First Wallaby in the Wild

Hobart Villa

Claudia with great walking stick

Easter Sunday dawned a beautiful sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. This was a perfect day to explore Hobart. We went back to Salamanca Square and there were as many people there for brunch as there were the night before, perhaps they were the same people, enjoying brunch after a late night at Barcelona, the local nightclub. We are amazed by the number of smart restaurants in this town. Walking past and gazing surreptitiously at diners’ plates, the food looks delicious. Being creatures of habit, we decided to return to Smolt to sit in the sun and enjoy flat whites and a decadent donut – we shared. It was worth the calories with a small dab of chocolate pudding on top.
We strolled all around the harbour area, down by the former factories and warehouses, now the smart contemporary Henry Jones Art Hotel. We entered the foyer to find a lively cafe, smart dress shop, Aboriginal art gallery and gourmet shop. Too bad we’d eaten that donut! These buildings had served several purposes, one of which was a jam factory. The owner had sourced everything on the island, wood for the shipping boxes, locally grown fruit etc. His brand was IXL. I thought this was a Roman numeral until I read the placard that explained this stood for I excel, very clever. This guy was quite the egotist.
We used local maps to follow the parks of Hobart in the Battery Point area, strolling by beautiful villa style homes with metal roofs and front verandahs, these are small, not like a North American’s idea of a villa at all. Some had magnificent views over the water. We found Arthur’s Circus, a small green surrounded by cottages and Hampden Road with many tempting shops, all of which were closed because of the holiday. We returned on our last morning to enjoy flat whites at Jackman and McRoss, a wonderful bakery.
We walked back to our cottage and enjoyed tea in the sunshine, nibbling on Martine’s homemade Swiss gingerbread and butter cookies. Her garden is festooned with roses, fuchsias and Chinese gooseberry bushes. The gardens here resemble those at home, the climate here is cool compared to most of the rest of Australia.

In the evening we decided to take a walk the Summit Acess trail very near our cottage. Following Bill’s advice, we drove up the road and parked near the trail. The walk was described in a pamphlet as taking 1 ½ hours and of moderate difficulty with 15-20 minutes of uphill climb at the outset. This was correct, and we huffed and puffed to the point where the track levelled off and began to circle the summit through sclerophyll (dry) forest. I found the perfect walking stick tucked into a tree to help me on my way. We passed one other couple and began our descent down the summit. All of a sudden we heard a rustling in the bushes that we thought might be a quoll – they were listed as one of the nocturnal animals to inhabit this forest. But no, it was a wallaby! Wow, a wallaby in the wild, our first wallaby in the wild. This was a major surprise as these were not listed on the wildlife placards at the entrance to the trail. We later met a jogger and asked him if this was usual and he affirmed that wallabys and even kangaroos could be seen up here. This is so close to civilization, just minutes from the city. I’m impressed.