In early June this year, I got to visit Tasmania, Australia.
For those who aren’t familiar with this place, it’s a small island off the southern coast of the country.
I will now refer to this place as “The Hidden Gem.”
My friend & I decided to spend seven days on this island together. How did we explore it? Using both a borrowed and rented car, we “started from the bottom now we’re here.” Well, more like we started from the bottom and went up north. Making four major stops, we travelled from Hobart (southern Tasmania), to the northeast side Bicheno, travelled westward to Cradle Mountain and concluded in Launceston. Those seven days were jam-packed, but it so worth it. I cannot wait to return, hopefully to explore for a longer duration.
In this post, I’d like to speak with you about the first stop: Hobart.
If you look on the map, you’ll see that Hobart is located at the south-eastern area of Tasmania. It’s a place known to witness the lesser known global phenomenon, the Southern Lights,. During our three-four day stay we sadly didn’t catch it, but ironically it appeared the day we left. That said, we saw quite a few natural wonders, and I don’t feel to have particularly missed out on anything.
Shortly upon arrival, there were a few things I instantly noticed about Hobart:
It immediately reminded me of Portland, Oregon, my favourite place in the United States.
The reasons being:
It was lush with nature, with beautiful autumn reds paired with lush greenery. There were hills everywhere. I guess some of us like elevation differences hey?
This place had personality. The people I met were quite quirky, and unique, much like the people I often met in Portland.
Like Portland Oregon, Hobart was a fairly small town that felt like it was “just the right size”, for a smaller-town lover like myself. To give you context, sometimes the inner city of Melbourne feels overwhelming with the number of people who bump into you. Hobart had many beautiful buildings and streets, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly large. Many buildings showed a mark of history through its materials used to construct the city. The urban structures had symbolisms of flow and recognition of nature.
So about the Nature.
There was stunning nature all around. Tasmania seemed to have held onto autumn longer than Melbourne. There was an array of red and orange tones spread throughout the city, like a celebration of autumn, my favourite season. It was also very hilly. Since arriving in Australia, I had been missing hilly landscapes, as I grew up in such an environment (Would you like to hear about my bike story?). Additionally, Portland had heaps of hills too. Even while driving through the city, you can enjoy the ups and downs in the roads.
Personality
The kind person who picked up my friend & myself pointed to some chickens hanging out at the roadside and casually said, “Oh those are the Robo-chooks. You can see them along the roadside a lot”. Now yes, Australia has birds they call “bin chickens” which is also hilarious, but robo-chooks had a twang that just felt a bit more like the quirky Portland vibe. These robo-chooks are so normal that a gift shop had a badge of one. If you guessed whether I bought it, yes indeed, I did. That was the beginning of noticing the cuteness of this city. Not to impose my love for Portland onto it, but the point is simply that Hobart had traits that I loved which the good ‘ol city in the U.S. did too.
I want to tell you something special about the stay in Hobart.
We haven’t discussed where my friend and I stayed during our time there, have we? Well, do you remember my Yearbook project? Yes, the awesome part of this time in Hobart was that we were hosted by a close relative of one of my Yearbook participants! Earlier this year, I got to meet a Canadian man for project Yearbook during his short, several hour gap opening while he & his wife were visiting Melbourne. Somehow he stumbled upon my Yearbook advertisement at a cafe and scheduled a Yearbook session during the time that his wife was getting a tattoo. After the photo shoot, he happened to mention that their next destination was Tasmania to visit his in-laws. Sharing that my friend and I were going to visit in June, he kindly connected me to his mother in law. I may argue that his mother in law, Christine, is one of the most generous people I’ve ever met. Best of all, she was genuine, authentic, and hilarious. So we stayed with her free of charge, she offered for us to drive one of her cars, and fed us often. What was our agreed “payment”? A board game night. She showed us an intriguing, mentally challenging and engaging game. You guys, it was so fun that I might get that game myself one day.
The places we visited in Hobart were absolutely stunning, but the most memorable part of Hobart for me was staying at Christine’s. She gave me inspiration to continue a tradition like hers one day: to become a cool, successful person who welcomes people into their home with a heart as pure as that person’s.
Hugs,
Masumi
