We have just arrived back from the last four nights in Hobart, Tasmania. We booked the flights through Jetstar’s Friday Frenzy (sign up if you haven’t already!) last September for something crazy like $9 each way per person. A brilliant Father’s Day gift I thought!

After our last holiday to the UK for a month in December I was apprehensive about this trip – Evie turned from amazing placid baby to crazy insomniac with big temper problems on that trip and we haven’t entirely recovered since! But, 3 days away couldn’t be too bad right?

Right and wrong I suppose – here’s a run down on where we stayed, what we did and my mum tips along the way.

Where we stayed:

Travelodge Hobart. Rated 4/5 stars on Tripadvisor, and a pretty good rating I would agree with. Location was perfect, very close to CBD and Salamanca even for a pregnant woman with a pram! We had the standard Queen room, up on the 8th floor which had great views!

Room service was crappy though, and was luckily wiped from our bill easily when we advised them off the burnt dishes.

In terms of places around, there is a Chemist Warehouse about 2-3 blocks away and a Woolworths about 4-5 blocks away.

$99 per night.

Parent tip – add a portacot for $5 per night before you arrive. If you have a hire car, park at the Village Cinema under cover car parking just around the corner, especially if you might not use the car every day. If you can get yourself a park under the hotel is costs $12 per night, however the Village parking was $10 per entry (just give your ticket to reception and they’ll give you one to get out of the park and add it to your bill). As we only went on out of city Hobart trips 2/4 days, this worked out much cheaper for us.

Where we ate:

Without a doubt the best place we ate and drank at was Daci and Daci Bakers, a quick walk from the hotel. The best way to describe it is Parisian – from the amazing salads in the display cabinets, to the OTT cakes and pastries – you’ll have a seriously hard time deciding what to order. Whether breakfast (3/4 of an avo with tomato and huge chunks of fresh salty feta on crunchy bread with lemon) or lunch (fresh Mediterranean pasta salad) or just dessert and coffee (strawberries and cream creations with macarons on top – incredible), this place is a winner. And the coffee is delicious.

Parent tip – these guys have highchair seats that attach to your normal chair, and they also have a wooden crate of toys they’ll bring you over with an assortment  of toys to hopefully occupy your babes while you eat. Unless you’re Evie and you hate holidays and all the toys get thrown onto the floor along with your $9 fruit salad and yoghurt.

What we saw:

MONA – a $20 ferry ride and $20 entry per person makes it a decent amount of cash to spend, so be sure you’re going to be able to stroll through and check everything out and not have to sit on the grass in the cafe area so your one year old can terrorise the free roaming peacocks before changing to an earlier ferry back.

Richmond – we visited this historic town and checked out the old gaol. Its definitely not pram friendly, so bring a baby carrier or have the kids walk. It’s very small and will only take you about 30 minutes anyway – $9 per person.

ZooDoo Zoo – the absolute highlight for me! A Safari zoo with the most hands on experience. Almost every animal is basically allowed to free range around, and even the ones who are ‘fenced’ into huge paddocks you can interact with on the safari bus that takes you around and stops. You can feed the Emus and Zebras and the Camels give you hugs. The Kangaroos are super friendly, chickens and ducks and sheep all wander around and they do feeding times everyday for Lions, Reptiles and more. $25 per adult. SO. MUCH. FUN.

Mt Wellington – being very pregnant and on our final day with the worlds worst one year old (soz Evie), we actually decided to drive the summit at the last minute before heading to the airport in the hope that Evie would sleep in the car – which she did, yay! An AWESOME drive even if you don’t do any of the hiking, the view is stunning.

Salamanca Market – A great Saturday stroll through your typical market with lots of handmade soaps, wooden objects and delicious food. Also conveniently located next to a park for the kids to run wild, with most of the roads cornered off anyway.

Tasman Peninsula – We drove to Port Arthur with zero knowledge on what it actually was apart from a massacre site – morbid hey? So once we arrived 1hr30 later and found it was a World Heritage Site, which interesting as I’m sure it is, left us nothing else to do since we didn’t have enough time to actually go in. Plus, it’s $37 per entry so don’t waste your money if you don’t have an entire day at least to dedicate to it! We ended up backtracking a little and driving to a very cool blowhole, Devils Kitchen and some other beautiful coastal creations and sites on the way back into Hobart. It’s an absolutely stunning drive. Note to self – do more googling (is that possible?).

All in all

Hobart is very very hilly, a tiny San Fran if you will! So pack a good pram/carrier.

Hiring a car made it easy for us to get away from the city and go exploring – on the way to Richmond which is only 20 minutes away you can’t go 200 metres without hitting a winery or cheese factory. If you have delightful devils who actually enjoy holidays, then you’ll be in your element! If you have an Evie, you’ll by pass them all (sob).

We are so lucky to have Avalon Airport, a 15-20 minute drive away (from CBD Geelong anyway). They also have cheap parking and a free 45 minute drop off/pick up zone. We actually flew in and out of Tulla as that’s where out crazy cheap flights were from, but if you plan well then Avalon is your guy!

Hobart is an awesome quick family holiday because it’s a chilled city, 1 hour flight and has loads of delicious food and wine and things to do.