Here we see a maritime traffic control tower watching over the harbour, and beyond it a cruise ship (whose name I don't know) towering over the dock.

It's not uncommon to see cruise ships in Tasmanian ports over the summer season. There are occasions when you will have cruise ships visiting on consecutive days. There does seem to be a pretty substantial gap over the winter though; I'm finally processing this photo in April 2017 (only four and a bit years late) and the next cruise ship to arrive in Hobart will be the Pacific Jewel on 15 June. After that there will be nothing until mid-October, then the numbers ramp up considerably until the end of March 2018. This pattern seems to repeat year in and year out.

I can understand why a cruise ship would want to dock in Hobart. However for me... well, I can't overlook the 200 foot high rogue waves that can capsize even the largest liner, the icebergs, the sharks, the chance of falling overboard and never being seen again, and so forth. Thus I cannot ever, ever see myself wasting my time on a cruise. And there's another thing.

Cruise liners make their money when they're taking you somewhere; when they're actually out on the sea and you (and your wallet) have nowhere else to go, and no other place where you can spend. For that reason most of the layovers are less than 24 hours in length.

We spent six days in Hobart and Port Arthur and barely scratched the surface of Hobart, much less Tasmania as a whole. It doesn't matter where you are, you cannot, simply cannot get a true feel for a place in less than a few days.

So that there gargantuan mobile apartment block over on the far side of yonder tower? It can sail without me.