Settling into the room at the Old Woolstore Apartments and Hotel.
The next morning we got up early, me at 0400 and Jonathan at 0530. I had been awake several times during the night, but that is just usual sleep pattern. The breakfast buffet was quite nice, and I got to sample Vegemite - that's not likely to happen a second time.
I spent the rest of the time figuring out how to download our boarding passes from Virgin Australia for our flight to Hobart, and booking tickets on the shuttle bus from the Hobart airport to the city. So we now sit at the gate catching up on our journals while we await the flight.
Our flight arrived in Hobart after the one our flight and we deplaned on the tarmac as the airport has no jet bridges. Collecting our bags form the luggage carousel (featuring a produce sniffing dog) we hopped onto the SkyBus to take us to Hobart CBD (central business district). The Old Woolstore Apartments and Hotel was only a block or so from the first stop which was useful as an intermittent shower was moving through as we walked to the hotel.
After checking in and getting advice from the reception staff, we headed out on foot to the waterfront a block or so away. We ate lunch around 1400 at one of the first seafood restaurants we encountered, Pearl + Co. I had red wine braised octopus with a side salad while Mr. Lubin indulged in fried whitebait. My octopus was very tasty but was also slightly on the tough side. After lunch we continued along the waterfront to Salamanca Place with its many restaurants and galleries - we didn’t stop at any of the restaurants but did wander through several galleries. We followed some signs to Battery Park, taking a set of stairs up the hill into a charming neighborhood with al sorts of roses and other flowers in the front gardens. We walked through a small business district in the area with several interesting eateries and antique shops. After looping through the park (which wasn’t that interesting) we returned the the hotel prior to dinner.
Settling into the room at the Old Woolstore Apartments and Hotel.
Boats along Kings Pier.
A silver gull, common in Tasmania.
She doesn't seem to be too happy with the gull joining her for lunch. It was standing on an adjacent table.
Jonathan is happy with Tasmanian oysters joining him for lunch.
I liked the water reflections on the boat's name.
These are lit at night in varying colors.
Jonathan coming out of a gallery on Salamanca Place.
Old grain silos converted to apartments/hotel.
One of the many roses in the gardens in the neighborhood above the waterfront.
More roses. I liked the limited color palette between the roses and the house.
Walking up the street.
I don't know what this specimen was, but it was a rather interesting plant for its textures.
We should've made a point to 'pop in' to sample it, but we didn't.
Exterior of the Old Woolstore Apartments and Hotel.
As part of my planning for this trip, I googled “best restaurants” and “Hobart” or “Launceston” and came up with a list of candidate establishments. I then winnowed them down to ones within walking distance of our accommodations as we were on foot.
So the first one was FRANKLIN and it did not disappoint. We split a bottle of Tasmanian Pinot noir bottled exclusively for the restaurant (“Franklin-stein”) We shared all four dishes and dessert. The restaurant specializes in Tasmanian grown food with a constantly evolving menu using a wood fired oven. It was all exceptional, and the octopus dish carrying the astringent wood smoke was the highlight.
Dr. Franklin-stein Pinot noir.
Dr. Franklin-stein Pinot noir.
Slow roasted tropea onions with bread miso, bottarga, and elderflower.
Wood roasted octopus with sweet & sour currants and smoked macadamia nuts.
King Edward potato galette with yoghurt and wild fennel.
Wood roasted English Leiscester lamb with fermented cabbage, pickled garlic and orach.
Wood baked bitter lemon Basque cheesecake.
After walking back to our room, we began the process of setting up our day packs in anticipation of being picked up by the Freycinet Experience folks the next morning. We both had the day packs in our other suitcase packed flat, and now they came out to be filled with trail necessities - cameras, lenses, extra batteries, lens cloth, extra memory cards, sun screen, insect repellent, walking sticks, etc. That lightened up the other travel bags considerably.