Walking tour today, designed by us!
The harbour area near the hotel is very picturesque, many of the old warehouses and sheds have been very nicely converted into hotels and restaurants . This must have been a very busy port in its day. It was a lovely day and the walk was very pleasant. There was a massive cruise ship in the harbour which had some sort of observation capsule on the top deck, which was raised and lowered on a long arm. Quite fun to watch for a while!
We walked out of the town there were even more interesting old buildings that had been given a modern use, either as visitor accommodation or as shops etc. Some way along the route we past the cenotaph and the war memorial, stretched out on a grassy headland giving views across the beautiful blue sea and the Tasman Bridge. It was quite windy up there with birds and kites being tossed about. It really is very pretty here.
Finally we arrived at our destination the Botanical gardens. What a stunning place it was. Everywhere you looked there were photographs just waiting to be taken; so many different colours, so many flowers and trees, so many different shades of green and yellow. Displays of flowers were se off by pieces of sculpture, large pieces of striated rock, furniture and quirky buildings . This is a public space that is really used by the people of Hobart: there were kids groups playing around and enjoying the sun, young mums and babies meeting up for a chat and people like us just ambling about. This was a really lovely place and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
Our walk back took us through a rather unusual garden of remembrance; large open grassland, planted with trees and every once in a while a small flat stone set into the ground with the name and details of a young local serviceman who had lost his life fighting in the 'Great War' and buried in France. This was the the marker set up by local families who would probably never visit their final resting place. It was quite ponient..
Flying from tree to tree we also saw several green and red parrots, very sweet.
Back in town we looked around the shopping area and being very good did not buy anything!!
Another very good day, tomorrow we move on again.