Welcome to Hobart

Sunday, October 13, 2013
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
From Columbia to Hobart was a three day journey including the overnight in Denver. But even without Ruby slippers I've landed in Oz.

It is spring here and feels like March (or November) with a mix of sun and showers, all accompanied by a mighty and bone chilling wind . Although I packed to dress in layers, it is very cold, and taking a walking tour of the city was challenging.

We met our local guide and spent about an hour exploring some of the historic buildings. Most of the old buildings were built of local sandstone quarried by the convicts. Each block contains a pattern of chisel marks, unique to a specific prisoner, and in protected areas those marks are clearly visible. Those marks were both a signature for their creator and a means for the guards to determine how much work each prisoner performed. 

I was was amazed by the flowers, such a variety blooming at the same time, I saw azaleas, camellias, flowering cherries, roses, calla lilies, clivias, wisteria, and some that I didn't recognize. Although it is very cool it rarely is really cold so things seem to bloom throughout the year.

Hobart is the second oldest settlement in Australia, after Botany Bay (now Sydney.). It was established as a penal colony in 1802 and today sic the smallest of the Australian states. The total population is about 500,000 and almost 200,000 of them live in Hobart. It has a unique wildlife population since it separated form Australia about 10,000 years ago, long before the dingo arrived in Australia. So the Tasmanian Devil survived and the Tasmanian tiger existed until the 1930s. The tiger, which was really a marsupial dog with tiger-like stripes, was driven to extinction by the stockmen who worried that it would eat their sheep.

Comments

Peter Abbotyt
2013-10-14

Marylea,
Glad you are safe in Hobart and enjoying it. I only know it from being the terminus of the Sydney - Hobart Sailing Race, one of the world's greatest oceanic challenges. We meet WED night and will try to get a head start on the new fund raising season. Have fun and come home in good health and spirits. Pete

Mark
2013-10-17

Neat! Already wishing I was there.

2025-02-07

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