Tasmania 2024 Day 4: Hobart

This post continues my recap of our trip to Tasmania. See previous posts: Day 1, Day 2, Day3.

Monday 26th February. Our friend picked us up at 8:30 a.m. for a little outing on Kununyi/Mount Wellington. G and our friend went trail running while I did some hiking. I snapped a photo of the trail map so I could find my way back, and we all headed off in different directions. G and our friend ran the Organ Pipes circuit while I walked to Sphinx Rock. After admiring the view, I kept going and circled down to O’Grady’s Falls, then continued until I hit the Fingerpost Track, which was a steep uphill path all the way back to The Springs carpark. By the time I hit Fingerpost Track, I was running past the time I was supposed to be back and pushed the pace uphill. By the time I made it back, I was a hot, sweaty, puffing mess. Although the others took longer on their run than expected because G wasn’t experienced at running across boulder fields, they were still sitting with their coffees when I arrived. G had my banana bread all ready and waiting for me.

Afterwards, we drove up to the summit. The wind was blowing, and it was freezing, but the view was amazing. You can see out over Hobart and the Tasman Peninsula to the east, Bruny Island down south and rows and rows of mountains to the north.

On our way back to our apartment, we stopped by our friend’s place to check it out. They recently bought a house at the foot of the mountain. Then, we headed out to find some lunch before our afternoon walking tour of Hobart. We were doing the three-hour Grand Hobart Walk, which explored both the Old Town and historic Salamanca Place and Battery Point.

We climbed the pull-down stairs to MacGregor’s lookout. Alexander MacGregor would watch the comings and goings in the port with his telescope. If a trader docked, he could quickly send his watermen down to the cargo.

This was a big day with the hike in the morning and the walking tour in the afternoon. My Garmin says I did 28,280 steps (19.8km). After our tour finished, I went back to the apartment and took a nap before heading back out for dinner with our friend from the morning. His wife joined us, and we got to catch up with her and chat about babies, as she was due three weeks after we visited.