3 days in Hobart

Wednesday morning dawned sunny and warm. The forecast was good so we quickly drove to Mt Wellington while you could see it. The locals have a saying: “if you can see Mt Wellington, it is going to rain. If you can’t see My Wellington, it is already raining”. It was a splendid view at 1200 meters. The drive up is narrow and we had to content with mobs of tourists. Not only are we in peak season, the Dawn Princess cruise liner had berthed in town and her contents was now spilling all over the summit.  The wind was ripping through my ears, so I took refuge in a lovely glass viewing area. I did not want to leave.  

After many photo's, we ventured down and north east back to Hobart’s city centre.  We found street parking a few blocks from Salamanca Square and Constitution dock.  A local was complaining about the price of the parking metres in the city centre “$5 for 3 hours!!” We just smiled.  Our number plates mark us as “mainlanders”.  

Salamanca has a distinctive “Rocks” feel and the wharf and docks feel similar to Circular Quay – just smaller and cleaner. Our family are not big foodies, but we did manage to whittle away half an hour  in a fab book shop ( speaking of which – I am now reading a John Grisham – HELP -  I may even reconsider Jane Austen!) and find a bakery for lunch. Coffee was 8/10 – not bad.  We strolled in the sunshine and saw the Yacht race finish line and Constitution Dock but alas were about 8 days too late to see any of the vessels. Apart from a dirty great Cruise ship.

The CBD was not so inspiring.  Rod expected some great architecture given that this is one of our earliest settled capitals, but it looks pretty generic. Later we did get around to Battery Point and see some very quaint cottages.  We decided to head back to camp as the previous day had really taken its toll but not before we made a trip to Richmond, home of Australia's oldest bridge ( still in use, that is). 

Once back home, I ended up chatting with the neighbours from Latrobe ( TAS, not VIC) for ages and forgot to cook dinner. Everyone seemed to find something in the cupboard and didn’t complain too much. I will have to try that again.

Thursday was miserable weather. It had been forecast so I had decided to go to MONA.  We could walk there from the Van Park, it’s just next door. Or we could get a helicopter – I’m serious. The blessed things kept landing and taking off ferrying those with more money than sense. I have no idea why you would take a helicopter because it is about a 15 minute drive from the city or you can catch a ferry.  As it turned out we drove due to weather being so dodgy.  

MONA was a bit boring.  I have heard so much about this place and was so looking forward to it. Perhaps it was over-hyped, but sorry guys – just not that interesting.  To be fair, it was very crowded and the staff was madly trying to organise flows of people from the entrance into the single staircase down to the bottom floor.   At that point they handed us iPhones. For anyone who knows me, I have a philosophical issue with Apple products and prefer not to fiddle to Steve Jobs tune.  I was forced to use it as there is no other way to garner any information about the Art works or their creators.  Hmmmmm………. how very Apple .

 The first exhibition was from a guy called Matthew Barney. He is a film maker and producer of “alternative” opera. He has put together an installation based on Norman Mailers book “Ancient Evenings” and called it “River of Fundament”.  It’s OK, but I think he should stick to films and opera. There was a really interesting piece from Japan documenting the history of Hiroshima, a fun piece composed of 26 screens showing  individual Madonna fans singing the entire “Immaculate” album and a handful of others that I really enjoyed.  Ask the kids about the “poo machine”. I thought it was very clever and showed great technical expertise. Rod thought it stunk – I mean, it really did smell bad. I also saw a good dose of lazy and predictable work, flimsy on creativity, inspiration or even beauty.  I may have enjoyed the “Death cinema”, however the “cinema” only seated two people per viewing and the “film” lasted for 4.5 minutes. A quick calculation on the crowd queueing outside reckoned we would wait about two hours to see it.

In MONA’s defence, the weather turned nasty and we did not roam the grounds, so probably missed a few things.  One floor was largely vacant; a new exhibition is going in and will be open next week. Good luck with that.  We considered going back the next day when the weather was better but really couldn’t be bothered.  Glad I didn’t take a helicopter.

The next day was Bruny Island day. We hoped to take the boat explorer around the southern part of the coast. It is not accessible by car and features some stunning shorelines and an abundance of wildlife.  Alas it was completely booked out – one of the hazards of travelling without a fixed itinerary is that we don’t know where we will be until a few days beforehand. Despite this, we drove 40min south west of Hobart and took the vehicular ferry across to the island. 

We stopped at the Quarantine station. It was founded after an outbreak of smallpox in the late 1800’s and remained operational until 1986.  It has been used to inter Germans during WW1 and saw its peak afterwards quarantining returning diggers at the time of the Spanish Flu pandemic. We met another new best friend, Martin the caretaker, on vocational internship from UQ.

A drive around the dirt roads on the northern part of the island uncovered some pretty coves and beaches and a Cheese factory. Again, it was crowded, so we only got to try one cheese, something called “tom”. No one liked it, so we left. 

North and South Bruny are connected by an isthmus. Right in the middle is a lookout, the islands highest point. It afforded us lovely views in all directions. 

After that we ventured south to the Bruney Island berry farm. You can pick your own berries here, but since I am the only one who eats them, we decided to have lunch instead.  I was fortunate enough to have a very kind lady approach us at Rocky Cape with a huge bucket of raspberries. Her husband had picked them that morning and she was giving them away – I helped lighten her load. Delicious.

It’s probably a good time to also confess that I have been hitting the cherry and apricot stalls. Again, no one else is keen on them so I get the lot. The cherries are sublime.

We noodled around the island some more and then it was time to get the ferry back . We pondered what Bruny Islanders call Tasmanians, if the Tasmanians call us mainlanders? The trip back to Hobart was a scenic one, taking in the Huon Valley and a number of sweet towns, one called Cygnet. Cygnet was hosting a Folk festival this weekend and we encountered a number of beatniks and young boys dressed in tuxedo’s. Still wondering about that one.

We drive to Port Arthur tomorrow to continue our adventure.  Not  long till it’s over, so we will see you all again soon. Then I can really tell you what I think about MONA.