TAKE A BREAK IN THE CITY
Destination Hobart Waterfront
“WE’RE not going to the mainland” is the name of a commemorative exhibition now on at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, which I visited last weekend after its reopening from COVID-19 lockdown.
Marking 30-plus years of local campaigning for LGBTI rights and equality, starting with the 1988 Salamanca protests, the show is girding, instructive and features some fabulous Mercury photo reportage.
The exhibition title, alluding to stay-put resistance, also reads as a statement of fact pertinent today — for other reasons. As we enter the winter holiday period when many of us tend to head north seeking warmer climes, we’re not going to the mainland.
With interstate borders still mostly closed, Tasmania is our playground, and with our borders still closed to others for now, we get the playground to ourselves.
In the spirit of holidaying at home, I packed an overnight bag after work last Friday and travelled 1km from my home to the Hobart waterfront to explore the Sullivans Cove precinct at my leisure. I spent a delightful 24 hours, using a serviced apartment at Somerset on the Pier, on Elizabeth St Pier, as my base.
The kindness and dedication I found among our waterfront tourism operators, who are doing it so tough, took the chill off the air as I roamed.
Artisan chocolate maker Giovanni “John” Zito, of Nutpatch, plied me with good humour, an unethical number of exquisitely crafted treats, and a nip of warm, on-tap Belgian couverture. John has fared OK over COVID-19 because his customer base is local and loyal, an allegiance surely aided by his gift of a sip of couverture to every visiting child.
While I was there, a smiling woman came in and threw her arms around him — social distancing, be damned: turns out John had refused to accept payment for a big tray of chocolates she had ordered to serve at a memorial gathering for a late family member who had been one of those loyal Nutpatch customers.
Over at Daci & Daci bakers and European-style coffee house, coowner Cheryl Daci’s eyes filled with tears as she described the Easter weekend, when sales are usually so brisk that staff must refill the voluminous glass cake displays several times a day. On Easter Sunday this year, Cheryl sold just two slices of cake. The business was left with 95 per cent of its stock unsold, and coronavirus health restrictions meant it could not even be shared with Hobart’s needy. That hurt, Cheryl said.
The Dacis are now working towards opening a third store, in Sandy Bay, which like the New Town one, will rely on local custom.
As I admired the ornate cakes, I thought about how lucky we are to have sweet-treat makers of the calibre of Nutpatch and Daci & Daci on our waterfront. Their offerings would hold their own in Vienna or Antwerp.
Around the corner, I met Hobart Bike Hire owner Ian Sylvester, who rents out motorbikes, e-bikes and conventional bikes. He stocks them not because he rides them himself, but because he believes they are the ultimate environmentally sustainable form of urban transport, and he wants to help popularise them in Hobart.
That’s just a sample of the spirit I encountered on the waterfront. It couldn’t have been further from Father Barry’s line in the Marlon Brando film of the same name: “You want to know what’s wrong with our waterfront? It’s the love of a lousy buck.”
THE STAY: Somerset on the Pier, Elizabeth St Pier, Sullivans Cove.
There’s a bit of a Copenhagen vibe here by night, my companion reckons. We arrive at our serviced waterfront apartment after dark on Friday to the maritime sounds of squawking gulls, the dim tinkle of yacht rigging and merriment from diners on the pier. We drink in the sights and sound, rugged up and sitting on our narrow balcony above the Lady Nelson Tall Ship, with a glass of Tasmanian Frenchmans Cap pinot gris before dinner.
A prime Sydney-to-Hobart Yacht Race perch, the apartment’s living area is decorated with framed vintage photos of classic racing yachts.
Our snug sleeping quarters are upstairs in a loft space. Apart from the downstairs heater being a bit noisy, we have no complaints. Service is friendly and parking is free.
One-bedroom king apartments, from $175 per night; family apartments with king and two singles, or four singles, and two bathrooms, from $230 per night. https://www.somerset.com/en/australia/hobart/somerset-on-the-pier-hobart.html
DINNER PLANS: Fish Frenzy, also on Elizabeth St Pier, is a no-brainer for a takeaway seafood dinner. We keep it simple with three-mix fish and chips, $21, and six crumbed calamari rings, $9.50, to share.
ROMANCE: For date-night decadence, pick up a lovers’ box of eight chocolates, $18, from Nutpatch, including a champagne (featuring popping candy), a raspberry heart and a McHenry’s gin ball. (1 Murray St Pier; check Nutpatch Chocolates on Facebook for opening hours). At dusk ask nearby cold-climate bar and cellar door Institut Polaire (1/7 Murray St) to drop over a couple of its bottled Sud Polaire gin cocktails, $22.50 for 100ml. Or sample a half-bottle of artisan natural wine from the Domaine Simha range, $22.50. Free delivery to your apartment door.
BRUNCH: For easy takeaway breakfast, you can’t beat Daci & Daci Bakers’ Portuguese tarts and pain au chocolat. (11 Murray St; open 7am-4pm daily except Sunday). We opt for a pleasant sit-down brunch around the corner at Harbour Lights Cafe (29 Morrison St, opens 7.30am) of salmon benedict, $18, and bruschetta, $17.
ART LOVERS: At last, I have time for a leisurely visit to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and I love every minute of it. My highlights include the “We’re not going to the mainland” display, particularly the Leigh Winburn/Mercury shot of erstwhile colleague Roger Lovell’s arrest on a day off at the 1988 Salamanca protests. “It’s like The Handmaid’s Tale,” says my companion, comparing the Hobart arrests with the Atwood novel. “Authoritarian. People being arrested for things that shouldn’t be crimes.” I am pleased to finally see Extinction Studies by Luci
enne Rickard, a powerful installation by a young Tasmanian who visits the gallery five times a week to sketch an animal or plant recently declared extinct, before erasing her rendering. A TMAG staff member stops to say it’s the “most impactful work” he’s seen in his 15 years here. “Every person stops and engages with it, from little kids to grandparents,” he says.
I stand before the 1830s Benjamin Law busts of Truganini and Woureddy, and don’t even try to unknot my tangle of emotions
Book your untimed visit at tmag.tas.gov.au or pop up to discuss with door staff. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-4pm. While you need to book during COVID-19, entry remains free.
SOFT-PEDALLING: E-biking is next on the agenda. I’m already such a fan I’m considering making a purchase. We collect a pair at Hobart Bike Hire.
It’s brilliant, a real blast, and we’re back to base within the hour. Ebike hire, $50 per day. 1A Brooke St, hobartbikehire.com.au. Visit motoadventure.com.au for motorbike hire.
VINTAGE SHOPPING: It’s slightly out of the designated zone, being just off Macquarie St on Argyle St, but we can’t resist a spot of designer secondhand shopping at Goodbyes. My companion has $80 in-store credit from garments she has sold there, and she cashes in, choosing a preloved Smitten merino skirt, a cloche hat and a white cardie. 11 Argyle St, open from 10am daily. goodbyes.com.au.
TAKE A FLIGHT: Make it literal at Tasmania’s only seaplane operation by setting a date with Above and Beyond (scenic waterfront flights from $229 per passenger for 30 minutes; Franklin Wharf, above andb eyond. flights), which will soon announce a restart date. And make it metaphorical at Lark Distillery whisky bar and cellar door, where you can build your own flight of single-malts and order a cheese platter. 14 Davey St (open afternoons until 6pm, closed Sundays; larkdistillery.com.au).
ON THE WATER: Now’s your chance, Hobartians, to take a family cruise to Australia’s oldest lighthouse, the Iron Pot, with the multi-award-winning Pennicott Wilderness Journeys. $125 adults, $100 children. Dock Head Building, Franklin Wharf. Ironpotcruises.com.au The historic Lady Nelson Tall Ship is also taking limited numbers of passengers. (Elizabeth St Pier, ladynelson.org.au). Footnote: The author’s accommodation was hosted by Somerset on the Pier.