The most delightful buildings for me in this little town are its little historical cottages. They come in different shapes and sizes, and some look as if it’s been little changed since the Gold Rush.
As you can probably tell, they’re pretty well maintained and some are even lived in. Although I suppose if you’re a resident you’d have to tolerate tourists like me taking snapshots of (potentially) your washing.
Lord Howe is an island, foremost, so let’s have a few more views of the water. We stayed on the western side of the island and hence got our fill of views of the Lagoon. No name, just Lagoon, since it’s the only one.
It is the most southern reef system in the world, and it is beautiful to look at and swim in whatever the weather, since there is no sewage or storm-water run-off to pollute its clean waters. The uniqueness of the marine environment obviously helped gain the island a UNESCO world heritage listing.
In the middle of the lagoon, about 700m off-shore, is Rabbit Island (officially, Blackburn Island), which produces a lovely focal point to the view. It might have been overrun with pests like rabbits in the past (hence its name), but after the big clean-up, it’s now pristine.
There are lots of snorkeling opportunities on the Lagoon, as well as lots of fishing opportunities. Hubby brought his fishing gear all the way from home and was eager to cast a line. It’s certainly a scenic place to do it.
And on the shore, there were interesting details to examine while I waited for hubby to land a catch (he did eventually, by the way).
Lord Howe Island is idyllic, but it doesn’t mean that its weather is too. Remember that it’s a tiny speck in the very big blue Pacific Ocean. Whatever weather the mainland gets, it gets too, albeit it doesn’t last too long, and it’s moderated by the ocean.
I was rather taken with the panorama of Mounts Gower and Lidgbird during my stay, so I made a habit of taking at least one photo of them per day. Turns out that it also creates a very good little chronology of the weather on the island during my stay too, and as you can see, it’s not always idyllic.
Well, it might have taken me awhile, but we’ve finally come to the final chapter of our 2019 Tasmanian trip – a short visit to Hobart. On this visit, we stayed in the historic inner city suburb of Battery Point. It is on a hill and so affords a good view of the Derwent River.
While wandering around the local park, hubby was happy to find out that it had had a famous scientific visitor in the past.
Wandering around Battery Point and its neighbouring suburb, Sandy Bay, we were happy to see a lot of colonial era houses still in good condition. Probably not surprising since they’re two of the most expensive suburbs of Hobart.
That’s all from Tasmania. But I’ve done some travelling since then, so I’ll be back with more adventures soon!
‘The Nut’ can be seen from most of Stanley.
From the road into town.
From the middle of town.
And from the beach.
But what about the view from the top? The Nut is 143m tall so it’s a bit of a hike up there. But there is a short-cut for the less fit – the chair lift.
And it’s a great view from the top.
Of the town.
The coastline.
And the port.
While strolling on the Nut or the town, keep a lookout for these guys – pademelons…
One of the loveliest things to do on an extended beach break is the meander on the beach at all hours.
There was plenty of opportunity to do that in Collingwood as the town is on a huge sand spit.
One can wander about in all directions for hours upon end, often without seeing another soul.
Once on the sand, there were plenty of things to see. I was very interested in seeing what the sand hid and then consequently revealed when the tide receded.
Our next stop was Nelson. Nelson is a small city of 53,500 at the top of the South Island. It is said to be the sunniest city in all of NZ!
It wasn’t quite sunny when we arrived. It’s certainly a very green city with the bush right behind the suburban streets.
Since the city was established back in 1841, it has a mix of modern and historical buildings in the town centre.
I liked these old weatherboard houses, very typical of New Zealand because of the availability of good building timbers in the past. Reminds me of the old Queenslanders.
The drive from Picton to Havelock via Queen Charlotte Drive isn’t for the faint hearted. It takes in a very narrow and twisty road (a Kiwi special, you might say) that passes by many a picturesque viewpoint and down into quiet little bays.
We also stopped to take a stroll in the Kiwi bush.
Eventually, we emerged from the bush to face the next sizeable town in the region, Havelock.
Much of the shopping area looked as if it was built in the 1960’s and not too interesting to look at, but just outside there were a few more vintage-y buildings.
It was much nicer closer to the water at the Memorial Park.
Everyone was enjoying the sunshine.
Hobart is a nice, sleepy place, with lots of 19th Century sandstone buildings, like this hotel in the CBD.
Its population perhaps tends to be a little eccentric than most. Look what we found in the phone booth!
Static and Silence 