Hobart’s MONA; Templo; Bonorong Sanctuary; Tahune AirWalk; TMAG; Glasshouse
There is sustenance for the body and mind in this lively southern capital. Here’s 10 top tips for your sojourn.
There is sustenance for the body and mind in this lively southern capital. Here are our top 10 tips for your sojourn.
01
Professional gambler David Walsh’s magical Museum of Old and New Art, aka MONA, has been a big winner for Tasmania since opening in 2011, supercharging the tourism industry way beyond its own perch on the banks of the Derwent in Berriedale, just outside Hobart. MONA is also the mother of summer’s MONA FOMA festival and winter’s Dark Mofo (and the already iconic Nude Solstice Swim, a naked ambition I ticked off this year). Previous museum visitors will encounter new delights, of which Zero is the latest, showing until April 2019. Faro restaurant and bar juts over the river with soaring 13m-high ceilings, the newest of many spaces in which to sip a drink and nibble on the stacks of information and rants in MONA’s unique and often-hilarious “O” guide (on your own iPhone or Mona iPod).
02
In North Hobart, within walking distance of city hotels, the tiny neighbourhood restaurant Templo serves up a night to remember on all fronts: food, wine and service. Book online up to 45 days out, request the communal table and give yourself over to the delights of the company of strangers, paired with the chef’s tasting menu and matching wines, for $130 a head. Templo is a gem and a bargain, with local produce starring and the provenance lovingly described as each dish arrives.
03
It’s a 20-minute drive from Hobart to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, a haven so peaceful it’s meditative just being there. The sanctuary is the public face of a hardworking conservation, rehabilitation and rescue outfit, taking injured animals from the roadkill-prone state into its unique wildlife-only veterinary clinic, which opened in January. The entry fee includes a bag of food to take into the vast kangaroo enclosure for the rare thrill of a Forester’s soft mouth nuzzling my palm, gently holding my hand still with her paws as she eats (that’s when I spy the joey’s head poking out of her pouch). For $25 I add on an “animal encounter’’ and pat a baby wombat, and another to feed a tawny frogmouth. A $160 night tour includes a tug of war with the Tasmanian devils for their dinner. Proceeds support the hospital and the animals’ rehabilitation; where possible they are released back into the wild once healthy. Feel-good fun at its finest.
04
Saturday-morning Salamanca Market is famous, but the Farm Gate Market on Bathurst Street, held on Sundays from 8.30am in fair or foul weather, is the insider’s tip for produce. Proudly seasonal, the market has stuck to its original philosophy: “If you couldn’t eat it, drink it, grow it or meet the producer, you wouldn’t find it at the market.” Bring cash, your own bags and arrive in time for breakfast from local restaurant pop-ups. Spirit lovers, August 13-19 is Whisky Week in Hobart and August 19 is Whisky Weekend at the market.
05
Hobart is a place to promenade. Take an organised walk or wander at your own pace starting at Battery Point to admire the University of Tasmania’s majestically reflective $45 million Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, which opened in 2014 and was joined soon after by Investigator, the CSIRO’s $120m flagship research vessel, which is moored here between expeditions. Up the hill from science central are some of the city’s most beautiful historic homes, including the 1830s Georgian townhouse Narryna (closed for renovations until September 1), now a house museum recalling early colonial days. In the nearby Hampden Road village shops I plump for a salty Tasmanian scallop pie at Jackman and McRoss, but sweet-tooths are well-served here, too.
06
After many visits to Hobart, my teenager convinces me that we should go to the Tahune AirWalk. It’s a lazy 90-minute drive through the Huon Valley before we are walking among the jolly green giants. The AirWalk is uplifting in every way, even the cantilevered bit I’ve been dreading, poking out 50m above the Huon River. I’m on a promise to return with my daughters to do the Eagle Glide, a zip-line-suspended hang-glider that flies through the forests and across the river, and to stay at the AirWalk Lodge, where you get exclusive access to venture out among the sounds and shadows of the forest by night.
07
Fullers Bookshop, flooded with natural light and 90 years young, speaks to the curiosity and creativity that imbues Hobart. The gorgeous independent store has a huge Tasmanian section and beautifully curated and displayed titles from elsewhere, wisely supported by an excellent cafe up the back to refuel between browsing.
08
The restaurant and bar at the end of the floating pier from where the MONA and Peppermint Bay ferries come and go is The Glass House, and once you enter you will never want to leave. I return two days running for the whey martini, made with Hartshorn sheep whey vodka, fermented honey and kunzea, dreamily imbibed looking out over Sullivans Cove. I’m unsure if my budding addiction is to the cocktail or the eccentric donuts, one stuffed with whisky chicken liver parfait with cherry and balsamic glaze, the other with Woodbridge hot smoked ocean trout topped with saffron cream cheese frosting and pearls of ikura. Either way, I’m hooked.
09
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is must-visit on every visit to Hobart and it’s smack bang in the middle of town. TMAG is the nation’s second-oldest museum and its collection includes specimens from the Tasmanian Royal Society, Australia’s original scientific society. Among the stuffed mammals, marsupials and monotremes, you’ll find a wombat standing improbably on its hind legs (it was taxidermied by a European who’d never seen the creature alive). There are excellent and often challenging contemporary exhibitions and a recent $30m renovation has made TMAG a lovely place to roam, with an excellent gift shop stocked with plenty of thylacine and devil-themed wares.
10: BEST BEDS
As Hobart’s luxury hotel scene continues to grow, the year-old Ibis Styles isn’t at the high end of price or guestroom amenities, but has a lot to recommend it. Swimmers will adore the 25m infinity lap pool with a harbour view, flanked by two saunas and a small gym. It’s easily the top plunge in town and will likely hold that title for some time as no hotels under construction have pools planned. In-house restaurant Mr Good Guy serves terrific Asian hawker-style fare from its open kitchen and those who’ve been touring around may be glad of the small guest laundry. It’s a brand new building, so there are plenty of USB ports in the guestrooms, some of which have spectacular views. Add can-do staff and a prime location and you’ll get over the fact you should bring your own shampoo and conditioner if you care about fine toiletries.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout