I'd the morning available for more exploration but in the afternoon I'd start my long journey home. I started with a walk around the docks near my hotel, looking at the almost-complete MACq 01 Hotel. Needless to say, the odd name irritated me. With a mixture of upper case, lower case and numerals it looked more like a strong computer password than the name of a hotel. I correctly guessed that it was derived from 'Macquarie' but it took a little hunting to find the derivation. The area was formerly part of Macquarie Wharf and the hotel, developed by family-owned Federal Group (which also owns the Henry Jones Art Hotel) is located on the site of Transit Shed 1.
Around Hobart: The MACq 01 Hotel nears completion.
Nearby, I looked at the converted Macquarie Wharf Number 2 Shed, now a "marquee cruise port and gateway for shipping to Antarctic" according to the Tasports site here.
Around Hobart: Tasports Cruise Terminal
No cruise ship was docked but I did see HMAS 'Darwin', which I knew from the newspaper was on a farewell visit to Hobart prior to de-commissioning in Sydney. There was a report on the internet here and a Wikepedia article on this American-built guided missile frigate here.
Around Hobart: HMAS 'Darwin'.
Having looked at the imprisonment of men in Tasmania the previous day, I decided to look at the Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart, just a ten-minute taxi ride from my hotel. This is also a World Heritage Site.
Despite the innocuous-sounding name, this was the female prison - the term 'Factory' refers to the laundry work carried out by the inmates. Apart from the Matron's House, not much of the site remains other than external walls but the earlier ground plan has been marked out meticulously with low 'walls', actually metal baskets filled with coloured stone chippings called 'gabions'. It was more like visiting an archaeological site, indeed, digging is still going on to reveal more of the site's history.
Cascades Female Factory, Hobart:
With limited time at my disposal, I elected for the 'self-guided tour' rather than a conducted tour. To help bring the tragic stories of specific prisoners to life, they also use re-enactors on some tours. The 'Matron's Quarters' are open to visitors and a project under way is restoring the appearance to that in the 1850s.
Cascades Female Factory, Hobart: Present appearance of 'Matron's Quarters' building.
To see a little more of the city, I decided to walk back to my hotel, a journey of perhaps 4 km. A stream, called Hobart Rivulet, passes the Cascades Female Factory and flows towards the centre of Hobart. Part of this has been arranged as an attractive 'Linear Park', used by dog-walkers and cyclists.
Around Hobart: Hobart Rivulet Linear Park.
This gave me an interesting walk which I concluded by rejoining the public roads and walking through Salamanca Market back to the harbour. The market seemed to be mainly craft items and artisan foods.
Around Hobart: Salamanca Market.
On arrival back at my hotel, I found Jill Ford waiting for me. Nancy, whom I'd met two days earlier, had given Jill my details since both of them have associations with Burma and Jill, with some ingenuity, had tracked me down. Jill offered to take me to see one of Hobart's viewpoints, Mount Nelson Signal Station. Commissioned in 1811, flag sinalling was in use until 1831 then the semaphore telegraph was in use here until late in the 19th century. The area is now managed by the Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service and there's a little more on the signal station history here.
Mount Nelson Signal Station, Hobart: Lookout House, dating from 1910.
We shared a very pleasant, unexpected interlude and enjoyed hot chocolate and cream cakes at the Signal Station Brasserie housed in the former Signalman's house before Jill returned me to the hotel.
My booked car to the airport arrived early, so Jill and I said our "Good-byes" and I was whisked back to the airport after a very interesting, if brief, visit to Tasmania. Check-in, by a friendly human being, was quick and I discovered that the facilities were more spacious than I'd realised on my arrival.
Hobart Airport Departures Hall.
I'd made sure I had a window seat on the Boeing 719 to Sydney.
Leaving Tasmania.
At Sydney, I made it through the security checks and the obstacle course of Duty Free without getting too exasperated.
Transiting Sydney: The obstacle course of Duty Free.
I boarded a huge Airbus A380 at Sydney for the flight to Dubai where I had a final transit to a flight to Birmingham. Leaving Dubai, I managed to take the picture below which shows the elevated Dubai Metro snaking across the city.
Leaving Dubai for Birmingham: view showing the overhead Metro System.
My plane arrived at Birmingham on time on Sunday morning and a car took me, tired but happy, back home after amazing experiences in Myanmar and Australia..
Related Posts on this Website
All Burma-2017 Trip posts.
All Australia-2017 posts.
My photograph albums
Where necessary, clicking on an image above will display an 'uncropped' view or, alternately, pictures from may be selected, viewed or downloaded, in various sizes, from the albums listed:-
Cascades Female Factory, Hobart.
Hobart, Tasmania.
Mount Nelson Signal Station, Hobart.
The Henry Jones Art Hotel, Hobart.
Hobart Airport and its aircraft.
Sydney Airport.
Dubai Airport, U.A.E..
[Text added, links to pictures added 18-Aug-2017: Text amended, pictures added 14-Sep-2017]
