The best MTB trails in Rosny Hill Nature Recreation Area

Bellerive Beach is a beautiful stretch of sand with long views across the Derwent. Backed by open lawns and close to Bellerive’s village centre, the beach is an easy place to linger and watch sailboats and ferries moving across the river.

Wentworth Park is a spacious waterfront reserve with open green lawns and views across the River Derwent toward Hobart. There are picnic shelters, barbecues, toilets, and a playground, making it an ideal place to spend time by the water. Its foreshore setting, shaded areas, and easy access to the shoreline make it a popular spot for families and a relaxing break along the trail.

The Cascades Female Factory is the most significant site in Australia linked to female convicts, offering insight into a part of history that’s often overlooked. Set along the Hobart Rivulet Track, the preserved yards and ruins help explain how women and children lived here during the colonial period. It’s one of eleven locations included in the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage listing. Entry to the site requires a ticket, with interpretive displays and facilities available on site.

Cascade Gardens is a spacious, green park at the base of kunanyi / Mount Wellington, set around the Hobart Rivulet. Wide lawns, mature trees, and the sound of running water make it a calm place to spend time. There are picnic tables, barbecues, toilets, and a playground, with flat, easy paths throughout. It’s one of the more relaxed spots in Hobart, with plenty of space to spread out.

The Hobart Rivulet Track follows the water upstream from the city towards kunanyi / Mount Wellington, with a steady, mostly gentle incline. It’s a wide, shared path suitable for walking, cycling, and dogs on lead. Along the way, keep an eye on the water for platypus, which are known to live here.

Beautiful track, plus the resident platypus is to be seen

The Cascades Female Factory opened in 1828 taking over the premises of a failed brewery in the foothills of Mount Wellington, and operated until 1856. Convicts were marched from the docks in Hobart to the prison in full view of free citizens -- who could taunt and ridicule the women as they passed -- as a form of humiliation. Once inside, women spent their days washing endless amounts of linen, sewing uniforms, and unravelling tarred lengths of rope to be resold to the shipyards -- among other exhaustive tasks -- until they were considered reformed enough to be hired out as maids or nannies to free citizens. Described as a dark, damp, bitterly cold place, where women suffered needlessly and infants (most of whom were conceived during work releases) died from malnutrition and neglect, the Cascades Female Factory now serves to educate the public about its tragic history and the horrific abuse that convicts endured.