Day 40, Hobart, Tasmania

Day 40, 13 Feb – Hobart Tasmania

Hobart is about as far south of the equator as Detroit is north.  To further calibrate your climate thinking Feb 13 is equivalent to August 13 in the northern hemisphere.  Hobart reminded me of Annapolis, Maryland or maybe a smaller version of Baltimore.  They both have touristy harbor areas surrounded by working cities.

Our plan for today was to rent a car, drive to the Tahune Air Walk, return via Mt Wellington and then visit some yarn shops back in Hobart.

Renting a Car

We left the ship a little before 10 AM, passed through the cruise terminal and walked to the Avis location about ½ mile away.  The Hobart cruise terminal is a large warehouse where various vendors set up tables to sell their wares or services.  There is a sign advertising free Wi-Fi but we didn’t try using it to see if it was worth the effort.

The AVIS office here is typical of what you would expect from any AVIS location anywhere in the world.  I had made a reservation and all I needed to produce was my credit card and drivers license.  My car, a Toyota Camry, was parked on the street and they pointed to a drop chute outside the garage door where I would return the key if I arrived after they closed at 5 PM.

I had originally planned to rent a GPS, but now use MAPS.ME on my IPAD for navigation, which included verbal turn-by-turn directions and doesn’t require a cell phone signal.

NOTE: If you have never driven a right-hand steer car before, I would suggest getting a smaller car with an automatic transmission for your first time.  While finding a car with a manual transmission is almost impossible in the USA, they are still quite common in Europe and in other parts of the world.  Don’t simply check your desired type of car without carefully verifying it has an automatic transmission.  The other big change with a right-hand steer car is that the turn signal lever and windshield wiper levers are reversed.  You will inevitably turn on your wipers rather than your turn signals for the first few miles, much to the possible amusement of your passengers.

NOTE: Roundabouts are much more prevalent everywhere else in the world except North America so here is a quick review of how they work.  Cars already in the roundabout have the right of way and cars entering the roundabout must yield.  If you ever find yourself in the wrong lane of a two-lane roundabout, don’t make a radical move to exit, simply circle around again until you can safely change lanes.

Driving to Tahune

After checking out the car, we were on our way.  The roads were in great shape, nice and wide and were well marked.  Once we were out of town speed limits were 100 km/h or about 66 mph.  For the first part of our trip we were on a limited access divided highway, but after about 10 miles, near Kingston, we turned inland and the road went down to two lanes, one in each direction.  Nice wide roads continued past Huonville, hugging the scenic Huon River, until Geeveston when the roads began to narrow.  For the final 12 miles we lost the white centerline and the road was quite winding, narrowing to about one and one half lanes wide.  The speed limit here was 60 km/h and in most places it was difficult to go much above 50 km/h.

The Tahune Airwalk

Finding the Tahune Airwalk is easy.  Large, easy to read signs will guide you all the way.   Check out their website HERE

Admission is $30 AUS and allows access to all the walks and events except for the cable controlled Hang Gliding, which cost an extra $19 AUS.  The major features of Tahune Adventures include:

• Tahunue Airwalk: The Airwalk is a 600 meter (4/10 mile) long, 6 feet wide metal grated walkway, mounted on tall poles, with 5-foot-high grated safety fence along the sides.  It doesn’t sway at all, and despite being over 50 feet off the ground and in some places over 150 feet, we didn’t have any sensation of height as if you were standing on the edge of a cliff.  The walk ends with a cantilevered extension high over the Huon River that gives you an incredible view of the surrounding area.
• Swinging Bridges Walk: This walk is a little less than 2 miles round trip and takes you on both sides of the Huon River which you cross via a swinging bridge.
• Huon Pine Walk: A short 20-minute loop near the banks of the Huon River.  Some of the path uses a wooden walkway that is narrow.
• Eagle Hang Gliding: This is an extra $19 and offers an experience similar to a zip line.

Accessing the airwalk requires walking up about 100 steps.  There is a shuttle bus available if you prefer not to climb so many steps.

Guided tour walks are available at no additional charge.

The visitor center includes a small gift shop and a café which offers beer and wine.  Free internet is available and is reasonably fast.  Service in the café can be a little slow, so don’t order anything if you are in a hurry.

NOTE: HAL offers a trip to the Tahune Airwalk as an 8-hour tour for $109 pp.  Our cost for the same experience, using a rental car, ended up costing about $65 pp.  Since the HAL tour was large and prearranged, they had a dedicated guide ready on arrival so there was no waiting for the next tour time if you were on an independent tour.  Additionally, the HAL bus acted as the shuttle bus to the airwalk, so HAL guests didn’t have to climb the 100 steps or wait for the facility shuttle bus.

From the time we left the visitor center to the time we returned was 1 hour and 20 minutes.  This included our time walking to the airwalk, climbing the steps, doing the airwalk, going back down all the steps and then walking back to the visitor center.  We walked at a very leisurely pace and you could easily go faster if you chose.

The walk itself was pleasant with nice views throughout.  The views from the cantilevered extension that overlook the Huon River are wonderful and the entire area is peaceful and serene.

We made sure that we left the Tahune Airwalk ahead of the HAL tour bus, which had arrived shortly after we did and was scheduled to depart at 2:15 PM.  Following a bus down the winding 12-mile road would have been excruciating.

Apple Museum

On the way back to Hobart we stopped by the Apple Museum, a privately operated facility that is actually a restaurant and gift shop with a small Apple Museum in the corner of the restaurant.  Hundreds of apples were on display in small compartment shelves that acted as a room divider between the restaurant and the museum.  An old apple delivery truck and a few other apple related items were also on display.  We spent about 15 minutes here before moving on toward Mt Wellington.

The Yarn Shops in Hobart closed at 5:30 and it was now about 3:20 so we needed to keep moving if we wanted to go to Mt Wellington and then back to Hobart by 5:00 PM.

Mt Wellington

We left Highway A6 on Sandfly road and connected to Highway B64 which headed up to Mt Wellington.  Along the way we passed by the Longley International Hotel, which hosts a woodchopping carnival.  Out in front they have a huge, maybe 20 foot high, axe stuck into a large replica tree trunk.  We didn’t have time to stop, but I was able to find a few pictures of the axe online HERE and HERE

The road to the top of Mt Wellington is quite narrow after the final turnoff from the main road, about 7 miles from the top.  Here is where you will appreciate having a smaller car as most of the time the road is little more than a single lane and you sometimes must crawl when you come across a car going the other direction.

The weather was starting to close in as we arrived at the top, but we managed to spend 10 minutes enjoying the view before the clouds obscured most of the views toward the city.  The views are spectacular and well worth the trip to the top.  If the weather does start to work against you, there is a very nice view spot, 2.4 miles up the mountain from the turnoff, on the valley side of the road.  I would stop here on the way up as these views are almost as good as they are at the summit and since you are lower, there is less chance they will be impacted by low clouds.

Other people we spoke with afterwards said that that when they went to the top in the morning, it was freezing, windy and the view completely obscured.  We met some staff members from the ship at the top who had used Uber to get to Mt Wellington from Hobart.  If you use Uber, I would make a deal with the driver to wait, as it only takes 15 minutes to see everything you want to see, unless you want to hike around the area.

Yarn Shops

There are 4 yarn shops in the Hobart area, but we learned that The Stash Cupboard was recently closed after we had already parked about a block away.  The Wool Shop in nearby Moonah closed at 5 PM so we couldn’t get there in time.  We headed to the Salamanca Wool Shop in Battery Point.  This shop would be an easy walk (a little less than a mile) from the cruise terminal and is in a nice area with a lot of other nice shops and restaurants.

We arrived at the Salamanca Wool Shop a few minutes before they closed.  Judy rushed in while I parked the car.  The shop is half knit wear and half yarn.  There were a few hanks of hand dyed and hand spun yarn.  Judy was looking for some local products but a yarn spun in Peru for a New Zealand company caught her eye.  Sulco by Fusion is a fingering weight baby alpaca/lyocell blend in a medium gray.  There was enough in stock to knit a sweater and Judy bought it all.  The proprietor, Lily, mentioned that The Wool Shop in Moonah was a very nice a shop and had the best selection in the area.  (The Wool Shop is 4 miles from the Cruise Terminal)

Here are the Hobart Yarn Shops

The Wool Shop
58 Main Rd, Moonah TAS 7009, Australia

Salamanca Wool Shop
69 Salamanca Pl, Battery Point TAS 7004, Australia

The Spindle Tree (This shop is in business but was closed by the time we arrived.  It is next to the Salamanca Wool Shop)
77 Salamanca Pl, Hobart TAS 7000, Australia

The ship would be in port until 8 pm tonight, but after we left Salamanca we refueled the rental car and then droped off our car at AVIS before we walked back to the ship.

Mardi Gras on the Amsterdam

A little bit of New Orleans swept thru the dining room this evening as the Amsterdam celebrated Mardi Gras.  Colorful hats and beads decorated each table while the staff wore festive hats, vests and ties.

 

Cornmeal Crusted Catfish, “Chicken” Fried Steak with Bell Pepper Corn Fritters, Chicken Creole with Andouille and Vegetarian Jambalaya were some of the New Orleans themed menu choices.  Baked Chocolate Soup and King Cake were featured on the desert menu.

Many guests joined the fun wearing a wide variety of Mardi Gras themed attire.

There wasn’t a show tonight due to our late departure so I headed up to the Crow’s nest to check out the Mardi Gras Party which was in full swing by the time I arrived.  Everyone was having a great time and the dance floor was full – what a way to end a wonderful evening at sea.