Shady Travels: Live, Explore, Learn: Girls Day in Hobart

Day Trip Around Hobart

Hobart CBD > Cascade Brewery

The boys headed out to their fly fishing tour early – like 6am early. Alison and I took the opportunity to sleep in because a) we could and b) we had no plans.

The night before, Alison and Kyle complained to the concierge that their room smelled like smoke and they got a free breakfast coupon and we took advantage of it.

Hearty Breakfast For the Long Day Ahead

We decided to walk along the harbour front and around Battery Park towards the Cascade Mountains, where the famous Cascade Brewery is. We walked roughly 6km along the rivulet (a fancy word for river?) until we reached the infamous Female Factory. Alison had done her research and one of the best tours in town is 'Louisa's Walk'. We signed up and quickly walked a few hundred meters to the Cascade Brewery.

Cascade Brewery

Australia's Oldest Brewery

I had heard of Cascade beer, but it's not usually not my go-to beer as I'm more a red wine person. If I do get a beer, it's a Hoegaarden. If I get an Aussie beer, I'll have a Little Creatures. Either way, beer tours are great because you learn a lot about the history of the city because back in colonial times, the beer factory is one of the main drivers of economy.

We were lucky enough to get to the tour at 10 minutes before the 12am start. Alison didn't wear the proper footwear, so had to borrow some shoes and socks from the factory. That's thinking ahead!

Alison Did Not Come Prepared.

Borrowed Shoes & Socks from Cascade Brewery

This was my first beer tour, so I learned a lot about what goes into beer and the brewing process. Beer is made of some natural and fragrant ingredients, but there are some smelly ones too. The brewery had each ingredient in a jar for us to smell and when we got to the malted barley, it smelled like sewage!

Brewing Beer

The best part of a beer tour is the end because it's beer tasting time! For $25, we got a 1.5 hour tour and 3 tasting tokens. Alison and I both went to the pale ale and lager. Normally, I would go for another ale, but I had to try their stout and fell in love with it.

Cascade Brewery Bar

Cascade Stout & Lager

We had only 10 minutes to drink 3 beers because at 1pm, the Louisa's Walk would be starting. Thankfully, they were starting in the park right next to the brewery. We ran down the driveway, a bit buzzed and discovered a group of 10 listening to a woman in period clothing talk about Van Diemen's Land, former name for the Dutch colony in Tasmania.

We met Louisa, an Irish immigrant to England who was living in London when the city was overcrowded and there was a big divide between the rich and poor. She had stole a loaf of bread and was sentenced to Van Diemen's Land, leaving her sons and her country for an unknown fate in the British colony.

Live Action Theatrical Tour

The two actors on the tour did not skip a beat. They played their parts perfectly. The actress played Louisa the entire time whereas the male lead was the police officer, magistrate, judge, captain, female factory doctor and eventually Louisa's husband.

They had us play along too. When they were on the boat to Van Diemen's Land, they talked to us like we were passengers. When we reached the female factory, the holding ground for female convicts, we too were convicts.

They demonstrated the harsh life female convicts lived in the female factory where there was very little food, unfair treatment and injustice.

About Louisa's Walk

After Louis's walk, Alison and I were exhausted. We had not eaten since our massive breakfast at the hotel and had walked nearly 12 kilometers to get to the Cascade Brewery, join Louisa's walk and head back to the hotel to meet the boys. We ended our day with a stop a local bakery for some afternoon tea. When we got back to the hotel, I passed out for an hour. Alison and the boys joined me in my room and we got to exchange stories from each of our days.

That night we were craving cheap Asian food. We ate at the Chinese restaurant next door and talked up our girl's day out - an inexpensive day where we got exercise, history, beers and a live theatrical performance for about $60 each.

The boys on the other hand had been out on a fly fishing tour - a $350 tour! We hadn't heard from them all day because they were out in the middle of Tasmania at various streams to catch something.

When they rehashed their day, the one highlight was Kyle catching the one and only catch of the day - a brown trout. The tour guide gave him a Cherry Ripe as a reward. Dave wanted some too, but the tour guide teased him saying he had to catch something first.

Poor Dave didn't get anything, but did learn a lot about fly fishing technique. He's decided ocean fishing is more his style.

Although their day was spent with an eccentric tour guide, got sun burnt and had little luck, they enjoyed their day out in nature. Too bad they didn't go a week later when all the may flies were set to hatch - that's when the fish are out like crazy!