【Travel】Hobart .::Salamanca, Mt Wellington, MONA::.

It’s interesting how most people (including myself) tend to have big dreams on overseas travel destinations, yet often don’t think about finding time for the beauty back home. Recently, I started this hobby of taking the Jetstar domestic flight promotions as my cue for taking mini-breaks within Australia – and so far it’s working really well. I’ve taken trips to Uluru, Launceston/Cradle Mountain, Hobart; and got Kangaroo Island lined up next!

Here’s my trip report on a weekend getaway in Hobart.

2.5-day itinerary

• Day 1 (Saturday – arrive in the afternoon): Check-in B & B. Salamanca Market & town centre. Jack Greene (late lunch). Sweet Envy (dessert). High Street Grocer & home-cooked dinner.
• Day 2: Brunch at Salamana Square. Bruny Island (oyster farm, cheese farm). Home-cooked dinner. Mount Wellington.
• Day 3: (Leave in the afternoon):  MONA. Barilla Bay oysters.

Salamanca Market

Unfortunately, our Jetstar flight got delayed due to fog. By the time we got to the Salamanca Market, everyone was already packing up. We only managed to see a glimpse of the remaining stalls. Nevertheless, from whatever little that I saw of the market, Salamanca Market seemed like an interesting market with lots of treasures to be hunted.

Tasmanian apples are the best. Although the apples we got this time were not as nice as the apples we got in Launceston in June 2013, due to the season (there is no “Spring apple” – this seems to be a hot topic now: Coles in ‘fresh’ trouble again)

An octopus tea cozy! Haha how random yet adorable.

The Salamanca Market is right by the Salamanca Square, which hosts a clusters of restaurants and boutique shops.

The Salamanca Arts Centre is a fantastic place to kill time. There are lots of artsy little shops and I practically loved everything I saw!

{Salamanca Market}
Address: Salamanca Pl, Hobart TAS 7001
Website: http://www.salamanca.com.au/
Hours: 8am-3pm, every Saturday (except 25 April or 25 December)

 

Jack Greene

We had lunch at Jack Greene, a quirky bar/restaurant serving hearty burgers and an amazing variety of craft beer.

This is a corner of the upstairs area that has been decorated very cozily. I kept saying to Mike: “I want a living room like this”! I could spend an entirely afternoon here reading books or using my computer.

When they say they specialise in craft beer, they really do! There was a whole list of “today’s taps” craft beer to choose from. We ordered the Tasting Paddle which allowed us to choose 4 tap beer for only $10.

Ta-da! The barman recommended four types of lighter taps, we got Doss Blokos, Mt Goat Sommes, Behemian and Moo Pale. The bartender wrote the names of the beers on a little piece of paper for us, how thoughtful.

Our meal. The burgers don’t come with any sides, so we ordered the fries separately. I thoroughly enjoyed the fries!

Mike’s pork burger.

My wagyu beef burger.

{Jack Greene}
Address: 49 Salamanca Place, Hobart
Website: http://www.jackgreene.com.au/

Sweet Envy

I saw Sweet Envy on a “best ice cream/gelato” in Australia list, and I promptly added it to my itinerary.

Look at these gorgeous cupcakes, pretty in pink.

The place was decorated fairly plain and simple. We got there 10 minutes before its closing time so it was almost empty. A cute little girl, Matilda, (a staff’s daughter) came to talk to us and asked us to draw on her notebook with her using her colourful pens, so we stayed for a little bit longer. She asked me to draw a unicorn, but she said it looked more like a pig…kids are so honest.

Some flavours had sold out by the time we got there. But the “burnt honey” flavour immediately caught my attention.

The consistency of the ice-cream here is very thick and smooth. The burnt honey was divine!

These were the only sweets left on a Saturday afternoon (they close on Sundays). I got a peanut butter and macadamia nut cookie-sandwich & a pavlova cupcake. Both were delicious! The peanut butter frosting was wonderfully silky and melt in my mouth.  The pavlova frosting on the cupcake was almost marshmallow-like, fluffy and yummy.

{Sweet Envy}
Address: 341 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart
Website: http://sweetenvy.com

 

Accommodation

The weather wasn’t as nice as I had hope during our short weekend there. However, this wonderful B&B that we stayed in totally made up for it. I booked this entire one-bedroom coach house (the house on the right) on Airbnb. I had never booked anything on Airbnb before, so I was a bit nervous and didn’t know what to expect — until I saw the house our host, Hannah, had prepared for us (more photos below). It was an utterly pleasant experience, and I would recommend this place to anyone visiting Hobart.

My tips for booking a place on Airbnb are:

• Always check the reviews. Look carefully at the bad reviews and see if the negatives raised by others would also bother you.
• Make sure you co-ordinate with the owner on your arrival time (where to get the keys, what time).
• Check whether there is on-site parking if you are planning to drive.
• Search for Airbnb discount codes before making a booking (a simple Google search could save you a couple of bucks).

 

{Bellerive Bluff Coach House}
Airbnb link: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/2958972
Location: 10 minutes' drive from Salamanca Market.
Parking: On the driveway & street parking.

Pink flower petals paved the way…

I fell in love with this place as soon as I stepped in. Hannah knew we were coming so she had the music on for us and a scented candle lit up.

The tasteful decor of the whole place reminded me of…my dream home!!

Everything was so lovely.

The bed was comfy, clean, and spacious. I loved the suspended ceiling and all the wood inside the house.

Scented candles in the bathroom and fresh flowers.

Newly renovated bathroom with a shower and a bath tub. Perfection.

When choosing b&b or hostels on my shortlists, the bathroom is usually the deciding factor for me. This bathroom is definitely a flawless winner!

The kitchen.

Hannah’s very thoughtful to have provided her guests with the little kitchen essentials for cooking, such as cloves of garlic, cooking oil, salt, sugar and teabags. There were also items in the kitchen that can be purchased (there were price tags on the wine, Tasmanian snacks and drinks). The prices were quite reasonable compared to mini bars in a hotel.

Here are just some photos of what was in the fully functional kitchen for your information. The only things that I found was missing was aluminium foil, glad wrap and kitchen paper towels (but those can be purchased easily from nearby supermarkets anyway).

  l

  

  

Mike said this is the best fine dinning he’s had:)

I cooked a three-course meal using Tasmanian ingredients, by the wood fire, sipping on Tasmanian wine.

First course: Grilled scallops and baby broccoli.

Main course: Tasmanian salmon with baby broccoli and mushrooms.

Dessert: Pavlova cup cake (from Sweet Envy).

Dessert: Peanut butter and macadamia cookie (from Sweet Envy). See the silky texture of the peanut butter frosting? Yumm.

{Bellerive Bluff Coach House}
Airbnb link: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/2958972
Location: 10 minutes' drive from Salamanca Market.
Parking: On the driveway & street parking.

 

Smolt

The next morning, we had breakfast at Smolt, a hotspot at the Salamanca Square. Luckily, we started our day early because it filled up fairly quickly on a Sunday morning after we sat down.

Mike’s Scrambled Eggs with hot smoked tassal salmon, spinach, toasted ciabatta, $17.9.

My Potato & rosemary French toast, house cured thick cut bacon, house relish, $16.9. The French toast was amazing (I’m a big potato lover) and very filling.

{Smolt}
Address: 2 Salamanca Square, Hobart 
Website: http://smolt.com.au/

MONA (Museum of Old and New Art)

I’d read lots of good things about MONA before I came. Even then, I wasn’t sure if I would like it since “art” takes all sorts of forms and is very subjective. Whilst I like to think that I appreciate both “old” and “new” art, the so-called “new arts” can sometimes be extremely abstract and Mike would just roll his eyes at them and make me feel like such a pretentious snob!

Anyway, following the signs to MONA from the carpark (plenty of parking when we were there on a Monday afternoon), we got to its entrance, being the shiny reflective wall on the left right next to the tennis court.

This is the ground floor of MONA, with a very bright and modern design.

Photos are allowed in MONA without flash. The visit starts from the bottom level, so we took the transparent lift all the way down.

There’s a cafe on the ground floor of MONA. The square sign on the right was a cheeky touch that gave me the giggles (this photo doesn’t show what it is, but you’ll know what I mean when you see it).

The outdoor area of the ground floor cafe overlooks the river. It would be a perfect place to spend a lazy and artsy afternoon.

There’s a cocktail bar on the ground floor! A bar in a museum, neat.

The lighting and decoration of the bar made it seem like a secret gathering place, exclusive to the art appreciation society (oops, the pretentious side of me is showing again).

The inside of MONA is very different than any other museum that I had visited. The combination of stones walls, high ceilings, split-levels and dimmed lighting gives the place a mysterious ambience.

This was the first artwork passed the cocktail bar. It’s a wall full of sculpted vaginas. Yep.

This was one of my favourite piece. The amazing part was how the artist portrayed stuff that goes through a person’s head like a thousand lightnings per second through the openings/cracks on the man’s head.

This was a chair, with a bowl filled with water, a knief and a goldfish. Yep.

This artwork stinks – literally!!! It’s a clever machine imitating a human being’s digestive system – basically a machine that makes poo…I really couldn’t stand it, but Mike spent several minutes listening to the commentary. I guess we like very different things when it comes to art, haha.

I loved the concept of this piece, titled “Fat Car”. The artist puffed up the Ferrari to demonstrate how we are a society that is obsessed with slim figures yet often overlook the underlying beauty of things.

Outside of MONA.

I knew this was one of the artworks as soon as I saw it in the carpark!

I like an artwork that makes you think.

{MONA}
Address: 655 Main Road Berriedale, Hobart
Website: http://www.mona.net.au/

 

Barilla Bay

Having Tasmanian oysters was one of our must-do in Tasmania, thanks to my bff, L, who planted this idea in my head years ago.

So, here we were at Barilla Bay, an oyster farm and restaurant that is just a 5 minutes drive from the airport.

View from the restaurant.

Fun facts about oysters: “The chances of finding the perfect pearl in an oyster is only marginally more likely than having a mermaid pour you a glass of champagne to celebrate.”

Since we already had lots of original oysters on Bruny Island the day before, we decided to try some oysters with dressing, too. We picked: Green apple sorbet and Tabasco jelly.

The green apple one was almost like a dessert. The Tabasco jelly was quite firm and didn’t mix as well as I had imagined with the oyster.

Spring Bay mussels, steamed in coconut lime laksa with chips & aioli (main size), $26.

The chips were a bit stale. But the aioli was nice.

Pan seared salmon, with roasted Swiss brown mushrooms, hand-rolled beetroot gnocchi & herb mascarpone, $30.

Unfortunately, Barilla Bay didn’t wow me. Everything was “ok” but that’s about all I could say about this place. It makes a good stopover before the airport if you would like to have one last try of the Tassie oysters (they have a shop downstairs), but I wouldn’t make a trip here again just for the food.

{Barilla Bay} 
Address: 1388 Tasman Highway, Cambridge
Website: http://www.barillabay.com.au/ 

Hill Street Grocer

Hill Street Grocer is a popular local fresh food store that prides itself for stocking Tasmanian fresh produce and supporting local farmers.

All of the fruits and veges were labelled clearly with the origins, which made us very happy because we came all the way from Sydney and wanted to make sure that we picked out something local.

  

Even the steak was Tasmanian beef!

Want to do a quick grocery run while walking your dog? No worries, they offer puppy parking here! There’s a bucket of water there for the puppies to enjoy too. How cute.

{Hill Street Grocer}
Address: Multiple. Check website.
Website: http://hillstreetgrocer.com/

 

Bruny Island

Another highlight of our holiday was the day trip to Bruny Island. It was a fun day full of sightseeing, oysters and cheese. Click |HERE| to see my blog post on Bruny Island.