Tasmania experience

25th of Jan we headed off to Hobart on Tasmania. Locals know the island as "Tassie".

We started 26th Jan with a tour around the city of Hobart and saw Kelleys steps, Battery Point & Salamancan Square.

These areas all look very similar to parts of Britain prior to 1900. There where plenty of English cottages, rose gardens, sand stone cottages as if they where transfered here from the Cotswalds.

Patrik is navigating the small streets of Hobart.

In the afternoon we picked up a rental car to take us up the Wellinton Mt, a lookout close to Hobart. It was freezing cold, much to our delight! Brisbane had been too humid and warm the last couple of days so the cold winds where very welcomed. Almost felt a bit homesick?!

It was very cold! The following day Mt Wellington actually had some snow and ice. Too bad we missed out.

The scenery up there was great. Hobart city in the background.

Port Arthur was our stop for the night. On the way there we made a few stops at some of the famous Tasmanian vineyards.

Meadowbanks white wines where a favourite.

Paddleduck was a upcoming only 20 yrs old vineyard, but surprisingly good wines.

Vineyards.... hmm....

We do agree with Madam Bollinger.

Richmond was where we had our lunch. It is a small town where all houses are built in sandstone, just like in the Cotswalds in Britain.
They are famous for their bridge which is one of Australias oldest.


Port Arthur is well know as a former convict area with lots of old ruins to tell the tale of the English convicts sent here many years ago. The historic site makes the convict past very real.
More recently though the site is known for it's horror shooting in April 28, 1996 when a young man one sunny day walked into the Cafe "Broad Arrow" in Port Arthur, pulled out his firearm, killed 35 and wonded 22 people sitting at the cafe having afternoon tea. A very tragic story, that changed the laws of firearms in Australia.

Next day we headed up the east cost through Sorrell, Orford, Swansea, St Mary and spent the night in Launceston. The scenery during our trip up the east cost was not far from the Great Ocean Road.

Launceston has a Gorge which we took a walk around on Sunday morning.

5km from Lillydale we saw a PYO (pick your own) blueberry farm. We then learnt the differences between the North American Blueberries and our Scandinavian Wild Blueberries.

The difference is quite obvious. North American blueberries grow on bushes that reach above your head. Wild Scandinavian blueberriey bushes does not reach your knees in height.

Also the size of the blueberries are quite different. North American blueberries are 4 times the size of Scandinavian ones.

Vast areas of land have been caught in bush fires during the hot summer periods. This is what it looks like once the fire has passed through the woods.


We visited a beautiful Lavender Farm in this area as well....
More photos are will be coming soon.