Salamanca Market

Lots of locals like to pooh-pooh Salamanca as being full of tasteless crap catering only to tourists, and yes, it's true that there are a lot of tacky souvenirs available, but you just can't beat it for atmosphere.

On a sunny, blue-sky day, the many spreading green lawns, the buskers, the food stalls, and best of all the Hobart City Council mini-tractors that are left with keys in the ignition, kids crawling all over them and the council workers happily turning a blind eye, make a morning spent mooching around the market a very pleasant one indeed. I usually make sure to scrape up $3 for a bag of Oliebollen, the delicious Dutch fruit donuts made fresh on-site at one of the stalls (their tempura mushrooms are also excellent!). For an outing with kids, you've got loads to see, Princess Park just around the corner, the docks a stones throw the other way, and the CBD a stroll away.

There's a reason it's famous around the world. It's noice.


Oliebollen: DO NOT miss out on these.

PS: I've labelled it as pram-friendly, but you have to pick your routes. There is loads of space to park a pram and lay about on the grassed areas, and it's not impossible to meander through the stalls with a pram, even a Hummer like ours, but be sensitive to the fact that you're taking up more space than the average punter, and watch out for those ankles!

Montrose Foreshore All-Abilities Playground

Montrose Foreshore All-Abilities Playground (what a mouthful!) is a pretty cool playground between the Derwent River (good) and the Brooker Highway (less good) in Montrose, north of the city. It's got a cool rope climbing pyramid, crazy mirrors, kid-friendly chimes to play, slide, swings, seesaw... even a fancy wheelchair swing (always swarming with fascinated and non-wheelchair-bound kids). There is lots of space to throw balls, exercise dogs, and a great walking path that runs along the river back up to Glenorchy. Public toilets, plenty of parking, a couple of electric BBQ sites, ducks for feeding along the river's edge, sometimes an enterprising coffee van too! Downside: there isn't any kid-safe fencing + gates so you can't completely veg out...you have to supervise your own children, dammit!

Where: Brooker Highway, Montrose (on the left as you head into the city).

Princess Park

Princess Park, on Hampden Rd in Battery Point, is a favourite city hangout of ours. Nomatter the weather, it is always populated by at least a few kids (more often than not swarming with them), so it's toddler heaven! Three slides, pirate ship, sand, grassy hills, and a stone's throw from the likes of Salamanca, the picturesque streets of Battery Point, Sandy Bay or the CBD...what's not to like? It's a beautiful park with a fabulous view over the water and lots of shaded spots to sit on a warm day and picnic, play and people-watch.

The Market August post-mortem...

Yesterday's The Market was a great success, I'm delighted to report! We (Zando Design and T'Art) had one of the two "showcase" positions in the foyer, which meant basically every one of the 700+ visitors took their loaded wallets past us first!
My tealight candle-shades, 'Bright Lights, Little City', had their second public showing, and sold like hot-cakes (The Republic Bar had sold out by 11.30!), and I got heaps of fantastic and helpful feedback. Thanks to all who came along, and to all who come to this wonderful market every month!

Zando Design and T'Art will be back at the October Market, on Sunday October 4, 10-3. Come along to see the new candle shade designs I will be selling. You may even find your favourite pub immortalised in 4 inches of glowing card!

World on fire at The Market!

The Market is on again at the Masonic Temple on Sandy Bay Rd in Hobart. Lots of fantastic wares to be had, including a range of candle lanterns from moi, Zando Design. The orginal "Manhattan" series will be available, as well as the newly completed "Hobart Deco" series, featuring three iconic Hobart art deco buildings known and loved by locals. Hobart is more than just settlers cottages and overlords mansions, you know!



Where: Masonic Temple, Sandy Bay Rd, Hobart (opposite St David's Park)
When: Sunday August 2, 10-3
What: hot soup, great coffee, nibbles, cards, badges, bags, bears, jewellery, hair accessories, and heaps more!

The Winter Beach Market

The Beach Market is up and running again for its winter session this Saturday, at the hall on the Blackman's Bay Esplanade, 9-2.

Zando Design will be there with badges and cards, hopefully some new bib+washer sets, and some of these little babies...



... they are my new pride and joy, where I run away and live in miniature. Tea-light candle shades - completely original illustrations and all hand-cut.

The Ruby Pear

The Ruby Pear is a new shop opened recently in Launceston, devoted to stocking handmade, recycled or organic or otherwise low-impact wares, such as cards and badges (mine of course!), jewellery, clothes, bags, toys, bibs (mine again), and other beautiful accessories and lifestyle objects.



Where: 102 Wellington St, Launceston
When: Opening hours Wed-Fri 10-6.30, Sat & Sun 11-3

Do pop in if you're in the neighbourhood. Rachel, the proprietor, is extremely friendly!

The Market #1 - post mortem!

Well, it was a hectic day all up. The Masonic Temple turned out to be a fabulous space, although a bit hot and stuffy with spot lights and many bodies, and it was chock full of stalls...you couldn't swing a handmade recycled vintage bag without hitting some eye candy, hair candy, or kid candy. Generally a very good standard of products though, and extremely well thought out presentation. Me mum and me felt pretty intimidated at first, but we soon bucked up when we realised that at least we were two of the few with out the uber-trendy folk-art-esque birds, ponies, spots and stripes. Though maybe we should jump the money-train band-wagon, cos those things were selling like hotcakes.

For a shopper, I would highly recommend The Market, as it plans to rotate stalls each month, with only four spots per stallholder available each year, so the monthly market should be a different mix each time, and hopefully any repeat sellers will bring new stock each time. As a seller I think for the same reasons it's a great opportunity. Go for it! Apply! Keep this great new market alive! And tell your mates...let's help it become a regular Sunday haunt for Hobartians and visitors alike!

Just a note: prams were a real issue today. Hopefully the aisles will be widened for the next market, but it is worth noting that one pram can block a whole aisle, and there isn't a whole lot of room to park them in the foyer.

Where: The Masonic Temple, 3 Sandy Bay Rd Hobart
When: first Sunday of every month, I think. Check the blog for details.

The Market

Hobart's newest art+design market, simply called The Market, debuts next Sunday, April 5, in the Masonic Temple at 3 Sandy Bay Road, Hobart.

I have a small stall there along with my fabulous mum, maker of t'Art bags and Tuff Tedz. I've stream-lined my presentation, so come along and see what's going on!

Where: Masonic Temple, 3 Sandy Bay Rd, Hobart
When: Sunday April 5, 10-3

And it aims to run on a monthly basis, so you'll see fresh rotations of designers and makers! Fantastic!

Cars, Rock 'n' Bowl

Last Sunday we toddled off to Cars, Rock 'n' Bowl at Moonah Bowl. For a gold coin donation, we got into the carpark (was a gold coin really necessary?!) to see a few dozen fantastic hotted up and classic cars, a sad sprinkling of Kustom Culture-heads in their rockabilly uniforms, and some loud and thrashy not-really-10-am psychobilly. Yes, I am a bit of a killjoy and a nanna, but I liked the cars!

Hobart Council Centre

Corner Davey & Elizabeth Sts, Hobart.

The Beach Market - the day after...

I'm going to go ahead and declare the first Beach Market a raging success! Despite our publicity needing a bit of work, we had a steady stream of people through all morning, and I certainly did much better business than I expected...partly because I am deeply insecure and have low expectations to start with! I was thrilled to have such great responses to my Stella images, the badges went pretty well, especially the loose ones (some fantastic treasure-hunting by teenaged boys!) and some of my bibs sold - phew! I think lots of us have some great ideas to bring to future markets (next one coming up in early June...watch this space for details, or go to The Beach Market blog) and I'm super-excited to be a part of it!
The Blackmans Bay hall, while looking a bit grim from the outside (grey besser bricks reminiscent of public toilets), is a lovely space inside, with a fenced kids playground right out the front, a skate bowl for the biggies, and the beach of course, right across the road. A stunning locale for a friendly market, and we were enormously well received by the largely uninformed locals.

I also had the delightful pleasure of running into an old friend from high school, whose work I loved!

Big thanks go to Julie, who began it all, and worked very hard all day making coffees for all, as well as manning her own stall!

Here are a few pics of some of our stalls...
Mine, of course:


(I'm working on better presentation methods [though I love my wooden bib boy and am very proud of my bandsaw efforts!], and have learned a valuable lesson about stock - that is, have enough!)

My mum's:



my mate Jacquie's:

Central Building

Fabulous 1940s building, corner of Collins and Elizabeth Sts, Hobart.

The Beach Market

Saturday March 14, that's NEXT Saturday folks!, is the first Beach Market, held in Blackmans Bay, just south of Kingston. It's a new market, selling locally created craft and design, fresh produce and funky stuff. I'm in it. So please come along, oh invisible and silent readership!

Here is a sample of what I will be selling...




Where: Blackmans Bay Hall, Ocean Esplanade Blackmans Bay
When: Sat March 14, 9-2

Australian Mountain Bike Championships

Held in the Mt Wellington National Park, the Australian Mountain Bike Championships last weekend were apparently a sight to behold! Just beyond Tolosa Park in Tolosa St, Glenorchy, the championships spanned both days last weekend, with heaps of jumps, bumps and stunts!

Upon the River Bend: Glen Huon

Upon the River Bend is a delightful cottage accommodation in Glen Huon, not far from the town of Huonville. We had friends from interstate stay there so we went down to spend the afernoon, much to our delight! It is a dear little house, two generous double bedrooms, very nicely fitted out, cosy and pretty without being too twee, and great value! They got a 7-nights for $700 deal, which if you shared with another couple, works out to be very cheap indeed. It was super kid friendly, as we had two one-year olds of varying levels of mobility who we hardly had to say 'no' or 'stop' to at all! It is located at a picturesque bend of the Huon River (hence the name), and you can stroll easily along the neatly cut track through the paddock down to the river where there are kayaks to use if you so desire. It is a really beautiful spot, the river is stunning, the view over the golden paddock towards the trees and the river flowing beyond is just lovely. I would recommend it to anyone coming to stay in Tassie.




Where: 588 Glen Huon Rd, Glen Huon

Early Ford Club Hotrod Show

Open today and tomorrow (Sat 21 & Sun 22 Feb, 2009) at the Royal Hobart Showground, the Early Ford Club of Tasmania has an awesome hotrod and custom car show on. It costs $10 to enter, but is so thoughtfully set-up, with every car a piece of perfection, that even for those of a modest budget it was well worth the money.
I'll let the pictures speak for the show.


(This was my favourite...so sinister and bat-like!)