Botanic Gardens

Hobart 's Botanic Gardens lie at the edge of the Central Business District ( CBD ).  Entry is free, but donations are encouraged. There is a cafe in the gardens serving expensive fancy food, or cheaper take away food.  The gardens are just wonderful. You could easily spend a day there, although most people spend a half-day.  I recommend you check the "Sub-Antarctic display" where the air temperature is kept at about 7 degrees, and humidity kept at around 90%.  I also recommend a visit to the " Japanese Garden " in the south-eastern corner of the fairly extensive botanic gardens.  Also the palm grove is special. The pond is very pretty, and a great spot to take photos.

Mount Wellington

kunanyi

We have the mountain (Mt Wellington) only a half hour drive away, with easy forest walks (like the Pipeline Track) or more difficult walks (Lost World) and then more difficult walks again... to the plateau immediately west of the mountain.  There are about twenty different walks, so there's a lot to choose from. They are almost all mapped well. I use the phone app "Avenza Maps", but paper maps can be purchased from Service Tasmania. Dress for cold, windy weather.

Youtube: landscapes, plants and animals of Mount Wellington:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDoyp2fa9a4

South Wellington

While there are many walks on the Wellington Plateau, the short walk to South Wellington is, from a landscape viewpoint, one of the easiest and the most rewarding, provided you start before dawn. This way the sun, rising from the east, lights up the amazing rocks of South Wellington with a wonderful, warm light. If you are lucky, and the weather is calm, there will be mist which adds to the beauty of the scene.

Guides and maps

The shop called "Service Tasmania", at 134 Macquarie Street ( Hobart city) sells a booklet "Sixty great short walks" for around $5.  A good resource for walkers.

Cathedral Rock

Cathedral Rock is a great one-day walk, lying just to the south of the Wellington Plateau. It's best done as a full day walk, but it's fairly easy (except for the rock scramble right at the end), but best done during the week, as the track car park is fairly small. You will need to use the overflow carpark on weekends. It's one-way, not a circuit.

State museum and art gallery

We have a good museum and art gallery in the city, between Davey Street and Macquarie Street. Entry is by "gold coin donation" (which means $1 or $2, but of course you can donate more if you want). It's very accessible, and very interesting. Highly recommended.

Museum of Old and New Art

 We have MONA, the museum of old and new art. Almost everyone just LOVES their modern art, which is in extraordinarily bad taste! I think visitors return home saying: "you MUST visit MONA, the modern art is just SO bad!. MONA is Tasmania 's number one tourist attraction, with number two being the reconstructed convict settlement at Port Arthur . MONA is privately owned by a Hobart resident, David Walsh. You could spend all day there, but most people allocate a half-day. Entry tickets are expensive, but well worth the money, if you like modern art. 
Apparently MONA is one of the best modern art museums in the world.

Salamanca Market

A browse around Salamanca Market on Saturday morning is highly recommended. You can buy a variety of Tasmanian products and food. There are other stalls selling Chinese stuff, like costume jewellery, so there's something there for everyone.

Op-shops

Hobart has a variety of op-shops. Vinnies and Red Cross in Argyle Street , for example. You never know when you might find a hidden gem!

There are three tip-shops: South Hobart (the best), Mornington and Glenorchy.

Sailing and kayaking

If you like the water, maybe borrow (or hire) a kayak for a few hours... or take a guided tour. There are small firms providing a variety of kayak trips. Or persuade someone to take you sailing... that might be easier than you think. Ask at one of the local yacht clubs, during the summer sailing season. 
There are six yacht clubs, with the Royal Hobart Yacht Club being the best known.

Bicycles

If you like bicycles, there are places where you can borrow or hire bikes. And people who will take you on guided bicycle tours.  Wellington Park has several good mountain bike trails. Most tourists get to see the view from the top of Mount Wellington , one way or another. You can drive there, or get there as part of a guided bike tour. But be warned... the top of the mountain is usually 10 degrees colder than the temperature in Hobart , and usually windy.

Port Arthur historic site

If you like history, the convict settlement at Port Arthur ( Tasman Peninsula ) is popular. There's so much to see there that you should allocate one day (including travel) if you wish to have a good look around. It's quite expensive, but is a world-class site of it's kind.

Hartz Peak

If you like bush walks, among my favourites is the walk to Hartz Peak , south of Hobart . It's best done as a one day walk, starting early. It's a pretty walk, and mostly easy, as there's a lot of board-walk.

Three Capes track, Cape Raoul, Cape Hauy and Cape Pillar

On the Tasman Peninsula , the one day walk to Cape Raoul is popular, as is the half day walk to Cape Hauy , which starts at the Fortescue Bay National Park . Remember almost all Tasmanian National Parks require a permit, which can be obtained from the Service Tasmania shop. The sea cliffs around the Tasman Peninsula are world class, truly spectacular.  The walk to Cape Pillar is longer and demanding, and not for the faint-hearted. It can be done as a one-day walk, but you should start the hike in summer, at around sun-rise or before. Most hikers do the Cape Pillar walk in three sections: a half day to a tent camp, then, leaving your tent, spend a leisurely day walking to Cape Pillar, sleeping the second night at the same location as the first night. The third day is just a half-day walk out to Fortescue Bay National Park , where you will have left your vehicle.

Richmond and Cygnet

The 'boutique' towns of Richmond (near Hobart ) and Cygnet (south of Hobart ) are popular with both locals and tourists alike, especially on weekends.  Both towns have a relaxed atmosphere and nice food...  no one there is in a hurry.

Tourist caves and wild caves

There are limestone caves south of Hobart . Hastings Caves are tourist caves. At Hastings the tourist caves are completely safe...  if that's what you want.  Mystery Creek Cave is a wild cave, but it's best done with a local friend or a commercial guide. If you are in Tasmania for a long stay, you might consider joining a caving club. Some wild caves are only accessible through clubs.

Maria Island

One of the best places in Tasmania to see free-ranging wildlife is Maria Island , on Tasmania 's east coast, particularly if you're interested in Native Hens, Wombats, Cape Barren Geese, and Wallabies. As you need to organize transport to the island by ferry, starting at Triabunna, it's worth staying on the island at least one night, preferably two or three. The accommodation is either dormitories ("The Penitentiary") or the tent camping area. There are no shops on the island, so you need to be self-sufficient. There are Tasmanian Devils on the island, but they are nocturnal and shy. They were introduced fairly recently, and are slowly wiping out the island's Little Penguin colony.

Freycinet Peninsula

The Hazards circuit walk (access via the small tourist town of Coles Bay on the East Coast) is a good way to spend a day in great scenery, and takes in Wineglass Bay , certainly one of Tasmania 's prettiest bays. If you haven't got a day for this walk, you can take the walk to the lookout which looks over the bay. If you have several days to spend, then take your tent, food, water, and hike to the south of the peninsula, which is much more remote.

Mount Field

The Mount Field National Park lies north of Hobart , a bit over a one-hour drive. It's a great spot to spend a full day, or a full week, depending on whether you want short easy walks, or more demanding hikes in wilderness country. The one-day walk to the Tarn Shelf is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful one-day hikes in Tasmania , but best done in good weather.

Platypus

Platypus have a reputation for being shy. They tend to be most active around dawn and dusk. In Hobart , the South Hobart Rivulet Platypus has it's own Facebook page. If you are up and awake early, take a stroll along the rivulet walking path, and stop at the four pools. Start by parking your car in the Cascade Brewery car park, and walk downstream. The first pool you come to will be the one created by the flood retarding basin. The second pool lies just across the road from the "Female Factory" (a historic site largely based on old photographs and stories). 

Continue to walk towards Hobart CBD to reach the next two pools.
Examine each pool carefully and slowly. If you're unlucky, the Platypus will be somewhere else.

The creek running through Geeveston, to the south of Hobart, also has a resident platypus, as does the small stream located near the town of Mole Creek.

Photo-essays

Photo-essays on some of these places can be found on my website:

https://onlyoneplanet.com/OceanChild.html#photos.

Phone me if you need information - that won't cost you anything.