Hobart
It is Oct 21, it is Tasmania, chilly about 55 degrees, a brilliant ultramarine sky with big billowy clouds.......
WOW, I love this place. It is roughly the same size at St John's (which it resembles here and there though of course it is not nearly as old)....with a lovely natural habor....one to rival the great ones which come to my mind: NY, Vancouver, San Francisco, Sydney, Rio, Cape Town, Hong Kong.. Istanbul...the place just FEELS fresh...lots of early 19th century buildings (which is the stone age here) about...
The best hotel yet in Australia is the massively inventive Henry Jones Art Hotel (expensive as it is...about US$200) a reworking of a 19th century large jam factory.... a hotel which incorporates sails and the original tin roofs...I napped a bit after arrival and there was a rain which sounded so sopoforic on my naked tin ceiling....on the flight in one is given an apple, the symbol of this island....neat idea! Qantas also did a full breakfast in 55 minutes in from
WOW, I love this place. It is roughly the same size at St John's (which it resembles here and there though of course it is not nearly as old)....with a lovely natural habor....one to rival the great ones which come to my mind: NY, Vancouver, San Francisco, Sydney, Rio, Cape Town, Hong Kong.. Istanbul...the place just FEELS fresh...lots of early 19th century buildings (which is the stone age here) about...
The best hotel yet in Australia is the massively inventive Henry Jones Art Hotel (expensive as it is...about US$200) a reworking of a 19th century large jam factory.... a hotel which incorporates sails and the original tin roofs...I napped a bit after arrival and there was a rain which sounded so sopoforic on my naked tin ceiling....on the flight in one is given an apple, the symbol of this island....neat idea! Qantas also did a full breakfast in 55 minutes in from
Melbourne.
I have walked about in the town...often, deliciously fresh with a slight smell of fish (the smell I sometimes find in St John's)...ANY friend of Newfoundland MUST come to Tasmania I know alread...a smaller island albeit but with roughly the same population...a newer colony but old for Australia (settled in 1805...that's awfully early on down here)....tall hills surround the harbor...rising abruptly to about 2500 ft (roughly Mt Magazine, AR rising from the sea)...there must be 2000 yachts in the harbor and all manner of benches to squat upon and admire...the gulls here even look clean with bright RED beaks.
I troop off tomorrow to see the city and environs, then to Port Arthur the notorious convict settlement (where a few years ago a Columbine-type ghoul slaughtered 25-odd innocents while they ate their picnics).....The big monument in town lists very exactly the first 200-odd convicts brought here and no doubt their names are trotted out with pride by Hobart families with long memories.....I am reminded of those elderly people who take great pride in their ancestors (Aunt Jane coming to mind in a flash) and wonder how they would deal with convicts forebearers (rather than Episcopal clergymen)....I will try and restrain my enthusiasm until I know more about what I am writing.
I have walked about in the town...often, deliciously fresh with a slight smell of fish (the smell I sometimes find in St John's)...ANY friend of Newfoundland MUST come to Tasmania I know alread...a smaller island albeit but with roughly the same population...a newer colony but old for Australia (settled in 1805...that's awfully early on down here)....tall hills surround the harbor...rising abruptly to about 2500 ft (roughly Mt Magazine, AR rising from the sea)...there must be 2000 yachts in the harbor and all manner of benches to squat upon and admire...the gulls here even look clean with bright RED beaks.
I troop off tomorrow to see the city and environs, then to Port Arthur the notorious convict settlement (where a few years ago a Columbine-type ghoul slaughtered 25-odd innocents while they ate their picnics).....The big monument in town lists very exactly the first 200-odd convicts brought here and no doubt their names are trotted out with pride by Hobart families with long memories.....I am reminded of those elderly people who take great pride in their ancestors (Aunt Jane coming to mind in a flash) and wonder how they would deal with convicts forebearers (rather than Episcopal clergymen)....I will try and restrain my enthusiasm until I know more about what I am writing.
posted by ultimatetraveler at 2:00 PM
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