by MoyJos | Dec 26, 2025 | Tasmania
Wandering around, we decided to have a look in at the museum. We had seen mention that the museum is where the remains of the last Tasmanian tiger is displayed.
One surprise we did get was seeing a display of a sugar glider eating a swift parrot 😱. I was aware that swift parrots were endangered but did not know why. I certainly had no idea that is because sugar gliders were introduced and eat them!!! (The things you learn)
Read more here and here
Around the corner from the museum is Mawson’s Hut. This is a full size replica of the hut on Antartica that the early explorers used.
It was very interesting walking through and reading the stories of the men and the dogs. One thing that struck us was how young the men were. The average age was only around 23 or so even Douglas Mawson himself was only 30.
Read more about the team here
Later in the afternoon, we took a one hour Harbour cruise with Hobart Historic Cruises . We had a voucher in the book from the red decker bus and this tour was only $10 each absolute bargain.
Back at the hotel, we packed our bags ready to check out in the morning, then enjoyed dinner in the restaurant.
by MoyJos | Dec 25, 2025 | Tasmania
Merry Christmas 🎄🎅
Hobart managed a white Christmas, with Mt Wellington having decent fall of snow overnight.
We could not see the snow from the hotel though 🙁 In fairness, we could not see the mountain top at all
This was the view from the webcam on the mountain
and this was from one of the radio stations.
After phone calls to family for Christmas greetings, we had breakfast in the room and went for walk to the waterfront.
It still was not terribly cold unless we were in the wind. I was not even dressed up for the cold. I have a calf length denim skirt, a long sleeved t-shirt under a light t-shirt type top and my cream denim jacket. No puffer jackets, beanies, scarves etc like some people we saw 😂
Of course there was no rain today, which would have been nice yesterday 😕
A quiet day watching movies and an afternoon nap Christmas Day finished off with a Roast Pork and Vege dinner.
by MoyJos | Dec 24, 2025 | Tasmania
We woke to slightly overcast skies, but the forecast was for a fine day. Generally speaking, we have found, if you can the top of Mt Wellington in the morning, the day stays mostly fine.
Today’s plan was to get the Red Decker bus out to the Cascade Brewery and get off at the next stop. From there you can follow the Hobart Rivulet Walk back to the city and rejoin the bus at Collins Street and travel a few stops to the Hobart Penitentiary.
That was all well and good for the first 15 minutes or so until it started to rain 😢
We did make it back to the city, but I said to Mick, let’s keep walking, get to the hotel and change out of our damp clothes. We were not wet through and not even particularly cold, but it was much better to get changed and have a hot drink
By the time we got back, it looked like the drizzle had settled in and we decided to not go out again. We made sandwiches for our lunch, watched a movie before having dinner at the restaurant downstairs.
Tomorrow is Christmas Day and we have an “at home day” as we know nothing will be open.
Hopefully we can get to the Hobart Penitentiary on Friday.
by MoyJos | Dec 23, 2025 | Tasmania
We both had a good night sleep and slept in until nearly 6 o’clock.
After making breakfast in our room, we needed to walk up to Woolworths to get some more milk. We also decided to buy some groceries ready for Christmas Day as we know not much will be open, or if they are will be full Christmas dinners at $100 each or more.
From Woolworths, we managed to buy a nice little piece of pork fillet marinated in herbs and garlic and some veggies that will make a very nice Christmas dinner.
After bringing the groceries home, we made our way back down to the information center to “hop on” the Red Decker bus. We had no plans on where to hop on and off. We have 48 hours, so we are just going to go with the flow.
We have done this trip before, and are fairly familiar with most of the stops.
Today we decided to hop off at the Botanic Gardens to have lunch and look at what used to be the ABC “Gardening Australia” garden. The garden has now been turned into what is known as the Tasmanian Community Food Garden.
The garden now provides fruits and vegetables to a number of local charities.
We had planned on having lunch at the restaurant café in the gardens, but of course they are closed for renovation and not open until later on in 2026.
There was a sign to say there was a pop-up café a little further around the garden. This proved to be a food truck/caravan that did have quite an extensive menu.
We chose a toasted sandwich to share, a tea and a hot chocolate. We found a nice bench looking over the park land . Before long, a couple of ducks decided that we had something interesting. 😀 and hung around our feet gently quacking as if to say “where is mine”. One duck decided that we were not being very generous at all and flapped his wings in protest fight up against Mick’s legs. A gentle nudge away from Mick’s foot and he did back off a little quacking the protest.
Back on the Red Decker bus, we rode back into the waterfront, where we went for a walk around Salamanca Place before heading back via Daci and Daci bakers for afternoon tea.
Mick had a chocolate eclair and I had a “chocolate and raspberry bombe”. This turned out to be chocolate shell filled with chocolate mousse, a raspberry jelly centre and chocolate cake base.
While having afternoon tea, we decided to book again at the Tasman Restaurant as it was so good last night .
by MoyJos | Dec 22, 2025 | Tasmania
After a big food day yesterday, neither of us were particularly hungry for breakfast.
We did not have anything planned for today, so we walked back up the center of the city and just had a look at the buildings and the shops.
We had been given a voucher for Christmas to the Hobart Coffee Roasters and we decided that that would be a good place for brunch.
Mick chose a ham and cheese toasty, and I had smashed avocado on sourdough. Together with a drink, it was more than enough for lunch.
After lunch, we walked to the Brooke Street Pier, to purchase tickets for the Red Decker hop on hop off bus. We bought a 48 hour ticket which means we can hop on and hop off as much as we like over the next two days.
We then had a quiet afternoon relaxing in the apartment, before we decided to try the Tasman restaurant at the Grand Chancellor. The menu looked really good and we thought it would be best to try and get in now before all the yachties arrive and is busy.
We managed to secure an early booking for dinner and we can honestly say it was one of the nicest meals we have had in a long time.
Mick had an entrée of a pumpkin and caramelised onion tart while I had the quail entrée. For mains, Mick went for the duck, and I had the chicken breast. We decided to share Cassata for dessert.
We walked home, extremely satisfied, watched a bit of TV and fell into bed.
