|
Hobart turns city ways upside down GETTING the measure of Tasmania's capital, Hobart, calls for a new way of looking at city life.It's a lively place, with a waterfront that buzzes with action around the surrounding restaurants, pubs, cafes and clubs. Yet Hobart is a city of contradictions. It has all the advantages of city services but its population of 185,000 has retained a sense of community. So the locals are laid-back and friendly despite their urban surroundings. Shopping, nightlife, art and craft galleries and fine dining are popular, yet rainforest on adjacent Mt Wellington and a string of secluded beaches are within easy reach. Enjoy a morning of wilderness and wildlife adventures and be back in the city for a lunch of local gourmet food and some of the world's finest cool climate wines. In fact, you don't even need to leave the city - slide into a sea kayak at Constitution Dock, opposite your accommodation, to explore the sheltered inlets and bays of the Derwent River. Don't be fooled by the beauty of the city - rated the world's third most photogenic by readers of the Lonely Planet travel guide series - and its solid Georgian sandstone buildings. Hobart may be a photographer's delight but scratch the surface and you discover it has a seamy past, built on convicts, merchants and seamen. This is Australia's second oldest city, after Sydney, and you can touch the marks of a convict chisel on a public building, down a beer at a pub named after one of the colony's corrupt ministers of the cloth, or stroll along streets of original workers' cottages in Battery Point. Bands, buskers and more than 300 stallholders gather every Saturday in the historic Sullivans Cove precinct for the city's famed Salamanca Market, which sells everything from hand-crafted wooden sushi trays to organic vegetables, alongside artist studios and cafes. In summer, Hobart parties in honour of its strong maritime connections, with dockside festivals, the spectacular finish of an international blue water yacht classic, and a celebration of Tasmania's traditional wooden boatbuilding skills. It's a city life but one without the city ways that are a stress elsewhere. |
About Us | Our Publications | Shopping | Visa Enquiries | Information Days | Links | Advertising | Privacy Policy
© 2005 Consyl Publishing & Publicity Ltd.