Arriving at Hobart Airport

Arriving at Hobart Airport – Be ready for a treat

The trip from the Mainland of Australia will take just over an hour from Melbourne, 1 hour and 40 minutes from Sydney or about 2 hours from Brisbane. Arriving at Hobart Airport is a bit of a step back in time – no jetways here.

The flight will either fly down the Coal River Valley – the views of Hobart will be on the right hand side of the plane – or will circle around over Frederick Henry Bay and Seven Mile Beach to land from the south.

You can get out of the front or rear of the plane – down the steps and walk across to the Arrivals Building. If it is raining, umbrellas are available at the foot of the stairs. If it is windy – more likely than not – be ready to hang on tight.

The arrivals area is not large and is dominated by people waiting to meet the passengers, drivers with signs and racks of promotional brochures. The luggage will arrive onto the single carousel. There are regulations regarding bringing fruit and vegetables into Tasmania and the cute sniffer dog will give your hand luggage a going over before moving on to the checking the carousel.

The car rental offices are about 25 metres from the exit doors. The coach transfer to Hobart City meets every flight and you can buy tickets on board the bus. Taxis leave from in front of the building (turn right when you  go out the door – about 50 metres along). If you are picking up a Campervan rental, call the rental company from the arrivals area.

You will drive into Hobart by crossing the Tasman Bridge - you cannot see the City from the Airport .

A note on dropping a Rental Car on leaving from Hobart Airport:

It is OK to drop the car off about 1 hour 15 minutes before flight time. This will give you plenty of time to get into the departures building and check in.

More Information > Hobart International Airport – Wikipedia

Tasmania - How to do it without a car!

Tasmania – How to do it without a car!

Cradle Mountain, Freycinet, Wineglass Bay, Hobart, Port Arthur, West Coast & Strahan.

Even if you are a single traveler, this trip is a great way to see how beautiful Tasmania really is while you are tasting some of its excellent food products and walking in its famous wilderness.

If you are not driving, it is often very difficult to get to the coasts with single tours.  This NEW 6 DAY Tasmania Tour takes all the guesswork out of the trip.  Accommodation is included (dormitory or private) and a local driver/guide makes sure you get to see the sights and take part in the activities and food tastings.  All this from about A$110. per day per person, depending on accommodation level.

The trip leaves Hobart each Sunday and is going to be very popular.  Make sure you book early here. 

The schedule is really fun!  After visiting Port Arthur Historic Convict Site and the Tasman Peninsula  for the fabulous ocean views and history on the first day, it is up the Derwent Valley to Russell Falls and the beginning of the western mountains.

On Day 3, head for Tasmania’s West Coast to Strahan via Montezuma Falls and climb some of the world’s best sand dunes at Henty Dunes.

Day 4 takes you to Cradle Mountain and then on to Sheffield and honey and salmon tasting.   The next day takes in the East Coast, Wineglass Bay and Freycinet.  The Bay of Fires has some of the most amazing cool temperate beaches in the world and here is your chance to go on the beach.  The finale is a visit to Kate’s Berry Farm to taste Tasmania fruit products and even fruit wine.
The tour finishes in Hobart…and you have seen it all!

Again, book early here. 

Hobart Tasmania: Mountains, Wind and Water

Hobart, Tasmania

Hobart, Mount Wellington and the Derwent River Estuary are off to the right as your plane descends over southern Tasmania.  I have arrived into Hobart by air many times, but since I was born in Tasmania, I have always been coming home.  As a visitor, this is probably your first view of Australia's southernmost capital city. Then Hobart slides from view behind a row of hills, the plane comes straight in, lands, and taxis to the terminal. You walk down the stairs and on to the tarmac. No covered jetway to the terminal, just your first feel of the Tasmanian wind and some of the cleanest air on the planet.

Mount Wellington

The drive in to the city takes 20 minutes. You can see Mount Wellington, but not the city itself, until cresting the hill at Warrane lays out the river, the Tasman Bridge and the Port of Hobart in a dramatic panorama of hills and water.  There is only usually snow on the mountain in winter. A look at the map of Hobart will show you the layout. 

An old naval officer described Hobart as one of the finest natural ports in the world, rivaled only by Rio de Janeiro and Sydney for deep water access. Charles Darwin visited Hobart in the H.M.S. Beagle in 1836. During his 12 day stay, Darwin climbed Mt Wellington and was impressed by the man-ferns and Eucalypt trees. He collected many insect and animal species then new to science. Today, large cruise liners pull in to the docks and tie up hardly metres from where Darwin did 176 years ago. 

Hobart from Mount Wellington

Anywhere within a Kilometre of Salamanca Place is a great location for your Hobart hotel, so get unpacked and let's discover the Waterfront.

In 1812, the Duke of Wellington was victorious in the Battle of Salamanca in Spain, and to commemorate it, the "Cottage Green" section of Hobart was renamed Salamanca Place. As the port developed, stone was quarried from the banks behind Salamanca Place and pushed into the water to make the wharves suitable for deep water shipping. 

Salamanca Place

Into the quarry, and along as far as the Houses of Parliament at the northern end was built a row of conjoined sandstone warehouses, and for 100 years these were a centre of Hobart storage and shipping. You can still see the original timbers and stonework in restaurants like the Ball and Chain, and in any of the excellent shops and galleries that have been built into the original warehouses along Salamanca Place.

Salamanca Market

The Saturday Salamanca Market turns 40 this year, and it keeps on getting better and better.  Yes, it is worth a visit.

You can follow Darwin to the Summit of Mount Wellington (1,269 m., 4166 ft), but you don't have to scramble through the bush. To really appreciate the view from the top (you can see right up the Derwent valley, and all the way out sea), get a real buzz and do the Downhill Bicycle Ride from the summit back to Salamanca Place.  They drive you to the top, you saddle up … and its downhill all the way back. If you don't feel like riding a bike, the standard Mount Wellington Tour is the way to go. You can walk on Mount Wellington on bush tracks today that give you amazing views of the city.  I think this is some of the best scenic urban walking I have seen.

In my next post we will take a walk around the Battery Point Historic Precinct.

Stay tuned…

Cheers,

Rob.

>>> More Information on Mount  Wellington…     

>>> More Information on Salamanca Place…     

>>> More Information on Darwin's Visit to Tasmania…  

Tasmania: Cool, Green, Wild and Friendly

Hi,

My name is Rob Harris, and I'm going to take you on a rambling trip around Tasmania. We will poke into the nooks and crannies that make this interesting island different to Mainland Australia - not in any particular order, but rather as the mood takes me.  Let's keep it interesting and flexible.

All of us travel for different reasons. Some to explore new territory, some to say they have been there, others to discover the differences, others to find similarities to our own background. Tasmanians have for many years adopted policies that have preserved the natural and historic things that now make the Island a unique, scenic, cultural and natural environment.   Tasmania is truly cool, green, wild and friendly.

Hobart from Mt. Wellington

So, let's try and throw Tassie into perspective...

Tasmania is on the "crossroads to nowhere" -  this is part of what makes it so special. You are not going to be driving from Sydney to Adelaide and drop in to Tassie to look around. Because it is separated from the Mainland by the 240 Kms (150 Mi) of Bass Strait, getting to Tasmania requires a deliberate act. A plane flight - or a 10 hour ferry ride if you want to take your own car - does the trick. Then you will have a whole island to explore.

Don't be fooled by its apparent size on the map. At around 65,00 Sq Kms (25,00 Sq Mi) in area, Tasmania is about the same size as Ireland, West Virginia, Sri Lanka, or Lithuania.  It is about 90 times the area of Singapore and about 60 times larger than Hong Kong. It is 5 times larger than Connecticut and one and a half times bigger than Switzerland.  The population of Tasmania is approximately 500,000.  

To drive from Stanley in the far northwest to Hobart, in the southeast over main highways takes about 6 hours, but get off the main roads and into the rural areas and you take a surprisingly long time to cover the distance.

Tasmanian Seafood

There is evidence of the original Aboriginal Tasmanian inhabitants some 35,000 years ago. At this time, Tasmania was joined to the Australian Mainland before rising water levels cut through Bass Strait to make it an Island. This happened about 10,000 years ago. The cutting of the land bridge to Australia isolated not only the human inhabitants, but also a range of unique plants and animals, of which the Tasmanian Devil is the most famous.

Tasmanian Devils

The first European discovery of Tasmania was by the Dutchman Abel Tasman in 1642.  He named it Van Diemens Land. It was settled from Sydney in 1803, renamed Tasmania in 1856, and became a State of Australia at Federation in 1901.

OK, enough of the background for the present. Let's get started on discovering Tasmania.

In my next post we will arrive into Hobart, have a look around and explore the city.

Stay tuned…

Cheers,

Rob

>>> More Information on Tasmania…   

>>> More Information on Hobart…      

>>> More Information on Tasmania's History…