Brooke
Street Pier
Our waterfront
has a new look, with Brooke Street pier, designed to position Hobart as a world
class, liveable, waterfront city.
Construction of the $13
million, 40 000 tonne, 80 metre long, four storey pier began in early 2014. It
was floated down the Derwent River to its Brooke Street home last November. On 21 January 2015 it officially
opened.
The pier is a tourist hub.
You can book well-known and some up-and-coming tours under one roof. We found
Peppermint Bay Cruises, the MONA fast ferry, the Red Decker open-air bus and
the Port Arthur Historic sites. We also discovered Whisky and Cider tours booked
through McHenry Whisky which for just shy of 200 bucks, will take you up the
Derwent or down the Huon, for an all day tour with lunch and tastings.
Trigger warning for
shopper-holics.
Brook Street Pier is also a
small selection of long term and evolving boutique traders with plenty of
opportunities to encourage visitors to the pier, to part with their hard earned
dosh.
This Girl managed to rid herself of a $50 in the first five minutes.
Ouch!
At Brooke Street pier, you
can book your tour and buy your souvenirs in one convenient location. The value
adding is that the product selection is artisan and the few products there do not have
a permanent retail presence in the CBD.
This Girl was taken by the
sheep cheese from Grandvewe of Birchs Bay. There are tastings you see, and the
pier is so lovely, and its all so much to take in, and suddenly you’re saying,
‘Sure I’ll take a $20 piece of Manchego and a $35 bottle of that vanilla whey
liqueur!’
Tip: Soak your sponge fingers in the vanilla whey liqueur in your next
tiramisu. Make a cocktail of apple juice and liqueur on ice.
The Other Girl was
impressed by Huon Aquaculture who have a gorgeously designed kiosk that includes an information display and a
selection of their premium products on sale, including the great value and
absolutely delicious premium salmon pate for $8.50. Order on line with these
guys and they deliver Australia-wide.
We were introduced briefly
to the McHenry Distillery Shop with their whiskey, gin and sloe gin products
and relatively new comers to wine making in Tassie, Domaine Simha wines.
Products the Two Girls look forward to getting more acquainted with.
We also found Moobrew
and Moorilla, Elliot My Dear, Willie Smiths Cider and Dick and Dora.
The talk on Brooke Street
is that you will be able to buy a cheese platter, some salmon dip and a bottle
of wine or the like, from stallholders, and enjoy it out on the pier. That
looks a little way off realisation. So too is the promise of a good coffee from
Pilgrim owners who have their intentions set on opening Bright Eyes. Our plans for coffee on the pier on Australia Day died out quickly. The
pier is still a work in progress and quite a bit of space is still under
development.
The other exciting pending permanent
presence, is the Islington Hotel’s foray into the throng, The Glass House. Last
week, The Australian reported that Ikuei Arakane had been appointed head chef,
formerly of Melbourne’s Taxi Dining Room. The food stakes in Tassie just went
up another notch.
And there will be alcohol
with a number of bars attached to The Glass House including one with the
capacity to open up its windows to the Derwent on the five days a year the
weather is warm enough. #bitterandtwisted #whathappenedtosummer?
The pier is definitely a
tourist must and it will have more relevance to locals as it is finished and
there are more definitive eating and drinking options.
It is certainly worth a
look and definitely an asset to the city and our waterfront with the
beautifully designed pier in place.
About the Brooke Street
Pier, see their swanky website here.
The day the pier got tugged
into place, 'New floating Brooke Street Pier towed into place on Hobart’swaterfront’, The Mercury, 10 November 2014.
This Girl went on the
Peppermint Bay Cruise and visited The Apple Shed, home to Willie Smiths Cider. Watch this space for the blog posts.
When we discovered ElliotMy Dear.
News on the Glass House,
‘Ikuei Arakane appointed head chef at The Glass House, Hobart’, The Australian,
27 January 2015.