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| Tasman Bridge as seen from The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. |
Continuing on with my partner (Enigma) and I's return to Hobart, Tasmania, it's day three, and a Monday. Enigma was hoping to see snow on top of Mount Wellington this trip however, so far we'd had nothing but fine weather. A little on the cool side maybe, but not enough to put snow on the mountain. Which you can check with Summit Cam's live feed from the mountain top.
So we decided to fill our day with Hobart's other bus tour...
Red Decker Hop On/Hop Off Bus Tour
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| The Red Decker Bus. |
The Red Decker bus tour is a 90 minute loop tour of the main sights within Hobart. While you can just stay on the bus the whole loop the idea is to get off the bus at any key location you may like to further explore and then rejoin the tour when the next available bus comes along to your nearest timed stop.
Tickets last for 24 or 48 hours, giving you plenty of time to explore without being rushed.
The bus website tells you a little about each stop to help you plan where you may like to get off the bus.
Enigma and I didn't really plan our stops until we were on the bus. We ended up getting off the bus just past The Female Factory (a former women's convict prison) to join the downhill, Hobart Rivulet Walking Track through some scenic parkland back to the city, where we got back on the bus until the...
Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
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| Lunch from the posh cardboard in the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens Conservatory. |
Botanical gardens in any city are always a pleasant walk and Tasmania's is no exception. Highlights include:
Lunch from a local food van (there is a restaurant but it wasn't open) where we were able to take out food over into the conservatory to eat - making for a very relaxed setting out of the sun, and cool breeze.
The Macquarie Island Sub-Antarctic plant house, which I'm sure must be fascinating to plant aficionados with the variety of plants. To me it felt small and cold but a great spot to test out your camera's panoramic photo function.
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| The Macquarie Island Sub-Antarctic plant house. |
The Pineapple house. Pretty much what it sounds like, a green house with various species of pineapple plants.
The Japanese Garden. We didn't get to see all of this as we didn't want to miss the next bus but what we saw looked very good with a fairly unique water feature made from tree logs.
Once we rejoined the bus we decided to stay on board for the full 90 minute loop (on the last loop of the day) to catch whatever commentary we missed.
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| The University of Tasmania. |
This was the entire reason this trip happened in the first place. Enigma wanted to attend her graduation ceremony for her Diploma in Dementia Care, after almost a decade of online study with the University of Tasmania.
This pretty much occupied our whole day with a morning tea and tour at the nearby University Campus, followed by the graduation ceremony and after party food and drinks at the MyState Bank Arena.
Kunanyi/Mount Wellington Explorer Bus Tour
This was our final day in Tasmania and, as our flight home wasn't until somewhere around 8pm that evening we had a whole day to fill, starting with the Kunanyi/Mount Wellington Explorer Bus Tour.
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| Kunanyi/Mount Wellington Explorer Bus Tour. |
Like the Red Decker tour this bus is hop on and off but there are fewer stops. You can do the one way, 50 minute tour to the top of the mountain - if you feel fit to follow the walking trails down.
Alternatively you can do the two and a half hour round trip, with a 30 minute stop at the summit (which, if cold wind is not your thing, is more than enough time to see the main views).
Enigma and I went for the full round trip, only getting off the bus at the summit. We were rather impressed by our driver who delivered the tour commentary live with plenty of enthusiasm (as opposed to the pre-recorded commentary on the Red Decker bus) considering he probably gives the same commentary several times a day every day.
On this day the weather was supposed to be cold and rainy, giving us some hope for snow on the mountain. As it turned out, most of the morning was fairly clear with rain only starting to kick in (very lightly) once we reached the top.
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| Inside the look out at the top of Mount Wellington. |
While there isn't a whole lot to do at the top of the mountain beyond taking in the views, you will use up some of that 30 minutes before getting back on the bus, walking between the various official viewing platforms (one fully enclosed if the cold isn't for you), and likely a trip to the toilets - in case you were concerned about being on the bus for two and a half hours with no where to 'go'.
Although we didn't see snow - no surprise it snowed the next day - the views are still very worth the trip, as is the bus tour itself. Should you book on a day it is snowing, the Explorer Bus is the only way to get to the top, as the road is closed to all other traffic - due to snow.
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| Lorraine Jenyns (b. 1945) Tiger's Breath, 1987 glazed earthenware. |
After our trip up the mountain, getting back around 1:30pm, we still had a lot of time to kill. Some of which we spent at a nice little cafe in the main shopping mall for lunch.
From there we ended up at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for their last hour of the day (closing a 4pm). We didn't want to spend more time walking around shops, and I'd seen a sign saying the gallery was free.
While the displays we looked at were interesting and varied, the section that stood out for me was the display on the history of the Tasmanian Tiger. Obviously something of a sad tale that really makes you wonder why no one thought to do anything to save the tigers sooner.
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| Lunch on our final day, soup and an Angus burger and chips. Photo: Enigma |
Over the duration of our trip I just wanted to mention that the food stops we made, specifically for lunches and dinner. Eating out can get fairly expensive. For example we never ate an evening meal at our own hotel because their meals where a little pricey for our needs.
However, the places we found within our budget still delivered great quality food. I won't think we ever had a meal that wasn't good value for the price.
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| David Boon waiting for his flight at Hobart Airport. Photo: Enigma |
Finally, whilst waiting at the airport for our flight, who should turn up for a flight but Tasmanian icon, and Australian Cricketing legend, David Boon. His flight had been delayed so he had quite a bit of time to wait.
While I'm not one for approaching celebrities going about their daily lives, I'm pretty sure David Boon was just dying to get a selfie with us... so, should David be reading this, just ask next time you see us - we won't mind at all!
This looked a great trip and worth the money whatever it was. Lovely views. What was the Angus burger? The chips looked good, not shrunken or skinny like at some places. Perhaps you got enough walking in to wear it off!
ReplyDeleteThat looks a very long bus, the first one, then the second one. Don't think we've got any tourist ones that long in Perth. Good way to get around. We have our CAT buses in Perth city and I think maybe that topless one is still there but not seen it, not that I'm up much walking in Perth these days, but I've never got to go on it.
It was a great trip. Kathy planned it really well, so we could go to the open air markets on the Saturday (see the first post) and then have time to do both bus tours, and the gallery (MONA).
DeleteThe first bus looks long but very maneuverable considering the narrow, winding, hilly streets the driver drove it around. The second bus I would say was more your standard coach style bus.
The Angus Burger is really just a standard Burger made with Australian Angus Beef. A lot of places do them - even Hungry Jacks. It really comes down to what extras they put in, type of bun, and how much of a freshly, home made feel it has. The one in the photo was one of the best I've had in a while. Plenty of filling but not so much it all falls out the back while you're trying to eat it.