It was so
cold last night that I woke up wearing 7 layers of clothing. Surprisingly, it
turned out to be a beautiful day though. We went to the Immigration office
first thing this morning to apply for our second VISA. If it’s not approved
before the 15th, we will be granted a bridging VISA to stay legal in
the country. After paying the immigration people, we had just enough money left
to buy some coffees. 
We headed back to the Salamanca area and checked out the local shops. They sell a lot of things made from highly prized Huon Pine. We walked up “Kelly’s steps” between the old warehouses to get to Battery Point. Battery Point is a historic section of Hobart with many heritage buildings. One of the buildings we saw was a bakery called Jackman & McRoss. We didn’t know this at the time, but it is described as the best cafe experience in all of Tasmania. It had gourmet breads and pastries – so we bought one of each (a sourdough olive/rosemary loaf and a chocolate/pistachio tart with strawberries). It was such a nice day out so we went back to the waterfront and enjoyed the sunshine. We saw an octopus in the water and watched him moving around and then slowly disappear under the kelp.
Next it was off to Mt.
Wellington, which dominates the Hobart skyline. Normally its summit of 1270m is
covered in clouds, but it was really clear today, so we walked the Zig Zag
track (3.7km) to the top. We took pictures of the amazing views of Hobart along
the way. Once we got to the top, there was nothing to stop the wind, so it got
really cold. On the information boards there were pictures from the winter of a
snow covered mountain top where we were standing. This evening we drove to Mt.
Field National Park and passed many fields of hops growing (for beer). We
camped right along the Tyenna River at Land of the Giants campground. There
were a lot of fat wallabies and possums invading our space. I’m pretty sure we
scared one with our flashlight and heard it fall into the river. Side note: I found a new, creative way to keep warm. It involves boiling water in the kettle and then sticking the entire kettle under my layers of clothes, sit there, and hug it.
