10 photos, 10,000 steps and a trip up a really big mountain. | It's time to say goodbye to Hobart.

It was cold. I was tired. I needed a sleep in. Again. So when Brad snuck out the door for his morning run, I stayed in bed and rested some more.

But I knew it was our last full day in Hobart. And I knew the weather was supposed to get less inviting as the day went on. So I bundled myself up in a lot of layers and up to Mt. Wellington (kunanyi) we went!

Far. Out. It. Was. Cold! 😰

Despite the cold I had to climb up there. Come on! There were rocks. And a thing to climb onto. And I like getting to the very top of mountains. And it wasn't really dangerous for my skill level. So... I did it. But I didn't stay there long! 🤣

That's the Trig Station from down at the carpark level with the sun behind it clouded by a lot of, well, clouds! 😆

This was the air temperature at the top of the mountain (1,271 m/ 4,170 ft) and that's without accounting for windchill. It actually felt like much closer to zero degrees (32'F/ freezing). How do I know? Well usually it's around zero that my hands are bare they start to physically hurt from the cold. 😅

Mt. Wellington is this mountain's European (and most well known) name. And kunanyi is it's Aboriginal name. I have to say I started to cry when I realised that the local government had put the Aboriginal name on all the official signs and all the road signs. It just makes me so happy when we, as an Australian community, recognise more and more of the wonder that was before we (Europeans) arrived. It just feels so right when I see Aboriginal history recognised. We need far more than this but this is a very good start.

This boardwalk extended down from the glass observation room (not included in photos but on a cloudless day would give someone the option to see amazing views while staying warmer. But because it was so cold and we couldn't see much anyway we opted to not walk down that pretty path and instead drive back down the mountain to do a walk at half the altitude (height above sea level) where we knew it would instantly be warmer!

There the main carpark is halfway up (/down) the mountain is a toilet block, a small cafe, a couple of trail heads (places where trails start) and maps. This was a particularly useful map that showed where most (if not all) the trails on kunanyi went. Some were closed but that didn't affect us as we were only after something super short and easy. Because, I was cold! And Brad was hungry!

So we took the ultra short "Lookout Loop" - that was under 1 km and well sign posted - before we popped back into the well heated car again!

Then it was time for lunch. I'd already sussed out some great options in the city, so we drove straight there. This is where we went. I'm not sure if you can see the sign of the cafe (it's a whole bank of "lotus" shops) but we were headed for Little Lotus Cafe. And the food was amazing.

For me: Okonomoyaki Corn Fritters (vegan and gluten free).
For Brad: Korean Fried "Chicken" Burger (vegan).

We both devoured our meals within minutes of them arriving. He didn't even realise he wasn't actually eating chicken until I told him afterwards. (I had no plan to 'trick' him, he just didn't realise that "chicken" meant it wasn't actually a real chicken!). He's still adjusting to this mostly-vegan-diet-thing, so he's happy when he can get meat-tasting meals and I'm happy when he's eating plants!

The final stop before we rested back in our warmer hotel room was the Nelson Signal Station. Brad had found it somewhere in his research and he wanted to check out the view. Thankfully the weather wasn't as wet as predicted and because we were at 300 something metres (instead of almost 1,000 metres higher like on kunanyi!) we were actually below the clouds again. That made for some awesome photos of the moody clouds and allowed us a view over Hobart again.

These adventures didn't get me to 10,000 steps; we needed to walk to dinner (we had vegan and mexican again - yum!) and then do a walk around Battery Point for Brad to show me the things I'd missed. I have no photos of that but I think Brad will (has?) shared them. Imagine old brick homes, narrow streets, gardens full of pretty flowers, a bay full of boats and more views between trees and, possibly, my smiling face😄

And tomorrow morning we fly out of Hobart. We'll be heading to Canberra to see some of my family and, fingers crossed, I get to see my less-than-two-month-old nephew! 🤞🎊😊