Mount Nelson: Our new home

Our first abode in Hobart was on King Street in Dynnyrne in lovely AirBnB accommodation with a lovely Irish lady. After viewing several places and having what we thought was our dream home snatched away from us, we started to panic a little and looked farther afield in order to get a more permanent roof over our heads. One of those places was in Mount Nelson, a hilly suburb located to the South of the city atop well….Mount Nelson. The pictures on the rentals website certainly looked nice and although it was a little far out of town, we felt we’d have to compromise on that a little in order to get a place before our AirBnB host sold her house we were staying in.

The viewing was quite surreal as within I’d say five minutes we had signed on the dotted line and shaken hands with our new landlady. She reminded us a lot of our AirBnB host in Berkeley California (Hi Liz!! 😀 *waves*) who we felt instantly comfortable with as if we had known them for years. So it came to be that we are now residents of Mount Nelson and what happy residents we are. Our apartment is super comfortable and really nicely furnished with a real homely feeling, a far cry from the tiny box we had in the Czech Republic.

For the few days after we moved in, while I was still looking for employment I took the time to explore our new neighbourhood and ventured down towards the Signal Station at the end of the road. It was here I set off on my hike down the Truganini trail in the previous blog post. The walk to the Signal Station is a pleasant stroll past some beautiful homes nestled amongst the trees and vegetation of Mount Nelson. Along the way you may be lucky enough to spot some of the beautiful birds that call this place home, in fact I can almost guarantee you’ll see an exotic bird or two if you decide to walk instead of drive.

  

When you reach the signal station at the end of the road you have a few options available to you. You could turn around and go home if you’re mental and have no soul. You could pop into the Signal Station restaurant for a bite to eat and a chat with the super friendly staff. You could head down to your left and gaze out over Hobart and then follow a lovely hiking trail down towards Wrest Point (It does get a little rocky and more difficult nearer the bottom though). Or you could do my favourite ……sit on the bean bags on the grassy area next the restaurant and take in the breathtaking view. It really is something you need to see for yourself. The images below may well give you an idea of what you’d see but they won’t come close to feeling of being there and experiencing it with your own eyes. I’ve yet to scale Mount Wellington but it will do very well if it comes close to this phenomenal view. From up here you can see more bays than you could shake a stick at; Storm Bay, Opossum Bay, Ralphs Bay, Mortimer Bay, North West Bay, Frederick Henry Bay, Dunalley Bay, Norfolk Bay, needless to say if you’re a fan of bays, you’ll enjoy the view.    

When you’re done taking in the impressive views, there’s the Signal station to explore and learn about how it features in the history of Hobart and the early settlers. I’d also recommend taking a stroll around the grounds and keeping your eyes on the branches above for the sight of colourful Rosellas and other exotic birds. You might also spot one of the shy rabbits on the grassland in front of the bean bags which are…..emmm……decorated with lots of little presents from the aforementioned bunnies and their wallaby neighbours.            

Mount Nelson is a fantastic place to live as it has all the comforts of living in a city but at the same time you feel like you’re in the wilderness with the fantastic trails just minutes away. That’s not to say it’s all hunky-dorky though as we have had a few unwelcome visitors coming into our apartment including a white-tailed spider and a wood scorpion, both of which I just had to photograph up close and personal. (Behind glass of course).     Another feature to contend with in Mount Nelson is the mountain itself. Neither Sinead nor myself drive and so we rely on the not too frequent bus to get home from the University for herself, and downtown Hobart for me. With my new job in a downtown bar/restaurant I finish too late for the last bus and must make the arduous hike up the Mount Nelson steps which is no walk in the park. The plus side of that though is that I’ll be super fit in no time and the view from the top is quite nice also.

I thought I’d end this post with a little map our where I’ve managed to explore so far in and around Hobart. As you can see there’s still so much to see and hopefully we’ll get ourselves driving in a few months and then the rest of the island will be our oyster as they say. Look forward to sharing the ongoing adventure with you. I usually upload images to my Instagram page before I get the rest up on the blog so feel free to follow that account for a sneak peak at upcoming posts.