Mount Wellington

On Sunday, Joe and I visited a local bakery down the street from the hotel called Queens Bakery. They had an absolutely amazing assortment of pastries including croissants, donuts, muffins, cruffins (croissant and muffin), rolls, etc. The almond croissants were so amazing. They were huge, with whole almonds baked into them and had a cream filling. They must be really popular because they had a sign saying that each customer was limited to two almond croissants. We had a really great breakfast to start our day.

After breakfast, the three of us (Joe, Ricky, and me) took a drive to the top of Mount Wellington. This mountain forms the backdrop of Hobart and is a very popular place for hiking, biking, or just driving up to enjoy the view. The road leading up to the mountain is very curvy and steep in places, very narrow, and sometimes with steep drop-offs and little to no barriers. In fact, it is described as treacherous and not for the squeamish. Of course we went anyway because who doesn't want to go on a squeamish drive after consuming huge almond croissants? There were some nice views along the way, before we even got to the top.

Mt. Wellington

Once we got to the top, we took a short walk where we had fantastic views of the Hobart harbor down below. There's no point in trying to describe the beauty, so just enjoy these pictures.

There was a building at the top with some displays on the history of the area. One of the displays mentioned a man by the name of Clement Wragge, who is considered to be the father of modern-day meteorology. He was described as a flamboyant character. He established the first weather observatories in the southern hemisphere, one of which was on top of Mount Wellington. He was one of the first to forecast weather in Australia, and due to his tendency to forecast unfavorable weather, he was given the nickname of Inclement Wragge. He developed a system of naming tropical cyclones, and he usually chose names of politicians that he disliked!

On the way down the mountain, Joe and I were engaging in conversation about various places. We were wondering about this or that place, when it was open, if it was worth going to, etc. Then a voice came from the back seat (Ricky) with all the details: where the place was located, what hours it was open, what kind of things there were to do and see there... Ricky apparently had done some research and was a wealth of information. You have your Alexa and your Google; we have Ricky. 

After Mount Wellington, we stopped for lunch at the Cascade Brewery. This is the oldest brewery in Australia. It is 200 years old. The grounds were beautiful and contained some nicely manicured gardens.

After lunch we headed to the airport for our flight back to Melbourne. Our time in Tasmania has come to an end. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this enchanting little island.