Hobart

Having thoroughly enjoyed our time in Lorne and Benwerrin, we decided it was time to explore more of this incredible country and go somewhere we hadn’t initially thought we’d be able to go: Tasmania!

We had a very early start for our flight to Hobart (we were up before the sun again) and so we arrived into the city centre just as everyone else were getting started with their day. This meant we were able to indulge in a Second Breakfast and cup of caffeine before we set about exploring a new place.

After a brief breakfast stop and feeling slightly re-energised, we found ourselves wandering towards some of the museums that can be found in the city centre and on the waterfront.

The museum was very interesting, featuring exhibits about the native animal species, white settlers and indigenous people with snippets of history on them all. It was nice to see something address the Aboriginal history, albeit still in terms of the European settlers and the clashes from that.

Pretty museumed out for the day, we realised we were able to find and check in to our hotel for the next few days, and so we made our way via the scenic route to our Hobart base.

The scenic route in this case being Battery Point, with some of the oldest homes and buildings in Hobart nestled in this area, it made for a nice walk through.

The next day we put on our Art Hats and got ready for a full day at MONA or the Museum of Old and New Art. Upon various recommendations we opted to take the ferry to Mona from the city centre.

Arriving by water allowed for a beautiful view of the approach, I wonder if they got a bond villain architect to design it?

The above scene shows how popular Mona is, fortunately however the crowd disperses over the vast site of the gallery quickly and left us to our own wanderings.

After exploring outside we decided it was high time to head inside and see what the gallery itself had to offer.

Much of the gallery itself is actually underground and there are nods to this throughout the building.

There are no signs or labels on the works in Mona, but every visitor is given a device with all the information one could want about the artworks in the gallery, there are even interviews and pieces written by the owner himself. The O can locate you in the gallery and tell you about any nearby artworks, oh and they’re all iPods. It’s quite fun to be somewhere with no expense spared and no need for the usual corporate interference. They have a sense of humour and are happy to experiment.

We found ourselves in the temporary exhibition “The Museum of Everything” which features the works of people who don’t fall within the traditional realms of Artist or the Art Institutions. It was fascinating and the variation of work were of a wide spectrum.

We had been wandering round for a few hours by the time we came to the end of the Museum of Everything. We decided it was time for lunch and some sunlight, so we headed back up to ground level and enjoyed a lovely lunch in the sun.

After lunch it was time to tackle the permanent exhibition: 2 further floors of works from all over the world and in all sorts of mediums.

Possibly the most well known – or most talked about – work is Cloaca. A belgian artist (with the help of scientists and engineers) has created a machine that digests food like a human stomach and produces what a human stomach does too… It was actually pretty fascinating to hear about how it works and why, and we managed to catch a “feeding time” which is not something I was ever expecting to witness.

After about 7 hours in Mona we were thoroughly full to the brim with Art for the day and decided to head back up to the surface once more and enjoy the on-site bar and winery before it was time to catch the ferry back to the city.

The next day the weather was slightly less on the “Bright and Sunny” but it didn’t deter us from wandering around Hobart.

We had been told that the old women’s prison was worth a visit and so we headed there.

They had shown the old plans and the way in which the prison had been laid out in its time of use, with small stories about the women who were imprisoned or who worked there.

The prison was interesting and told a lot of the lesser known tales of the first European settlers to Tasmania.

Around lunchtime when we had finished up at the museum we noticed an interesting building popping up over the trees.

We decided to stop in here for lunch and sample a beer or two…

Unfortunately the first meal James was given accidentally had meat in it so when we let them know we were given many apologies, a replacement and free beers. We were also given a free beer token by one of the cruise ship tourists who had visited the bar. When James went to thank them for the token we were given further tokens! I’d say lunch was a success!

We took a slow walk back into town where there were a few more parks.

Our original park choice had been closed off for some paving work happening and so we found ourselves back on the waterfront further out of the town.

This was all well and good as we walked passed the old regatta stands; however it quickly became apparent that we were not able to make it back into the centre along the waterfront.

Fortunately we found our way back – on foot- and were able to rest up before tomorrow where we’d be heading out of the city and into greater Tasmania!

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time in Hobart, it’s a lovely place to explore and we’re excited to see what else Tasmania has to offer!

Hatti x