Hobart

We stayed in Hobart for a week. Our park was way out near the airport, but we had an ensuite site which always makes me happier. The weather was patchy still, with a few sunny days in between the rainy ones.  Still, we got out and about every day.

Our first excursion was to Richmond, where, of course, we looked at the bridge.

The main point of visiting Richmond was to see Old Hobart Town, which is a scale model of Hobart in 1820. I particularly loved the high attention to historical accuracy and the comparative photos to today's Hobart.

This area of modern Hobart is now land, filled in by convict labour

When we were leaving we had a chat to the owner who said his father had been inspired to build it after visiting Cockington Green in Canberra and realising that there were no model towns of real Australian places. If you are interested in history, I definitely recommend visiting this one!

Our next excursion, on a slightly sunnier day was to the magnificent Royal Hobart Botanical Gardens. These are the second oldest botanical gardens in Australia, established in 1818 (there will be celebrations next year!).

The most noticable result of this age are the huge trees and spacious lawns, as well as the lovely conservatory.

We were fascinated by the heated wall wending through the top of the garden - where warm air was piped through a wide wall from small fires at intervals along its base to grow stone fruit and other cold sensitive plants. It was built in the early days of the settlement but rarely used, as the Australia is actually warmer than England. Not that we noticed that much, with hail falling while we were having lunch in the cafe!

Naturally we wandered through the community food garden which features on Gardening Australia.

We visited the sub-Antarctic garden, in a cold, wet, windy room designed to mimic conditions on Maquarie Island. Brrr!

I loved the cottage gardens, with such an array of gorgeous flowers.

We spent a lot of time in the lovely Japanese garden, which is very beautiful.

Such a lovely place - my photos don't do it justice.