#hobart

As the sun crested the horizon, filtering through the slants of the blinds, I awoke to another day in the capital city of Tasmania. Without a list of locations to visit, our family decided for a lazier slower-paced adventure on our second last day. Our first stop? Mount Wellington.

According to Wikipedia and sources on the internet, Mount Wellington sits at an elevation of 1,271 metres. Occasionally, it will be covered by snow, even in summer, though when we ascended, this was not so. Albeit, it was still a good ten degrees lower than Hobart itself. More importantly, the windchill factor meant the outside temperature felt like it was plummeting fast. And I, in my infinite wisdom, had not brought along a jacket or windbreaker.

Originally named 'Table Mountain' it was renamed in 1832 in honour of the Duke of Wellington. Charles Darwin, father of evolution, also embarked on a climb in February 1836, and had remarked on the flora and fauna he found.

The road up to the summit was long and winding. Along the way, we stopped midway to look out over the sprawling harbour city before continuing back up. It was not until we reached the summit that I realised how underdressed I was. Still, I braved the winds, clambering up on rocks to snap as many of the natural scenery around me. While other tourists had chosen to balance on rather precarious rocks, I chose the more prudent and solid patches of ground. After all, it makes little sense to me to exchange my life for a passingly 'decent' photograph.

Beyond a strange tripod like structure that most everyone was flocking to, the one structure that caught my eye was the BAI Transmission tower. Made from concrete, it towers at about 130 metres. The construction of this tower was part of a movement towards statewide broadcasting.

With the wind chipping away at any resources of heat left in my body, I finally took shelter in the Pinnacle Observation Shelter. Though the day was slated to hit a high of 31 degrees Celsius, the mountain was far colder. Understandable given its height and the fact the summit of the mountain has a tundra climate. Before too long, I was joined by my family as we looked out over Hobart and took several shots of the city from our higher elevation.

Once we had explored every inch of the summit (bar the walking and fire trails), we headed back down. My hope, at the time, had been to visit the MONA. Even though it would not be open, I thought there might be an opportunity to see the outside facade so I could take a photo of the outside. Unfortunately, luck was not on my side. We were stopped by a security guard redirecting any who ignored the 'Closed' sign atop the carpark entrance.

Lunch was at a small cafe near the MONA called 52 South. Reliant on the reviews on Google, I'd only skimmed the menu. It was not until we were wheeling Popo in on the wheelchair that I understood that while it was a cafe, it was also a Sri Lankan restaurant. This, however, did not serve as a deterrent (something most East Asians like my Popo might not have appreciated) and we ate our fill.

As the morning stretched into the afternoon, my stepfather and Popo were keen to return to the hotel. I, however, still wanted to explore the city proper. Thankfully, my stepfather was amenable to dropping my mother and I off. Hopping out, my mother and I hurried indoors to the closest shopping centre in the heart of Hobart.

The first was Centrepoint. A shopping mall with speciality retailers, it had a Dymocks that I quickly found myself browsing through. More importantly, it had public toilets my mother and I took advantage of. I was also curious about the Tassie Makers Market store but found nothing of interest on its shelves that would suit my souvenir needs. In fact, given Hobart is just another city in Australia, most of the souvenirs simply did not pass muster as being unique enough to warrant purchasing for my various friends.

Albeit, perhaps I ought to have taken a longer look at the gift shop in Port Arthur. Surely there might have been something I could have brought home to say I had been to the former penal colony.

From Centrepoint, my mother and I meandered towards the shopping arcade opposite: Cat & Fiddle. As we toured the shops, we slowly made our way to Elizabeth Street Mall. Once I'd sufficiently judged their rather lacklustre collection (though I did buy a Funko Pop of Senshi from Dungeon Meshi and agonised over whether or not to buy a few more packs of DIsney Lorcana (at time of writing this post in May, Wilds Unknown has just released and I managed to snag ALL the legendaries in just TWO booster boxes AND be blessed with Jack Jack. While it was not the Enchanted I wanted, nor the Iconic, the odds of pulling cards was significantly better than any previous set. Here's hoping I get lucky again with Attack of the Vine).

Before heading back, my mother and I also took a detour to Area 52, a game store not too far from the shopping mall. Though my mum was less than impressed, I had wanted to see what merchandise they had on sale and was impressed by their wide selection of fantasy and science fiction novels to the board games on display. While I chose not to purchase MORE Disney Lorcana, I knew that if I were to ever revisit Hobart again, I knew exactly where I ought to head.

With the afternoon swiftly fading, my mother and I decided it was best to head back to our hotel. Instead of trying our luck with the public transport, we walked back (getting in valuable steps). Thankfully, much of the earlier heat had abated and it was a ismple trek down Sandy Bay Road to reach the hotel we had booked for our stay.

Thus ended our sojourn into the city. While I would have preferred a visit to the MONA or another museum close by, I still managed to satisfy my itch to explore the city.

Tomorrow, we would be heading back to Sydney. But first, we would need to drive all the way back to Launceston...