water table is just below the surface, so you could get wet. There is another island that has an active volcano called Big Ben that is the only active volcano Australia has.

 

Once I was finished at the museum as it was close to closing time, I was wondering where I could go next and though I could head up to Battery Point, which is a historic area of Hobart of old buildings from the convict era. It was like I was in Wellington as I had to walk up hill and I didn’t take the steps known as Kellys stairs as I was a touch far away from Salamanca, although I was skirting the edges by going up the hill. The streets were narrow and hilly too, and I found a historic bakery though I did walk on and there was a nearby circus, but not the animal kind. This place is called Arthur Circus, which was basically a roundabout with a park in the middle and nothing bigger than cars could go around anyway. I was heading towards Princes Park as there was an old historic building that was called the Signalman’s house and it was used to transmit messages through flag signals and to identify ships. I was starting to get hungry and it was trying to rain again. At the bottom of the park there was the research buildings for the CSIRO, which I would guess would be due to how close the icebreakers were in the town. Once I had some food at the Brick Factory as it was my second time there. It was close and I didn’t mind the place at all.

 

Southern Tour Day 1: Flying to Hobart

Day 1

By the numbers

1 train

1 plane

2 cities

10kg main bag

12.24kms

16,228 steps

I will include the day before I leave for my trip away as there was some things that happened in the pre trip. I took the train to Brisbane after work, which was pretty uneventful and I was worried about a storm, but I am unsure if it really hit. The hotel was quicker to find than the last time I was here as it was likely I knew where I was going.

 

Setting everything out I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with many issues, but a tech one appeared when I sat down to check my computer. Turns out my keyboard decided to not work properly and do random letters. Means I couldn’t use logins, well type them. I had checked it several days ago and the batteries and terminal were wet. I thought it would be fine once batteries were replaced, but obviously not. I did wipe down the area and thought nothing of it. Since it doesn’t work, I did a click and collect order in Hobart.

 

Enough about the tech issues, I had never been to Hobart before. I was last in Tasmania in 2000 visiting Launceston, but that was about it. This time I am doing my own journey there.

 

Sorting out the flight through the app was pretty easy for Qantas as they had sent me a text to checkin and was pretty easy to get through the bag drop as all you had to do was press some buttons and then go through security. That was where I had a little panic attack as I went through, but my bag somehow hadn’t. I thought someone had taken it as my wallet and my phone were in there. The first thing that had appeared was my laptop, but that had been behind my bag. The security scan for me was a body scan that found an open pocket as I had to be patted down. I don’t follow instructions as I was confused. Once my bag made it through I was happy again and headed for my gate where I had an hour wait. There was a coffee along the way and boarding the plane for Hobart. There was a little bit of a wait for some late passengers, but we did leave Brisbane.

 

Landing in Hobart didn’t take that long as the plane landed several hours later and the weather hopping off was warm and sunny. It wasn’t actually cold at all and the sniffer dog didn’t even stop for my bag that had a museli bar inside, which was really good. No one checked to see if I had been jabbed or tripled jabbed either, so the rules must have been relaxed. The bus did drop me off within a couple of minutes from the hostel where I am staying. Turns out the lady who checked me in thought I was staying one night until I told her til Saturday and she did seem unorganised, or head wasn’t all there. Then the rooms didn’t have keys, but used an app to let you in the hostel and your particular room. So long as the phone stays charged that is and isn’t dead flat by the time you get to what you are doing. They had been only using the new system that week, so I was a touch worried until it worked for me, so I am unsure what happens if the app logs out. The first job I had was to pickup my new mouse keyboard combo from JBHIFI up the road and was around a 5 min walk away. Now I have things that work, so from now on I guess I remove the batteries once I return home.

 

After sorting out my backpack when I returned to the room, I left again for a wander of the Hobart streets as I was exploring the docks area. Just across the road from where I am staying is the Maritime museum and the Tasmanian museum and art gallery. So lucky me and I will be there after my boat tour unless I have any other ideas that grab me. There are a few historic buildings that include a Jam factory that we all know as IXL Jams. I had seem that at work amongst the Jams, but never knew it had begun life in Hobart of all places in the 1800s. That was pretty cool. I knew there were several cemeteries in the area that I wanted to explore and one was located on a school ground, so today was the only day that I was willing to even entertain that idea. If it had been during the week, I couldn’t get away with taking photos near a school.

 

I was able to make a beeline right to the Campbell Street primary school where there was once an early cemetery that included convicts. The headstones are long gone, but I have no idea if the graves still exist. The route took me past the Hobart hospital and several sights that included the old historic Hobart Convict penitentiary that was  a goal, court and execution grounds for male convicts. Something that I came across on my way back towards the constitution docks outside the hospital was the Hobart Rivulet. Turns out this feature is a waterway that runs to the Derwent River, but flows through the city from Mount Wellington. There is a walking trail to follow for that and I think I will follow that in several days to the Cascades Womans Factory.

 

I found another ex cemetery that is now a park in the city, St. Davids Park still has the graves there, but most of the headstones are now along a wall with very few grave markers left in their original location. I will have to have a better look at this place, though I ended up heading towards Salamanca Place where I was thinking of getting food as it was a historic area that was basically gentrified. By this time it was just after 6pm and I found a nice pub that had chicken Parmy, so I stopped to charge my phone while waiting for my food. It was not yet dark, but I was getting hungry and hadn’t had much for lunch other than plane snacks. After I ate, I decided it was time to return as I was getting tired and worn out after a long day on the road.