With 247,000 people, Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania is a bustling port city in the southeast part of the Island of Tasmania.

When the sun came up this morning, with Steve still sidelined with a nasty virus that won’t let go, I was left to my own devises. So, I went off in search of breakfast and a day of solo exploring of our host city for the next several days. After several false leads by my ‘frenemy’ Google-Search, I happened upon an Italian restaurant called “Tesoro.” What a great find! I had the most delicious meal, with great customer service and great coffee, as well. I knew then that I would have a good day. From there I headed toward the harbor for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

The Museum and Art Gallery occupy an entire block, including the 1810 Commissariat Store which houses a touching historical exhibit on the arrival of the first Europeans and how they were viewed by the Aboriginal people whose ancestors had lived in peace and harmony on the island for thousands of years. While they were prolific builders of bark canoes, they saw the Dutch ships as floating islands with tall trees on them that seemed to be coming nearer to them. The later violent history of the treatment of the natural owners of the Island is well known. The story of both sides is told with compassion and truth.

Homes of the Aboriginal peoples, pre-European arrival; and beautiful shell necklaces crafted by the Aboriginal artisans.

Tools used by the Aboriginals that met their needs. And this beautiful diptych painting titled “Stolen Journey.” It was a difficult, but worthwhile visit to this lovely museum.

My next stop was just across the street to Hobart’s deep-water harbor.

Mountains in the distance, plenty of room for pleasure boats and cruise ships. There are luxury flats and restaurants and shops, as well as historic sculptures like this one titled “Heading South” to honor Hobart’s connection with fishing the southern seas and the exploration of Antarctica.

My last two stops of the day, as you might guess were…wait for it…cathedrals. My first stop, taking longer than it should have to reach, thanks again, Google, was Saint David’s Anglican Cathedral. Its cornerstone was placed in 1892. It sits on a bustling corner of the city, open for the public to come in to pray or just to admire its beauty. I did a bit of both. I was alone in this lovely building and enjoyed the quiet of the day and the chance to think about how blessed I am to be on this incredible journey at this point in my life.

Since I had been to one side, I figured that I really ought to make the 15-minute walk over to the other side, just in case dad and my godmother Aunt Mary were watching from way upstairs.

As, you can see, Saint Mary’s Cathedral looked very nice from outside, well-tended, with a good Aussie Garden outside. So, I strode proudly up to those beautiful brown doors, and they were locked tight. Not one to give up that easily at the house of our Lord, I went around to the to the side where I found an open door. This took me into a vestibule with glass doors leading to the church. I took hold of the handle and found that it was locked. I guess the church must have had some theft issues or something but at least I was able to get a few pictures through the glass panels in the doors as I sang a farcical version of the refrain from a hymn, we used to sing at a church I spent many years attending before its clergy decided we were too far on the progressive end of the spectrum of Catholicism for them. The hymn “All are Welcome Here” was jokingly changed to “You’re Not Welcome Here” to keep us laughing during our darker moments when we didn’t quite know where our spiritual journey would take us next. But I digress. Here are the pictures I was able to take.

The stained-glass windows look nice. I like the reflection of the Madonna and Child in the second one, you will see where it comes from in the next ones Sorry you can’t see the altar better.

There they are in this lovely little window above the locked doors I first tried. Through another glass window to the side, is the baptismal font. Again, kudos to the bishop for having it at the back of the church (as I noted in an earlier blog about Sydney) so that the newly baptized is welcomed into the community, as the process now calls for. Finally, I did get a picture of this statue on the lawn, another rendering of the Madonna and Child, different and rather touching.

So ended my first day in Hobart. Hope you found it interesting.

Our last day in Australia’s capital was a cool and cloudy one. Steve’s cold was not improving but he was game for going on the late morning boat excursion around Canberra’s artificial lake, Lake Burley Griffin. The one-hour cruise was on an electric powered boat skippered by a tall lean gentleman of indeterminate years with a wry sense of humor and an incredibly detailed knowledge of Canberra’s history and that of Austalia.

As we circled the lake, he had a story about every building, every object, every politician and citizen who had played a role in making that object or piece of land important to the city’s history. The greyness of the day made it difficult to take memorable pictures, but I will share the one below if the Carillion.

To those, like me, who spent much of their lives in the environs of Washington, DC, the word ‘Carillion’ probably brings to mind the Netherlands Carillion in the Roslyn section of Arlington, Virginia. I first saw it on a visit to the nation’s capital with my parents as a boy and loved the music its bells produced. The Canberra Carillion has fallen on troubled times. Two new bells were added to it and these seemed to have somehow thrown off its musical balance. Then during Covid, one of its elderly players lost her life to the virus. There were only two expert players in the area. Now a talented young musician has been found but his studies do not allow him to be available. Sadly, very few young musicians have the skill to make these complicated instruments ‘sing.’

Today we bade farewell to our luxury digs in Canberra and headed for its clean, modern airport for our flight to Tasmania. But I must not leave Canberra without expressing a few thoughts on this very unusual capital city. I often thought of Columbia, Maryland when I walked around Canberra’s broad and leafy streets. The quiet was almost eerie when compared with the hustle and bustle of Washington, Paris, or London. But I was also dismayed when I thought of how well a new city can be planned and constructed when I compared it to the unfortunate results of the “edge cities” that grew up around Washington, DC during the time I called that remarkable region my home. One needs only look at Crystal City, Pentagon City, Tysons Corner. in Virginia. Even consider the “redevelopment” of Bethesda, Maryland, and the traffic mess of its northern neighbors. How did they get things so wrong? Sure, Canberra may seem quiet and perhaps, a bit sterile compared to some other capitals, but it’s new capitol has only been open for 35 years. Give it time, I tell myself. Its people are filled with Australian charm and good-will and I suspect that it will continue to grow and become a bigger and better city as time goes by.

And now, on to new adventures. We were surprised by the smaller scale of Hobart’s airport, upon our arrival. It reminded me of regional airports in the US in days gone by. The drive from the airport though had WOW around every corner. The countryside of Tasmania is breathtaking, and I hope I get to enjoy some of it during our time here. Our digs here are, to say the least, interesting. We share an entrance with the Chinese restaurant two floors down but have our own hallway (shared with the other flats) and a modern looking, if not sounding, elevator. The neighborhood is ‘interesting.’ But I am going to give it a chance. More to come, I hope.

We started Saturday with a pleasant walk across the street and through a lovely park. We were surprised to see the imposing marble stairs leading to the stunning Australian Parliament building. So, we were, in a sense, relieved to see a sign pointing to the right stating “public entrance .6 km.” As the temperature was nowhere near the 159 degrees it reached that afternoon (slight exaggeration), we were happy to make the walk that let us appreciate the building’s architecture and landscaping.

I hope you can get an idea from the picture of the beauty and proportions of this lovely building. It was built to replace the Old Parliament House that stands across Capital Hill Circle from it and was used from 1927 until this building was opened on May 9, 1988, by Queen Elizabeth II who was also Queen of Australia and its Head of State. It’s Italian American designers and architects from Mitchell,/Giurgola & Thorpe in New York designed it to tit on the southern apex of the Parliamentary Triangle atop Capital Hill, at the meeting point of Commonwealth, Adelaide, Canberra, and Kings Avenues, enclosed by State Circle. I should note that, being the complete political geek that I am, simply walking into the House of Commons Chamber in this building gave me goose bumps. I simply loved the “feel” of the place.

The House of Commons. We can see many elements taken from the British House, including a lighter green color for the benches, the Speaker’s chair, the arrangement of the majority, opposition and other parties and independents. Note the three flags, representing Australia, the Aboriginal people of the mainland and the Island people who are distinct from the Aboriginals.

The Senate Chambers (the Upper House). Again, much taken from the traditions of the House of Lords. You will note the chair below the stylized Coat of Arms is for the Sovereign and to the Sovereign’s left, their spouse. Normally, the Governor General would represent the Sovereign if the Sovereign were not present.

The first picture is a view toward the mountains and Old Parliament House from the roof of Parliament House. The second is the flag I showed in an earlier blog, this time from the roof. Finally, for my friends Steve and Sally in Alexandria and their son Wolfman Dan and his wonderful partner Kristen, a Lego model of Parliament House. Dan was a champion Lego builder in his youth.

As the day heated up, Steve and I headed across the elegant expanse of land between the Parliament House and it’s predecessor and found that we had missed out on a protest of some kind earlier in the morning.

We had not planned to take another tour of another House of Parliament, but rather a quick view of the old building that we understood to be some kind of museum. But upon entering we were greeted by a staff member who asked us if we would like to join a tour that had just started and before we knew it, we were in the former office of the Prime Minister.

The Commons and Senate Chambers in Old Parliament House. (The Senate Chambers had been damaged in a fire and were closed so th picture was taken from their website.)

It was an interesting tour. The building was large, but the offices were small and had an old feel to them. They were decorated in period style for various eras that the building had been in use. One interesting historical film shown was footage that the Prime Minister during World War II, Robert Menzies, took during a visit to the UK. It showed the UK, during the Blitz and it was in color.

The temperature had not quite reached egg frying on the sidewalk stage when we agreed to walk from the Old Parliament House to the National Gallery of Australia.

There was plenty of Aboriginal art to be seen in the gallery. I will highlight a few of my favorites and show some others.

Above are five pieces of Aboriginal art from the NGA collection. I find each of them beautiful and exciting in that they tell a story easily understood by some but needing interpretation by those who do not understand their tradition and culture.

Tim Johnson, born Gadigal Nura, calls this work “Western Desert.” In size, scope, and color, it reminds me, a bit of Jackson Pollock’s ‘Summertime.’

At the end of the day, as the gallery was closing, we had to decide whether to make the half hour walk home or call a taxi or Uber. For Steve, being fitter and 3 years younger, walking is always the preference if I don’t suggest otherwise and so began “March or Die.” Neither of us realized just how hot it was or how humid. This was very possibly the most miserable 30 minutes of my trip, I joked that I thought Steve had decided to kill me. But we made it home and after a bit of cooling off, I am here to tell the tale that I am just a big wuss.

After the death march, though, we opted for a quieter Sunday (remember we are a day ahead of you folks, so it was not “Super Sunday” for us. We started with a late morning trip to the Old Bus Depot Market, very reminscent of many of the London markets I love to visit.

As we walked in the door, we spotted a particularly friendly vendor whose wares caught our attention. The result was the purchase seen below.

Our next stop was the neighborhood of the Australian National University where we had a nice lunch. We then walked over to the campus to find it devoid of human life since classes were not in session!

I did notice this interesting piece of sculpture out front.

In keeping with our “make it an easy day” theme, we Ubered to a huge shopping mall, Canberra Center that seemed to sell everything imaginable and even included two supermarkets. It was air conditioned and full of shoppers. I have to admit we had a pleasant hour or so walking the mall and window shopping. We stopped for a coffee in a very airy second level shop and enjoyed the people watching before returning home in the late afternoon, recharged and looking forward to our last full day in Canberra.

We took the train from Sydney to Canberra, but an early check out time, meant we had a bit of a wait at the Central Train Station in Sydney. It has a lovely cafe called ‘Eternity.’ That is where we chose to wait. We found a table next to three lovely Australian

ladies of a certain age who were finishing their meal and returned my greeting with big smiles and “hellos.” One only can wonder where this encounter might have led if two footloose and fancy-free American gentlemen had arrived 20 minutes earlier. My college pal Duke always said I had a way with the older ladies. Now that I am an older man (scratch the ‘er’) he might be right.

The train was well-appointed, even in the economy section where we had assigned seats in the first row that allowed us access to a small moveable table. There was a cafe care ahead of us just in front of the sold-out first-class car for our four-hour journey. There was a young woman sitting across the aisle from us with a lady who she just me and for four hours she told this very kind woman the story of her life. It was quite a tale, and I was amazed at how patient her new friend was at listening and getting a few words in every once in a while.

Once outside Sydney, the countryside was beautiful. These few shots out the train windows do not do it justice.

Our journey ended in the late afternoon and a cab rid took us to a rather lovely condominium apartment within walking distance of Australia’s Parliament building. Below is a picture of the spire of the building taken from our living room.

Wikipedia describes Canberra this way:  On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies of Australia was achieved. Following a long dispute over whether Sydney or Melbourne should be the national capital,^[14] a compromise was reached: the new capital would be built in New South Wales, so long as it was at least 100 mi (160 km) from Sydney. The capital city was founded and formally named as Canberra in 1913. A blueprint by American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected after an international design contest, and construction commenced in 1913.^[15] Unusual among Australian cities, it is an entirely planned city. The Griffins’ plan featured geometric motifs and was centred on axes aligned with significant topographical landmarks such as Black Mountain, Mount Ainslie, Capital Hill and City Hill. Canberra’s mountainous location makes it the only mainland Australian city where snow-capped mountains can be seen in winter; although snow in the city itself is uncommon. This is me again. The city does have a very modern feel to it. The streets are wide and there is a lot of green space. Its population of about half a million makes it seem both extremely livable and very quiet at most times, except as we found, when there are protests going on near Parliament.

On our first evening, Steve and I took a walk to the National Australian Press Club and saw a delightful Jazz Duo perform. The press club had an excellent 18-year-old Lagavulin and a nice food menu.

We ended the night with a walk to a supermarket to stock up on some basics and luckily found a cab to take us back home for a good night’s sleep. I was going to need it for the next day’s adventures.