With beautiful landscapes, and sanctuaries with local wildlife, it is surprising more people don’t add Tasmania to their travel plans when visiting Australia. Our ship arrived early in the morning into the beautiful Hobart Harbour. Hobart is considered an Antarctic gateway city with many expeditions leaving from the Harbour as well as a popular cruise ship destination during the Southern Hemisphere summer months. We ran into unusually high temperatures for Tasmania, which broke my heart a bit as I am someone who loves the cold weather!
Our group opted to book a tour through the ship to see a small city just outside of Hobart called Richmond. Richmond is a cute town with a small Main Street lined with candy shops, antiques, and crafts. The city has beautiful churches, and this beauty of a bridge in the hub of town.
After about an hour exploring the shops, our tour took us to our reason for booking our tour. Bonorong Animal Sanctuary.
Bonorong specializes in wildlife that is local to Tasmania. They have an array of animals such as native birds, Emus, the notorious Tasmanian Devil, and even a few remaining Koalas from a previous sanctuary that Bonorong took over. While Koalas are native to Australia, Tasmania is not one of the places in Australia that they are found.
Tasmanian Devil lounging around.
But one of the most popular residents of Bonorong, are the resident Kangaroo group (known as a mob, or troop) of about 90 Kangaroos who enjoy meeting tourists and getting fed all day long!
After spending time making friends with the cool Kangaroos of Bonorong, our tour came to an end. We decided to walk along the waterfront before joining the ships. There are a lot of great seafood spots all along the water as well as some small bookstores and souvenirs shops. We settled on a cool Restaurant called Jack Greene. The walls were lined with books, the light fixtures made of rulers, and the food was spectacular. If you are looking for good food, fun atmosphere, and a nice drink (great variety of beers and ciders), I highly recommend a stop in!
Our day in Hobart was fun and relaxing. If you like animals,and seaside towns, Hobart should absolutely be added to your travel list! One day, I’ll return as a stop on my way to the Antarctic (a HUGE bucket list item!). But until then, I’ll take the memories of an amazing day out with some of the best friends a girl could ask for in a cool city (as well as memories of my new Kangeroo friends at Bonorong!).
Up next, my favorite part of our Tasmania experience, Port Arthur Historic Site! Stay tuned!