Devil the City

Tasmania is very, very, very pretty. Tasmania is also very, very, very windy and astonishingly cold. The chilly weather shouldn’t come as such a surprise, considering the state’s proximity to Antarctica. Still, when we arrived in Hobart, the blast of cold wind that met us upon leaving the airport just about left us breathless. We would come to learn that the wind is relentless and, similar to houses in Melbourne, it would be next to impossible to warm up. Once again the Canadians were left shivering and whimpering, revealing the truly sissy approach we have to being persistently cold.

Our flight landed in Hobart at 10:30 in the evening, and we took the airport shuttle to our hostel, a YHA by the name of Montgomery’s. I will wax poetic crab about the hostel later. Creeping into our 12-person dormitory at nearly midnight, we tiptoed around and went to bed fully dressed to avoid waking everyone up.

In order to make our way around Tasmania we elected to sign on for a multi-day bus tour, as transportation around the state was difficult and expensive. This left us several days in Hobart to tool around and take in the sights. So we wandered and we looked at a very pretty city on a very pretty harbour. Getting blown hither and thither, we explored their shops and landmarks, namely the open-air Elizabeth St. Mall and the Salamanca area.

The Salamanca area is downright fun. There are strange little shops located in alleyways, cafes and polite bars galore, and on Saturday there is a huge open-air farmers market on the main street. One of the cutest places there is The Faerie Shop, a pink-and-purple lined dreamworld for any little girl. There are beads and fairies hanging from the ceiling, a story corner where there are regular story-telling session, costumes everywhere, and anything else that could possibly be related to fairies and fantasy. It is adorable, tiny, and will leave you with a sugar-induced toothache.

Another primary attraction of Hobart is the Cadbury chocolate factory (actually located in nearby Clairmont). People at the hostel were freaking out about the Cadbury factory, people at the tourist information shop were freaking out about the Cadbury factory. Touring the Cadbury factory would have cost over $40 for the two of us, and we really couldn’t justify that cost to go and inspect vats of waxy cheap chocolate. In case you have never encountered Cadbury’s chocolate, it’s pretty typical of all cheap "chocolate" candy available in any store you walk into. So we didn’t bother going. The fact that all tours of the factory were booked up for the next two weeks also might have affected our decision.

In the evening, we had a beer in the karaoke bar located smack underneath our hostel dorm room. As the howling coming from below didn’t allow for any sleep whatsoever, we figured we may as well check it out. Good fun, but not really our thing. It was still awfully amusing to watch the drunks stagger around, spill their drinks, and howl at top volume into the microphone.