Hobart
The hostel that I was staying in was called
the pickled frog, and it was very green. It was a typical youth hostel with 16
bunks in a room. Since I had gone to bed so early I was up early as well. I
went to Salamanca market. It is a fantastic market that Hobart puts on every
Saturday. I tried tons of things and I bought things that I thought I needed
but I didn’t really. I also went to a few small galleries in the area. I really
liked women’s art gallery. There was another gallery, I didn’t care for it but
they had a parrot who was pretty cute.
Next I walked up to Cascade Brewery. I missed the tour but I ran into
the med students from the hike and we had lunch together. After lunch they
headed back into the city for a pub-crawl and I went on a theatre tour of The
Female Factory. I think got the better deal. Louisa’s walk was a fantastic
production that really brought the historic women’s prison to life. I went out
to dinner for a really nice steak at the Ball & Chain and afterward I was
supposed to do a ghost tour of battery point and the harbor. Dinner was amazing
but I was miserable afterward. I don’t
know if I got food poisoning or if my stomach just wasn’t used to it but I was
doubled over in pain. I caught a taxi the 1km back to the hostel, took panadol,
and went to sleep. I woke up really sick a few hours later but after that was
fine.
The second day in Hobart I went to the
Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). I caught the ferry over at 9 and stayed till
it closed at 6. It is an absolutely amazing place. They block out all of your
senses and then flood the ones that they want with art of all types. It was
incredible. I had to take a break every hour or so. MONA is owned by David Walsh a gambler who
wade Millions and then invested in art. He is very eccentric and has some
interesting views on life. He wanted to attract women and leave a legacy so he
opened MONA. The museum has transformed Hobart positively in terms of art and
tourism. It loses about $3million annually.
This may seem like a bad thing but David doesn’t mind. The main reason
is that admission is free for Tasmanians and low for everyone else. The museum
gives you an iPod, which gives you “helpful” information about each piece. They
give you at least the title and artist information for each piece of art but
then there are extras like artist interviews, art facts, poems, David’s
thoughts, and music to accompany the art. You can look at my tour here. http://mona.net.au/theo/
My iPod died toward the end of the day so it missed a
few of my viewings. The virtual tour doesn’t do it justice at all but at least
you can get an idea. MONA also brews their own beer and makes their own wine.
If I had to pick a least favorite part of the day it would be the food and
wine. It was fine but not as spectacular as everything else. When I got back I
curled up in a ball to recover for a bit. MONA really is confrontational to all
of your senses. You leave amazed and in need of a hug. After a bit of recovery
I went on the ghost tour that I had skipped the night before. Not one of the
highlights of Hobart. Oh well.
Last day in Hobart I took a bus ride up to
Mt. Wellington the mountain that overlooks Hobart. It is also the 49th
tallest mountain in Tasmania. I think a few more on the overland track are in
the top 10 but other than that I don’t know the list. I walked the 4 hours down the mountain and
back into the city again with my pack because I was headed to the airport. I
would have walked to the airport too but I didn’t have time to walk 18km so I
booked a bus and got a sausage roll instead. It was no normal sausage roll; It
was an absolutely amazing Moroccan lamb roll with tomato chutney. I had heard
about it from the med students and it totally lived up to reports. Then off to
the airport and back to Melbourne, where my fantastic housemate picked me up.
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