Tuesday December 13, 2.3km/1.4mi

Fish River Carpark (0.0/690m) to Trappers Hut (2.3/1060m) (TAS)

It was a 4 hour drive to the trailhead, mostly heading north, and then a little west. I had heard from a few locals that the best place to see a platypus was in a small creek behind the Mole Creek Hotel & bar. Mole Creek isn’t convenient to get to, but it was actually on my way to Walls of Jerusalem National Park! After 3 hours of driving, I stopped in for an early dinner.
Their kitchen didn’t open until 5pm, so I killed time looking for a platypus in the creek. I spent 30 minutes looking, but I only found a confused bird, who was squawking at a rock. No platypuses (platypii?), darn.

Dinner was a delicious pulled pork sandwich and chips, and I was thoroughly entertained by the bartender who was explaining all the different Australian words for beer and drinking culture. I drove the last hour to the trailhead, which had a fancy little shed for the trail sign-in register.

I could easily do this loop hike in just 2 days, but I wanted to hike a little and didn’t feel like camping at the carpark. The trail climbed steadily for 2km, thru a tall forest.

After 45 minutes, I reached a clear area near Trappers Hut, an old disused shelter. I was in my sleeping bag within 20 minutes, since I didn’t have any cooking/cleaning chores to do, and because it was a cold 6C outside.

Monday December 12, 0km/0mi

Hobart (10m) (TAS)

I had booked a room at the Central Hotel for 2 nights, so I didn’t have to go anywhere today. It was great! It’s on Collins Street, one of the main routes in Hobart’s CBD, so I didn’t have to walk far to anything. Including donuts! I tried “Circle of Life” which had all sorts of crazy flavors. I got a standard cinnamon donut and a timtam crumb donut, and my blood sugar rose in anticipation.

I went back to the hotel room and checked out the local TV channels.
There was a reality show about duplicating a popular Australian candy called Snakes Alive, and a backyard barbecue version of Top Chef, haha. I tried something new for lunch, Malaysian food. I noticed that Australia generally has many options for southeast Asia cuisine, something generally lacking in the US.

On the walk back, I thought my feet felt cold. Upon closer inspection, my shoes were falling apart! It wasn’t surprising, since I usually get 100km/650mi out of a pair of shoes, and it has been almost 1500km. C’mon shoes, just one more week to go!

I did some makeshift repairs with a sewing kit from the hotel reception desk, and a 2-part epoxy I bought at a hardware store. Tomorrow morning I will head to wherever the weather looks driest – which is currently the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. Weather is Tasmania is so wet and chilly!

Sunday December 11, 6.2km/3.9mi

Twilight Tarn Campsite (21.7/990m) to Lake Dobson Carpark (27.9/1030m) (TAS)

I had a great night of sleep at my little camp spot. As I hiked out at 7:30am, I could hear the other campers complaining about mice, a good reason to avoid the old huts! The track was very nice, with lots of bridges and boardwalks across the wet spots.

Despite the afternoon forecast for heavy rain, the morning was delightfully sunny.

It was a short walk to complete the Tarn Shelf Loop, only two hours back to my car. As I got closer to the trailhead, I kept seeing Pademelons hop away as I approached. Finally I was able to get a photo of one, when it stood still for a few seconds. I think this one also had a baby in her pouch (they are marsupials).

Yesterday was all in the alpine, but today was at lower elevations and everything was so green!

When I got back to Lake Dobson, I knew I was basically finished.

I was back at the car at 9:30am, and drove the 30 minutes back to the Park visitor center. There was a gift shop, cafe, ranger station, and a few short dayhikes to waterfalls. I hiked the 15 minutes to Russell Falls, and it was cool seeing so many people out enjoying the morning in the park. At an elevation of only 160m/525ft, the valley felt like a tropical forest.

Russell Falls is the lower of the 2 waterfalls, and much taller.

I hiked 10 minutes up to Horseshoe Falls, which was up a few hundred stairs. It reminded me of the little waterfalls along the PCT in Washington.

On the hike down from Horseshoe Falls, I realized that all the tourists from the lower falls were slowly making their way up here too. It’s so different from US tourists, who are less likely to do “extra” hiking or climb lots of stairs. Cool. Back at the car, I decided to drive across the street to a picnic area by the Tyenna River, to see a platypus. No luck, but I’ll get to see one eventually! I drove the 90 minutes to Hobart, where I have a cheap hotel room booked. It’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so I’ll get a shower and laundry done, and regroup before my final week in Tasmania. At the Woolworths (grocery store), I was happily surprised to see ice cream sold in slices. Perfect appetizer before dinner!

It felt great to be clean again, and I spent the evening planning my few remaining hikes. Hopefully I can avoid most of the forecasted wet weather.

Saturday December 10, 21.7km/13.5mi

Lake Dobson Carpark (0.0/1030m) to Twilight Tarn Campsite (21.7/990m) (TAS)

I left the campground at 7:30am and stopped by the visitor center to use the wifi, as I had some tasks to complete to return to work next month. After that, I drove the 30 minutes to the Lake Dobson trailhead, where there was only one other car in the parking lot. I chatted with them briefly, they are hiking Mt Field West too.

This is a popular area, and deservedly so, there were so many views of lakes!

Pranksters like to mess with park signs, it seems.

I climbed up for 30 minutes, and there was a lookout with views north over Seal Lake.

These alpine areas are often marshy, so I appreciated the extensive boardwalks to keep my feet dry and protect the plants.

Even the trail junctions were boardwalks, ha!

The hike I am doing combines the Tarn Shelf Loop with an out&back to Mt. Field West. Once I departed the loop and started towards Mt Field, the trail because noticably more rugged and rocky.

There was a little bit of talus -hopping.

And then maximum talus-hopping, with cairns and orange poles to mark the way.

When I came over the ridge, I could see that the clouds were lifting, but were still shrouding the summits a tiny bit. Mt Naturalist was hiding.

The rest of the ridge had this unique mixture of clouds and sunny spots.

As I descended into the col, I could see the Peterson memorial hut up ahead, past the lush green meadows.

A trail junction to “The Watcher”, sounds creepy.

It’s an old A-frame hut, designated as emergency shelter only, no camping inside.

I took a snack break inside and signed the trail register book.

I looked at the map, and saw that it had taken me an hour to go only 3km from the trail junction, because of all the talus. It was another hour to the summit, so I finished eating and hiked on.

Some of the tiny ponds were very still, and kinda looked like infinity pools.

Mt Naturalist is the first summit on the ridge, and Mt Field West is behind it.

There was very little elevation gain on the ridge, it was mostly just rock-hopping and wet marshy walking.

Mt. Field West is 1440m/4725ft high, the highest peak in the National Park. Views in all directions!

Another group was at the summit the same time as me, and we swapped photos. They were doing “the Abels”, a peakbagging list with all the summits in Tasmania higher than 1100m, I think it’s like 155 mountains.

View to the south:

As I hiked back to the hut for lunch, I noticed that several groups had setup their tents *right next to* this beautiful little alpine tarn.

This is why we can’t have nice things. Apparently that is allowed here, but obviously it’s terrible for that environment. Back at the hut, I caught up to the couple from the summit and had lunch together. The rest of the hike back to the main Tarn Shelf Loop was uneventful. Back at the trail junction, Lake Seal and Platypus Tarn were now more clearly visible without the low clouds.

The loop trail is built for heavy use from dayhikers, as I saw plenty of people on the heavily boardwalked trail. There was even an interpretive hut!

The loop trail gets its name from Tarn Shelf, where there are 7 tarns (mountain lakes formed in glacial cirques) in a short distance. Robert Tarn, and Mackenzie Tarn:

Johnston Tarn:

A cool delicately balanced boulder by the tarn.

I liked the little stone pathways thru the water.

I made good time on the boardwalk sections, and because it was later in the day, I had this section all to myself.

Twisted Tarn was oddly named, all the others were named for colonialists.

When I got to the turnoff for Twilight Tarn, I knew I was almost home for the night.

Twilight Tarn:

There was another old hut at Twilight Tarn, which is another historic structure, I don’t think sleeping inside would be allowed or even a good idea.

There were 2 other people camped at Twilight Tarn, I talked to the two women for awhile and they were full of good advice for other hikes to do in Tasmania. I set up my tent nearby on a hill, under some trees.

Tomorrow will be an easy 2 hour hike to complete the loop, hopefully the rain holds off until the afternoon!

Friday December 9, 17.5 km/10.9mi

Junction Creek Campsite (9.3/230m) to Top of Alpha Moraine (13.4/980m) to Scotts Peak Dam Trailhead (0.0/270m) (TAS)

It had rained overnight, so I packed up a wet tent at 7am, hoping to dry it later. I snuck by the group of 7, who were still sleeping. I took the right turn at the junction, to hike the loop counterclockwise. The weather still wasn’t looking great.

I hiked toward Alpha moraine, which the trail uses to climb up onto the ridge of the Western Arthurs. I was already wet from hiking thru an overgrown brushy trail (carwash!), and I kept moving to stay warm.

The clouds weren’t lifting, and in fact it started to rain again.

There was a moment that I thought the sunshine might break out, but that brief hole in the clouds was quickly covered by the incoming clouds.

As I climbed up to the top of Alpha moraine, the temperature expectedly got colder. I had climbed up 600m/2000ft, and it was now just above freezing. Rain at these temperatures, with no place to hide from the wind, is hypothermia conditions.

Unless the rain stopped soon, I would have to turn around. It wasn’t supposed to rain today! I took out my InReach and downloaded an updated forecast, which showed rain all day today, and Sunday too. So my 3-day clear weather window was now only clear Saturday/tomorrow. Yikes. Time to leave. I hiked the 2 hours back to Junction Creek, and then another 2.5 hours back to the car. It was still a muddy trail, but now it was slippery too. I was happy to get back to the car at 3pm and sit with the heat on.
I drove towards town, and passed Scotts Peak Dam along the way, so I had a visit.

Behind the dam is Lake Pedder, part of Tasmania’s hydropower system.

I continued driving, and it was still raining. After 45 minutes on a gravel road, and another 45 on pavement, I pulled into a campground for the night. After dinner that night, I figured out my plans for the next hike. I’m near Mt Field, so I’ll hike that 2-day loop tomorrow and Sunday. After Sunday, the forecast shows rain for 5 days, and snow up in the higher elevations. Sheesh. Where is summer?!

Thursday December 8, 9.3km/5.8mi

Scotts Peak Dam Trailhead (0.0/270m) to Junction Creek Campsite (9.3/230m) (TAS)

It was very windy at the campsite last night, so about 1am I moved into the car. With all the sleep interruptions, I woke up late at 8am. I was planning on starting a Mt Field loop today, which meant a short day, so I watched some TV episodes while lounging in the cozy car. Around 10:30am I packed up and checked the weather forecast one last time. It looked like it had improved, the next 3 days were now mostly dry! Hmm… change of plans. The Western Arthur Traverse requires a window of clear weather for the high, exposed 30km traverse. I decided to go for it, and re-packed my food for a 5-day hike. I stopped at a nearby “roadhouse” (convenience store) for a chicken burger and fries, and then drove the 2 hours to the trailhead. I arrived to Scott’s Peak Dam Trailhead at 3:30pm, and saw one other group there. They were a huge group of 7, so I expected to catch them easily later today. By the time I did some final packing, filled my water, and double-checked my maps and itinerary, it was 4pm.

I signed the trail register, and off I went!

The trail started off very nice, at first in a dense dark forest.

Eventually it emerged into the buttongrass plains, which are the dominant terrain type around here. The pattern of dark clouds and blue sky was captivating, but also confusing.

After a couple kilometers, I could see the mountains I will be traversing (from right to left) for the next few days.

About an hour into the hike, I was surprised to see this warning sign. “If you are not prepared for X, Y, Z….Turn around here!”

The Western Arthurs were coming into view!

The trail then became rather muddy, so I switched to my waterproof socks so I could keep my feet dry. The trail also became slightly overgrown.

This stream crossing amused me. They hauled lumber out here, but instead of building a bridge, they built…stairs down into the stream.

It was at least half a meter deep, so I found a way to cross on some nearby fallen trees that bridged most of the stream. I arrived to the Junction Creek Campsite a few minutes later, and found the large group had spread out their 3 massive tents over the primary camping area. I found a nice cozy spot in the trees like 50m away, perfect. This trail has 8 designated campsites, and most have a toilet and wooden tent platforms. The toilets are just a raised cylinder seat on a storage tank. Haha!

It started to sprinkle, so I made dinner in my tent vestibule under my umbrella. It’s a nice setup that keeps moisture out of the tent and still blocks the rain and wind from the stove. I crawled into bed before 9pm, excited to catch up on sleep tonight!

Wednesday December 7, 21.0km/13.1mi

Lake Tahune Hut (24.7/970m) to Frenchmans Cap Carpark (45.7/390m) (TAS)

The group of 5 was still sleeping when I had packed up and left the hut at 7:15am. Hiking along the ridge today felt much different, with a very low cloud ceiling.

All the rocks and roots were just slightly slippery from the condensation and fog, I took my time. The occasional boardwalk helped.

I was exactly at the height of the cloud bottom, so it was a really unique perspective.

The view from Barron Pass felt more cozy than yesterday, ha!

I duplicated the photo I took yesterday of the lakes, to compare the two days. Still nice, but the lakes didn’t have a blue reflection today.

The morning was pretty uneventful, and eventually I descended back into the forest.

I knew I was getting very close to the car when I saw the set of stairs that led to the Franklin River swingbridge.

I got back to the car at 1:30pm, and drove to the cafe that I had seen on my way to the trail yesterday. The Hungry Wombat!

The bison burger tasted amazing, as food usually does after a few long days of hiking. Yes, that is my own personal bottle of ketchup. It only cost $2 at the grocery store and I’ve given up on these small-town cafes attempting to charge you for basic condiments. Ugh.

I spent a couple hours on the internet uploading photos and planning my next hikes. I’m trying to do my hikes in mostly good weather, which I can do by chasing weather around Tasmania, as it’s usually drier in the east. But as I work my way through my list of hikes, there are fewer remaining options to choose from. I still want to do Walls of Jerusalem, Mt Field, Western Arthur Traverse, and Freycinet Circuit. The first 3 are in the alpine, so I need clear weather to do them, especially the very exposed Western Arthur traverse. The weather forecast is for rain tonight and tomorrow morning (and maybe a small amount of snow up high), so I decided to head to Mt Field, which is the least committing of the three alpine options.

Mt Field is a 3-hour drive from the Hungry Wombat cafe, so I drove halfway today, and stayed at a free camping area called Bethune Park. The full moon rising over Meadowbank Lake was sweet.

Tomorrow, I’ll head to Mt. Field for a 2-day loop hike… unless the weather forecast changes again!

Tuesday December 6, 24.7km/15.4mi

Frenchmans Cap Carpark (0.0/390m) to Lake Tahune Hut (24.7/970m) (TAS)

I drove the 45 minutes to the trailhead, and started walking around 9am. The trailhead had a nice map, which showed the 22km hike to Frenchmans Cap, a summit with 1430m elevation. The hike is an out&back, so the Tahune Hut serves as a nice overnight spot to split up the 44km of hiking.

The weather today was surprisingly beautiful, I didn’t expect such blue skies and warm temperatures from the forecast.

The first 15km of this trail was very well built, thanks in part to a wealthy donor who wanted to protect it back in 2008.

I always love a good swingbridge. Plus the Franklin River was so wide, I can’t imagine another way across it.

I climbed up out of the river’s little valley, and had a nice hour walking in a mossy old forest.

The trail climbed over the shoulder of Mt Mullens, and from the highpoint I could see my objective far ahead, Frenchman’s Cap. It still had a tiny bit of snow on top!

As I hiked downhill toward the Loddon River, I had more views of the mountains surrounding Frenchmans Cap.

The plains were surprisingly not marshy, what a great trail.

At the lowest elevations near the Loddon River, the vegetation felt jungle-like.

Another swingbridge! The Loddon River appeared much deeper and more swampy that the previous river.

An hour later, I ran across two familiar faces! It took my brain awhile to register, since I wasn’t expecting to see anyone I know on this trail. I had met Matt and Owen a couple weeks ago, on the Overland Track. Small world!

The rest of the morning went by uneventfully, as I made my way thru plains and forests.

The first hut on the track was Vera Hut, about 15km from the trailhead. I think it sleeps 20 people.

Since it was almost 1pm, I decided this was a nice lunch spot. The posters explained the history of this hut, which took a few tries to get it built correctly, haha!

After lunch, I hiked another 6km to the next hut, Tahune Hut. The trail was quite a bit rougher with tons of roots, rocks, and little ladders like this one.

That’s definitely a creative solution to make a ladder! The first 15km took me 3.5 hours, the 6km to Tahune Hut took 2.5hours. Ouch. At least there were lots of cool tiny waterfalls along the climb up.

It felt like a relief to get up to Barron Pass, because it’s the same elevation as the hut, so theoretically there was no more elevation gain. It also had amazing views. To the south:

To the Southwest, over Lake Millicent and Lake Magdalen:

And to the west, looking at Frenchmans Cap:

The traverse of the ridge didn’t go as planned, since it wasn’t flat. There were lots of little 10m climbs up and down, which don’t show up on a contour map.

The trail stayed on the ridge for awhile.

Frenchmans Cap was slowly getting closer!

I arrived at Tahune Hut just after 4pm. It’s a relatively new hut, with modern insulated walls and windows, solar LED lights, and fancy long-drop toilets.

I ate some snacks, and dropped off most of my stuff on one of the bunks, since I’m staying here tonight. The summit was a short 1.5km from here, so I didn’t need much more than snacks and water.

I knew it would be steep, since I had to climb 400m in only 1.5km. So many stairs!

As I climbed higher, I could actually see Lake Tahune, which was not visible from the hut.

Up higher and higher, the trail was now mostly on rock.

This was one of the most ridiculous trail junctions I have ever seen. Summit? Straight up the rock face.

Yup, a short class 4 scrambling section was part of the trail. I had a ton of fun doing this, but I wouldn’t want to be there in bad weather.

I still couldn’t believe that I was getting such amazing weather.

There was still a tiny piece of a snow cornice from the previous winter!

The summit was just over the next rise….

The view from the summit! These were the same lakes I saw from Barron Pass earlier.

The view to the west, I think that glimmer of water in the distance is Macquarie Harbor. The ocean!

There weren’t any other people up there, so the selfie mode was employed. Since it was so warm and there wasn’t any wind, it was actually pretty easy this time.

I stayed on the summit for at least 45 minutes enjoying the views and the warm weather. The return trip down was a little faster, but because of the down scrambling and short technical sections it still took 40 minutes. I was back at the hut at 6:30pm, where there was a group of 5 making dinner. They were making some big elaborate meal with lots of ingredients, pots and pans, and seemed like it was taking forever. I made my one-pot meal in 10 minutes and then took it down to the lakeshore to enjoy the sunset.

Frenchmans Cap looked so tall from Lake Tahune, and I loved that I could see it from here. Apparently the mountain is often shrouded in clouds and fog, so I’m very happy I got a rare good weather day up here.

I finished my dinner and cleaned up and was in bed by 8:30 pm, tomorrow is going to be an easy day hiking back out 21km to the car.

Monday December 5, 0.0km/0.0mi

Hobart to (TAS) Lagoon near Bronte Park

I slept late at the hostel, which was a very nice old building with lots of fancy old pieces of French furniture. I bought a ticket to a local museum called MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. It’s known for being a very quirky and untraditional art museum. I stopped to get gas on the way, and this seagull just sat on the hood and wouldn’t move. Eventually I sprayed the windshield and he departed.

I parked at the museum, and that’s where the normalness ended. The entrance was a confusing maze of stairs and ramps.

The entrance was a nondescript door at ground level, but the rest of it was underground. I checked my wet raincoat and umbrella, and downloaded their app that explains the exhibits.

After going down the stairs into the museum, I could see the cafe a few levels below me. I loved the name – “Void Bar”, Cocktails, Pizza, Emptiness.

The exhibits were all very unique, ranging from performance art, to interactive exhibits, to traditional Picasso sculptures.

This exhibit was for a mummy, and you had to walk on the stepping stones, or else fall into 2m/6.5ft of dark water!

This one was called the White House:

This one was a small maze with binary numbers everywhere and a surprise mirror ceiling at the finish.

A small library room full of blank white books and magazines was an exhibit.

So was a loud groaning tunnel with shifting lighting.

By 3pm, I had seen most everything, so I drove to a nearby fried chicken place for an early dinner. After doing some planning for the remainder of my Australia trip, I hit the road. I found a free campsite on google about 2 hours away, and only 45 minutes from where my hike tomorrow will start. I arrived to the campsite, which was at a boat ramp and fishing area near Bronte Park. It was very windy near the lake, so I rearranged the seating inside the car to sleep there instead. Tomorrow I will begin a short hike, a 2-day out & back hike to Frenchman’s Cap.

Sunday December 4, 34.0km/21.1mi

Bare Knoll Campground (7.7/263m) to Fortescue Bay (41.7/7m) (TAS)

I had a great sleep in the little campground, and the possum didn’t bother me any further. I left my tent setup with my sleeping stuff inside it, as much of the hike today is an out&back hike, and I collected my tent when I came back thru. Most of the hiking today was easy, on trail like this:

Within 30 minutes I came to Munro Hut, one of the glamping huts for the hikers who pay $500AUS / $360 USD to do the “Three Capes Experience”.

Walking up to the hut I realized it was an entire campus, of bunkhouses, kitchen room, bathrooms, decks, ranger buildings, and more.

The inside was very fancy too.

The view from the deck was spectacular, I think that’s Cape Hauy in the distance.

I talked to the ranger at the hut, and she was very friendly and helpful. I refilled my water bottle and kept moving. A few minutes down the track I noticed the first random and bizarre item, a board that said “lunchtime”. Weird.

The benches were unusual too, they appeared more artistic than functional.

The track was built to a very high standard, and I was very impressed by the attention to detail. There was an arrangement of stones leading up to the boardwalk.

And then Tasmania’s longest boardwalk started. I think I was walking on wood for at least 20 minutes. The views to the south were pretty great too.

A few more bizarre items appeared, a round bench with a sculpture, the message “my blood runs cold” on the boards, and “eye see bright” in tile.

As I got closer to the end of the peninsula, I could start to see Tasman Island, and “the blade” rock formation.

The Blade, which I would be hiking on shortly:

I loved seeing all the detached rock pillars. Reminded me of Acadia NP!

Looking back towards the bluff I had just hiked across:

I came to a trail junction and turned to hike the Blade, a 10-minute side trip. It was steeper than I expected, with dozens of stairs.

The exposure on the end of the Blade was unreal. The sea was 100m/330ft below me.

A wider view of Tasman Island and the Blade:

I found a nice sitting rock on the Blade!

Looking ahead to Cape Pillar:

Impressive sea cliffs in every direction:

I hiked 10 more minutes over to Cape Pillar, and had a nice chat with a couple from the Sydney area (I think?). We talked about lots of different trails, including his plans to hike the PCT in 2024. It was a great spot to discuss the outdoors, ha!

I could hear sounds coming from waaay below, apparently there are fur seal colonies on the rocks down there.

The trail ended at the Cape Pillar lookout, so the next 3 hours I backtracked to my tent. I caught a glimpse of a neat feature called “the chasm” which I had missed on the way earlier.

I went by Munro Hut again, and decided to have lunch there since it was after 12pm. I ate outside on the nice tables.

The inside dining area was super fancy, but too warm to eat in there.

Just after leaving the hut, I saw my first Tasmanian snake! There are only 3 species of snake living in Tassie, so I assume this one was a Tiger Snake.

When I reached the Bare Knoll Campsite again, it was a quick task to pack up my tent. Now with a heavier pack, I hiked by Retakunna Hut.

There wasn’t anybody there yet, as all the glampers were still out walking. I saw a couple of furry friends nearby.

As I climbed up and over Mt Fortescue, the forest became very mossy and green.

It was like a rainforest!

There were more of those random bizarre objects, in this case a giant copper-clad chair.

As I got closer to Cape Hauy, the trail emerged from the forest at a lookout. Looking ahead:

And just underneath me was an arch in the rock!

Soon I was at the turnoff to Cape Hauy, a 1.6km out&back. This short trail was surprisingly hilly.

It descended and re-climbed three times, with lots of stairs.

Cape Hauy!

A family just happened to be there when I arrived, and we exchanged photography services.

The hike back to the junction was just as slow and hilly, though I got some interesting views of Fortescue Bay (where I will finish).

And 30 minutes later, I passed the finish marker!

Strangely, it was still another kilometer to the actual finish, and these signs kept counting down the distance.

I was reunited with the car at 6pm. After signing out of the trail register and eating some snacks, I started driving the 1.5 hours back to Hobart.

I had checked the weather forecast earlier, and tomorrow is a rainy day. I’ll spend tonight in a hostel called Montecute, and do some touristy things around Hobart tomorrow. A day off from hiking!