Hobart Highlights

Welcome to Hobart, a city of yachts and spinnakers, gardens and galleries, sandstone cottages and stately Georgian homes, a city built on the pain and toil of yesteryear English convicts.

Your tour of Hobart begins as you join an experienced and knowledgeable local driver guide, who will share tales of life in the city. Pass through Salamanca Place with its restored sandstone warehouses, now repurposed as cafes, galleries and shops. Continue then through Battery Point, an area filled with historic quaint cottages, Georgian mansions and cafes.

Proceed on through the suburb of South Hobart to the Cascade Gardens at the foot of the historic Cascade Brewery building. View the outside of this unique example of early architecture in a lovely garden setting. Your next stop in this tour of Hobart is to view the exterior of the ruins of the Female Factory, a one-time prison for female convicts and mentioned in Bryce Courtenay's novel, "The Potato Factory."

Your journey returns to the city streets before heading across the Tasman Bridge, which spans the Derwent River and stops at Rosny Park Lookout. Views of Hobart from the Eastern Shore with Mount Wellington as a backdrop make for a great photo opportunity. The next stop will allow you free time to explore the exquisite Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, before returning to the Hobart City waterfront and your ship.

Melbourne Lanes, Arcades and Chocolate Walking Tour

Meet at the magnificent Block Arcade, where you'll join your local representative and your small group of fellow foodies. Each tour has a maximum of 12 participants so you have the opportunity to join and share the knowledge with both the local representative and the rest of the group. You'll sometimes have other locals participating in our tours, determined to unearth some of Melbourne's hidden gems they were previously unaware of.

Around the course of more or less three hours we'll walk about two kilometres (1.2 miles) and visit five of the most undisclosed secret chocolatiers and dessert bars in Melbourne. A majority of of our partners are solely Australian and are original to Melbourne, all with their exclusive tastings and experiences. While the specialized partners we visit will differ from tour to tour (depending on their opening hours) we ensure incredible food and amazing ventures on every tour.

The tour starts with your local expert teaching you how to properly taste chocolate for a few valuable minutes. There are correct and incorrect methods for doing things, and once you know , you'll want to advise everyone else! Once equipped with this information, you're prepared to commence your Melbourne dessert and chocolate walking tour. While discussing and sharing some of the amazing tales of the history, and origins they contain, you'll stroll through some of Melbourne's most famous arcades. Your local guide will reveal some of their prized locations for drinks and dinner as we travel through unknown alleyways.

As we enjoy our specially arranged tasting experience, we will spend some time learning about the history of each chocolate shop as we arrive. At some, we may even be fortunate enough to meet the chocolatier, the store's owner, or the manager (sometimes they are the same person!)

At the end of the tour, you have the opportunity to look around the establishment and take advantage of the special guest discounts. (Please note that all tour trips are scheduled in advance and there is no pressure to procure any merchandise.)