Dear friends,

Been a bit slow getting this third blog up about Tasmania but finally, here it is – a quick hop through two days with a look at the wonderful Corinda House Hotel, a walk in the botanical gardens, and a day trip to see the WALL then a short hike in the Mount Field National Park.

For the six days that we were in Tasmania, we based ourselves at the wonderful Corinda House, originally built in the late 1870s by Alfred Crisp and now his great-great-grandson Julian and his wife Chaxi run this small hotel beautifully.


The Corinda House Hotel from the garden.

I was lucky enough to have the charming ‘Alfred Crisp’s room for my stay.

But the best was the adjoining vintage bathroom with its classic water closet… 

… with the original, painted porcelain bowl.

Plenty of quiet spots around the beautiful gardens to read, meditate or chat with friends.

The Corinda birdhouse is almost a replica of the main house and a favourite spot for the locals.

The Hobart Botanical gardens are on a hill looking down over the city and although not very extensive provide a lovely place to stroll and enjoy the many varieties of plants. There is an excellent restaurant too which we enjoyed after strolling in the gardens.

A mass of vibrant pink lilies.

The brilliant yellow bloom of a sunflower never fails to please the eye.

A red bridge and golden maple leaves at the entrance to the Japanese Garden.

I really don’t know what the name of this tropical wonder is, but the colour and mighty stamen are the best.

No more do I know this flower either but love its delicate russet bells against the green-blue leaves.

My friend Verity, who is a dab hand at wood carving, chose the ‘Wall in the Wilderness’ as the key part of our day trip into the central highlands of the interior.

The Wall is artist Greg Duncan’s commemoration of those who helped shape the past and present of Tasmania’s central highlands.  A work in progress, The Wall is being carved from three-metre high wooden panels. The carved panels tell the history of the harsh Central Highlands region – beginning with the indigenous people, then to the pioneering timber harvesters, pastoralists, miners and Hydro workers. When completed The Wall will be 100 metres long.  It is already clear that Greg Duncan’s sculpture The Wall ranks as a major work of art and tourist attraction in Tasmania.

You are prohibited from taking photos, so these photos are gleaned from the website of the Wall and give a glimpse of the magnificent carvings along each side of the panel down the centre of a long gallery. The detail is exquisite and each element of the story needs time and quiet observation to understand the importance of this part of the story.

A visitor reads one of the explanatory storyboards placed along the wall.

The artist Greg Duncan, a tool in hand, stands in front of one part of his sculpture. 

This close-up of a horse’s head shows the remarkable lines of both the horse and the harness.  

At the base of one of the panels this small detail perfectly captures the remarkable echidna – almost my favourite part. 

Displayed separately are a number of art pieces of clothing that the early workers would have worn.
This cap and gloves look more leather than wood, but wood they are.

Although it was quite late in the day when we drove back towards Hobart, we stopped for a visit to the Mount Field National Park and enjoyed a walk through the mighty trees and ferns to see the Russell Falls. There are many walking trails throughout the national park, and although a longer trek would have been fun, even this short excursion was a joy as most people had departed for the day and it was mostly quiet and still in the bush.

Fabulous ferns all along the path, the graceful fronds arcing over the undergrowth.   

The path to the falls.

Tall trees towering over the rest of the vegetation.

The Russell Falls glimpsed through the ferns.

The skeleton of one of the massive trees left to rot in the undergrowth, and still magnificent.

Driving down from the Central Highlands back to Hobart, a winding road and a menacing sky.

Rain in the clouds and the last of the sunshine and lo and behold, a rainbow to end a beautiful day’s outing in Tasmania.

The fourth and final journal entry from our trip in Tasmania will be up tomorrow and tells of the wonderful day trip to the Isles des Phoque and Maria Island.

Until then,