Snapshot of Tasmania #1

I mentioned earlier that I had four days in Hobart and surrounds last weekend with my friend M. I had a splendid time and am now quite enraptured with that part of the world. Hobart itself has a lovely unostentatious charm, with stately and quaint old buildings sloping down to peaceful and unmolested waterfront. And it is a city after my own heart: full of bookshops, outdoors gear shops, antique shops and bakeries! What’s more, the bookshops have poetry on their island stands and sections called “Tasmanian Writers” with everywhere a certain loyalty to local products. In my imaginary life I am now a Tasmanian poet.

I was rather taken with the old area of Battery Point, containing a little circle of cottages known as Arthur Circus together with the Jackman and McRoss bakery, which received several well deserved visits. There I sampled the oatmeal with honeyed figs, the quince and mascarpone tart, the rhubarb and raspberry tart (not quite all in one sitting!), and it was all so luscious. Other places we visited were the Lark Whisky distillery, where they make a single malt whisky, which is supposed to be quite something is you can distinguish one whisky from the next - all I can say is that the single malt whisky chocolates were very good. I tasted some Bush Liqueur in there too, which is made from a local pepperberry and comes with a surprise. The Cascade brewery is also just on the edge of Hobart but unfortunately was booked out for tours on the day we went. The building itself, however, is well worth a look. We also had fresh seafood down on Constitution Dock and sat by the open fire in Knopwoods pub. Good times!

On the Saturday morning we went to the Salamanca markets, which sell a fine assortment of goods, including lots of tastefully crafted wood products made from Tasmanian woods like Huon Pine and King Billy Pine and lots of local produce. Tasmania as a whole is all about enjoying food. Combine the local wines, the cheeses, the atlantic salmon and the cold-climate fruits and your taste buds get sensory overload. We sent home a fabulous Riesling from the Coal Valley Vineyard, visited a cheesery where they made extraordinary cheeses from dairy sheep (now I grew up in the country and my grandparents farmed fine wool and I had never heard of these “dairy sheep”, called East Frieslands), went down to Huon where they farm the salmon in the pristine Huon River, sampled the renowned local apples, which leave a lot to be desired about all other apples … And everywhere you can buy these products, together with local fudge, jams and pastes, chocolate (including apple flavoured chocolate) and all things delicious.

Anyway, that shall do for this post. I might post on some of the surrounding highlights (we actually saw quite a lot of the south too, which what was really beautiful) to come, but here are a few snaps from downtown Hobart (the photos aren't great because I was still using a little old digital):

The waterfront (above and below)Salamanca Place before the marketsThe markets (with snow-covered Mt Wellington disappearing in the background)Some of the local food we ate in the motel :)Jackman and McRoss bakery is on the right hereA street of battery point (opposite the bakery)Rainbow over Arthur Circus (we saw rainbows ALL the time)Blossoming pussy willow, which I just happen to like