Pieces of Hobart

I've become a bit sunburned in Hobart - probably not something that's often said about one of Australia's southernmost places. It may be mid-autumn but it's been warm and sunny for the past few days, neatly timed with my latest short visit to Tasmania.

Here are some snapshots...

1. The exterior of Hadleys Hotel, where I stayed for the first two nights. It was built in 1854 and is about to undergo a big 21st century renovation.

Reading the history of the hotel, I was amused to note the experience of 1912 Norwegian guest Roald Amundsen, who had just become the first man to reach the South Pole and was about to announce the achievement to the world.

Here's what the great explorer later wrote about his reception at Hadleys: "Treated as a tramp - my peaked cap and blue sweater - given a miserable little room. Then I cabled the King."

 

2. A cool bit of art on the side of an old building on the corner of Goulburn and Molle Streets. You can just see the outside tables of a great little cafe, Pigeon Hole, on the left.

 3. The entrance to funky new art gallery MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) in the city's north. Visitors enter the underground complex by first walking across the unused tennis court you can see in the foreground:

4. This little gem is the North Hobart Post Office, built in 1913. Great to see a post office building that's both a lovely piece of architecture, and also still used as a post office.

5. And the nearby State Theatre, a cinema in which the young Errol Flynn probably caught some silent movies when he lived in the area:

6. And finally, afternoon tea at acclaimed Battery Point cafe Jackman and McRoss. Consumed entirely for research purposes... no, really.

 

Disclosure time... on this trip I was hosted by Tourism Tasmania.