Hiking in Tasmania, with a chill wind in Hobart

After the tropical temperatures of Cairns and Cape Tribulation Tasmania was a shock to the system especially as I'd become acclimatised to temperatures in the high 20's celsius and Hobart only reached 10C in the day with a chill wind from the Roaring Forties. Hobart itself reminded me of England (especially Lincolnshire) on a cold,windy and wet February day with a relentless north easterly wind blowing across the flatlands. Altogether I spent 10 days in Tasmania, 5 of those days (3 and 2 respectively) in Hobart itself, and both of these short periods were marked by successful opportunities to ring bells. I was able to join the ringers for 2 Sundays of ringing, at both churches and also attended a practice night. The ringers were very welcoming and after Sunday ringing would always move on to the local coffee shop. After ringing at Holy Trinity (now a Greek Orthodox church) we were invited to join the congregation in refreshments that included much drinking of Greek coffee and a few slices of freshly baked and delicious chocolate cake. The other noteworthy activities in Hobart was a visit to the Cascade Brewery, which after a serious sampling session with a fellow guest of YHA, decided it was a pretty good beer, even if a tad cold! The town also had a fine arts cinema, (serving great coffee and cakes) where I found time to see Pete Postlethwaite in a post apocalyptic film on climate change.
Hiking in Tasmania was hosted by Tony, a 'tramper' I met in New Zealand who had a thorough knowledge of all the accessible walks in Tasmania, though I was disappointed in being unable to meet with Jean, a GP I met in NZ as she was out of the state on 10 days of my Tasmania stay but we are maintaining contact by email and may meet in England.
Nevertheless I spent 2 separate days hiking both on the Tasman Peninsula and near the west coast of the country visiting the Gordon Dam followed by shorter walks to 2 waterfalls , the Russell and the Horseshoe Falls in National Park , stopping on the way to view Lake Pedder. The peninsula hike was a worthwhile 11km hike to Cape Raoul with its amazing red dolomite volcanic rock formations and even the weather held without the downpours that were very much a feature of Tasmania at the time of year.
The most memorable area for hiking was on the Freysinet Peninsula where we spent 3 days, with 2 nights in the YHA 'hut', very reminiscent of tramping huts in NZ, ie basic but clean and dry. The weather held being sunny and warm with little wind, so we were able to complete a 11km hike on the Hazard Bay and Wineglass Bay Circuit Track as well as an unsuccessful attempt at the Mount Amos hike (too steep with slippery rock faces). The third day was spent travelling back to Hobart and stopping off at Sleepy Bay and Cape Tourville and having one of the best fish and chip lunches in Swansea (!) since I left the UK.
I flew back to Brisbane on the 1st September and took the train up to Yandina where I was able to relax and warm up for a week by walking, playing table tennis in the garden, and helping Lesley with some gardening before setting off again to fly to Alice Springs (on the 9th September)and hopefully some guided bush walking in the desert.

Photo 1. View of Hobart from the viewpoint on Mount Nelson.
Photo 2. The Antarctic explorer ships in Hobart harbour.
Photo 3. The coastline of the Tasman Peninsula.
Photo 4. The rock formations of Cape Raoul.
Photo 5. St Davids Cathedral tower, Hobart. (12 bells)
Photo 6. Daffodils in Hobart Botanical Gardens.
Photo 7. Russell Falls in National Park.
Photo 8. Horseshoe Falls in National Park.
Photo 9. Rainbow over Lake Pedder.
Photo 10. The Gordon Dam. Apparently one of the highest dams in the world, and its waters provide a large chunk of the hydro-electric power of Tasmania.
Photo 11. Wineglass Bay
Photo 12. Mount Amos.
Photo 13. Coles Bay viewed from the Hazard Bay/Wineglass bay circuit walk.
Photo 14. The YHA hut on the Freycinet Peninsula.
Photo 15. Coles Bay viewed from the garden of the YHA.
Photo 16. The bar at the Cascade Brewery.
Photo 17. The ringing chamber at Holy Trinity Church, Hobart.
Photo 18. Holy Trinity Church (8bells)