Dizzy In Oz: Tasmania

Australias oldest stone bridge. Built by convicts.

Many years ago I saw a TV program about Tasmania. Think it was produced by some UK channel. Tasmania was portraited as close to paradise that you can come as I remember it. I recall I was thinking that I have to go there one day. And that day came! Last weekend in January included Australia day which meant one day extra off and a perfect opportunity to spend a long weekend in Tasmania.

Every Saturday Salamanca market is on in Hobart

Here in mainland Australia there are quite many jokes going around about Tassie, as it's called, due to a small population on an island and hence suspected inbreeding. Also Tassie was where the Brits sent their worst convicts back in the days.
So I couldn't wait to meet those banjo playing people with 6 fingers and two heads.
Jokes aside, I went there with high expectations on beautiful nature and friendly relaxed people.
Hobart is the Capital of Tassie, which is an own state in Australia, and that;s where I landed and picked up my rental car. Hobart turned out to be a nice average size city with quite many heritage buildings from the 1800's.

There are many old charming buildings in Hobart

Unfortunately the more modern buildings lack any happiness in their design.

The newer ones though are more ugly...
Mt Wellington in the background!

Just concrete square boxes which is a pity, similar to many swedish cities rebuilt in the 50's and 60's. Outside Hobart is Mt Wellington point, a 1271m high mountain that is a must to visit. There is actually a paved road all the way up to the very top! The stupid swede, who should probably have been the one to know, didn't realise that it was going to be ten degrees colder on the top than down in the city and quite windy, so he entered the summit in shorts and t-shirt! Not a good idea but you just have to smile and pretend you have it under control. On the other hand it was funny to see all the Chinese with full Mount Everest equipment covered from top to toe. After all it was 12-13 degrees so just a normal jacket would have been enough. Anyway, the views were breathtaking.

The freezing Swede at Mt Wellington with Hobart behind

After a day in Hobart with surroundings I spent next day travelling north along the mountains and did some bushwalking in a national park (That's the main thing you're supposed to do in Tasmania) A good experience with some nice waterfalls and giant trees.

Local bushwalking friend

Bushwalking

More bushwalking

Even more bushwalking

Then continued north in various landscapes to finally reach Launceston where I spent the second night. Launceston was a quite nice small city with good restaurants and some old colonial buildings in the city centre. Last day before going home I went for a drive along the River Tamar that leads to the Tasmanian Sea. On the way I visited the Swiss village which I thought was a real village created by immigrated Swiss people wanting to live like home. Unfortunately it turned out to be just a tourist resort, lol.

The Swiss village

I also visited an old gold mine which was quite interesting. It was actually only in service for about 10 years in the gold rush days before closed down.

From the gold mine

The gold mine in Beaconsfield

So to summarise Tassie. It is a nice island with more varied nature than I expected. Along the west coast there is a mountain range with many opportunities for bushwalking. In the central parts there are a lot of lakes very popular for fishing. In the northern part there is more of an agricultural landscape. Add to that nice and not too big cities like Hobart and Launceston in combination with the colonial heritage and you could easily spend a week here.