Mad MONA

Another aspect of Hobart is MONA, now, this is not the children’s cartoon caricature, no, it’s the Museum of Old and New Art. It was started by David Walsh as he attempted to put back into society after he had made millions at gambling and wine making. The museum is quite a way up the Derwent estuary, so Dave W has booked us on the ferry to MONA, unknown to us he’s booked us in the Posh Pit. What a great idea, turn left as you get on the cat, sit in a comfy leather seat and drink bubbles while eating canapes, awesome.

X-Rays but what's the subject!

Cement mixer on low loader

The river approach is the best way to get your first view of the museum, along with the magnificent views along the Derwent and of the houses overlooking the river. There are 99 steps up to the museum entrance and the first exhibit visible is a low loader with a cement mixer on the back, but it’s made from galvanised filigree metal. 

The prism house

There’s also a prism house and a filigree metal chapel. As we enter the museum, we’re given a programmed iphone which tells us about each of the art works, its artist and as it says “art wank" the collection is huge and varied, Dave and Toni do a great job navigating us through the floors, which incidentally are underground, and corridors to see all the exhibits. The art ranges through every medium imaginable, paint, electromagnetic, water, metal, air, sound and light. It’s all very mind blowing and, in my case induces an attack of vertigo in the blue light tunnel!!

Water and metal beads connected to internet search

Live subject with tattoo art

Back on the ferry in the posh pit, more bubbles and canapes before a stroll back to our “pod” for a bit of washing, packing and relaxation before a final evening meal together at Peacock and Jones. 
The restaurant is warm and intimate with a floating gas fire in the centre of the room, lots of wood and leather comfy chairs. The meal and wine are equally impressive with heritage tomatoes and olive tapenade to start and Lamb with Farro, roasted vegetables and feta to follow. Good food, good wine and the most important ingredient in any day good company makes for another perfect day.

Salamanca Market to Battery Point

Antarctic Explorer's Statue

How do you describe a perfect day, well, it probably goes something like this. Got up when we woke up, enjoyed breakfast together looking at an amazing view, wandered down to the 300+ stall Salamanca market minutes from our apartment, spent 2 to 3 hours wandering through the stalls admiring the craft work, have a coffee in a bar, lunch in our apartment on the deck, then walk to Battery Point via the old town before returning home. Oh and on the way plenty of chat and laughs, sounds pretty perfect to me.

The evening is spent having a lovely Italian meal at Maldini’s. Yes, it was the perfect day.

Old Houses in Battery Point

Bruny Island

We set off on another blue skied, sunny morning to drive to Kettering, no, not in Northamptonshire, it’s just outside of Hobart where we’ll catch our ferry to Bruny Island. The ferry is a small roll on/roll off ferry and only takes 20 minutes to cross to the island and then we’re all off travelling in convoy on the one road from the ferry until gradually cars peel off to go to either the other side of the North Bruny Island or the whisky distillery. We stop at the cheese company and try a flight of cheeses but none of them are to our liking.

"The Neck", Bruny Island

The next highlight on Bruny Island is the lookout at, The Neck. It’s here that we can see the small strip of sand bar which connects the North and South Islands and the stunning turquoise blue sea on either side, fringed with white sand. There is some debate between us whether this strip of land is called an isthmus or a tombolo and after a google search, it’s clear that Toni is right it is a tombolo. Below the board walk and steps are numerous holes which are the burrows of the penguins which nest here. We’re far too early to catch a glimpse of them.

We’ve been advised to have lunch at the Bruny Hotel which is set on a picture postcard bay on South Bruny. All the tables are reserved when we go inside but they manage to squeeze us in on a table for four. We comment that it’s strange that all the tables seem to be reserved and within half an hour they are all full of people who have pre-booked. The meal is excellent with good country portions of salmon, battered fish and breaded calamari, all freshly caught in the seas around Bruny.

Adventure Bay

The lighthouse is down a dirt track road which will probably take an hour to reach it, not an attractive option. A team decision to go to Adventure Bay and do a walk to the headland there is a much better option. The weather is not looking quite so good now, with spits and spots of rain but the scenery is still beautiful with light turquoise sea lapping over silvery sand and dark twisted trees framing the view. 

Echidna

We pass an echidna busily digging for ants and not in the slightest bit concerned that we are so near to him. The path wins through the trees and shrub to a small rocky bay. The return journey takes us past some small wallaby’s foraging for food. Dave and I thoroughly enjoyed this bush walk but are very pleased to not have seen any snakes!

Toni and the 2 Dave's

A Convicts Tale

Port Arthur

The drive to Port Arthur today quite frankly blows us away. It’s through thickly wooded forests, past sapphire blue bays and the occasional galvanised metal house. The beauty of the surroundings belies the awful history of the place we are visiting. 

Port Arthur

It is the convict settlement of Van Demons land as it was then called, a beautiful and awful place all in one. The convicts from Britain where treated dreadfully for even the most minor of infringements and so many died. But equally the place they built in such a stunningly beautiful place defies imagination. Jet, our guide for the first section of the tour tries to paint a picture of life in the colony and does a reasonable job but for me it’s Christine the boat guide who fills in the spaces on the canvas.

Port Arthur Isle of the Dead

Our drive back via “the Blow Hole” and isthmus separating Port Arthur from the main part of Tasmania, where we stop to check out the view. The Tasmania Tuna Club are having a bit of a barbie with the lady in charge giving out her orders. It only remains for us to do a bit of shopping to stock up for a BBQ of our own on the deck overlooking the city, yummy.

Us outside Port Arthur church

Wombat Hill to Hobart

We’re driving to the airport today for a flight to Tasmania to meet our Aussie friends, Dave and Toni but we’ve got time to waste first. I’ve seen on the map the botanical gardens here in Daylesford are at Wombat Hill, I’m itching to see them. It is a beautiful area covered in trees but there are very few views, in fact you can’t see the town just tree tops. We even try climbing to the top of “The Tower” as it’s denoted on the map, still no joy, just trees. We do manage to find a begonia display in a locked glasshouse but after Ballarat, it’s a bit disappointing.

Honour Avenue

On we drive, through Glenlyon which has one of the oldest stores in Australia, but then they all say they have the oldest, tallest, longest etc. it’s hard to know who to believe. On through Macedon where there is an area called Honour Avenue. It’s a street lined with 154 oak trees planted to honour those men and women who enlisted for service in the WW 1 and at this time of year the leaves are just beginning to be tinged with the golden colours of autumn.

As we drive further, we’re both anxious to be near the airport ready to off hire the car by 4pm so we stop at Westfield Shopping centre only 5Km from the airport and surprisingly enjoy an excellent roast pork dinner, 4 laps of the centre are required to help settle the feast afterwards. Finally, we’re off hiring the car at Melbourne airport and into check-in and it’s here we realise there are 2 planes to Hobart today and we’re booked onto the second one. Cheekily we ask if we can transfer onto the first one which leaves in an hour, they agree but tell us to hurry as bag drop closes in 5 minutes! It’s now a speed test to check our bags in with the check in lady gabbling through the statutory precautions before tagging our bags and sending them off down the travellator. Now we’re running to get through security, stripping off belts, watches and coats as we go. Even our puffer jackets try to join in, exploding out of the case to gallop down the belt to be scanned. We arrive at gate 9 which is of course the furthest away, out of breath and red in the face, but we’ve made the flight. The flight to Hobart is so short no sooner have we taken off than the air stewards race down the cabin throwing drinks and a snack at us. Minutes later they’re retrieving the rubbish ready for landing!

View of Hobart from Avalon Apartment

Dave and Toni meet us from the plane and drive us to our city centre apartment, and wow, what a great job Dave has done finding this gem. The Avalon Apartment is at the top of an office block with great views, impressive artwork and even a bath on the deck overlooking the city. We cannot believe our luck in staying in such an amazing apartment. We elect to eat at the local “pub” tonight, The Astor Grill, and it turns out to be a very high-class restaurant, not at all pub like. Steak, salmon and asparagus risotto are all amazing and accompanied by a few glasses of wine and good chat make for an excellent first evening in Hobart.

Wine Tours & Walks

The plan for today is a morning wine tour and we’ve been advised by Clay to “have a big brekkie”, so it’s down to the local café for coffee and a toastie to start today. Clay and his wife run Daylesford Wine Tours and today Clay picks us up and while driving us round gives us information about the Daylesford area, its people and their attitudes to life in general. He’s a good story teller, which fits in with his other profession as an actor. Clay takes us to the first winery, Fontanella, which is really laid back and personal as we’re the only people on the tour and he has the keys to the tasting room. It feels like we’ve broken in! We’re guided through 7 wines, starting with prosecco, white and finally red, it’s hard to decide which is the best. The next stop is at Passing Cloud, a much bigger wine producer, I didn’t realise that the producers here take the grapes and process them for the small vineyards keeping each of their batches separate. The pressing room resembles a clinical laboratory with numerous labelled barrels all racked up at one end of the shed. Again, we’re given a selection of 5 wines, mainly reds this time and much heavier than those at Fontanella. The final stop is at a distillery that produces, gin, vodka, port and herbal liquors. I opt for gin and Dave for port. I come to the conclusion that I really prefer the London dry taste, I’m obviously a traditional gin and tonic girl.

More than a bit merry, Clay drops us back in Daylesford and we stagger to the bakery to pick up lunch. A walk in the fresh air may help clear our heads. Daylesford Lake is a beautiful area with several good picnicking spots. There are just a few people walking round the lake but lots of geese, brown ducks, cockatoos, to name a few. All round the lake there are the most beautiful houses and apartments ranging from the traditional outback style tin roofed house, to an old restored heritage house to an ultra-modern steel and glass house. It’s a great place to dream where you might like to live.

Daylesford Lake

Royal Daylesford Hotel veranda

Still in dreaming mood, the veranda outside our room is a good place to sit with a drink and watch the people and traffic passing by, old cars, new cars, huge trucks and tractors. We go out to eat slightly earlier tonight, arriving at Frango’s just after 7.30pm and just as well, the kitchen is getting ready to shut for the night! A quick decision is required, slow braised lamb with tzatziki and Greek salad for Dave, spicy Thai beef salad for me and oh boy was it spicy!!

Daylesford

Well, what a difference a night makes! After a stormy night, the temperature has gone from 32⁰C yesterday to 12⁰C today and it feels freezing especially as it’s windy and raining. We’re driving to Daylesford today via Ararat and Ballarat, the roads are sprinkled with small branches, leaves and puddles.

Ararat is a convenient place for coffee, and it turns out a convenient place for a quick fringe trim for me. Mission accomplished, we continue to Ballarat, stopping at Lake Wendouree. Our walk around the lake boardwalk is so short it’s non-existent because it’s so cold and wet. The old lake pavilion is now a restaurant called Pipers by the Lake which has been beautifully restored and is serving very good pumpkin and sweet potato soup which is very welcome. The Ballarat Botanical gardens opposite are beautiful especially the indoor begonia house. Not only are the flowers amazing, it’s dry and warm too!

Begonias in Ballarat Botanical Gardens

We’re staying at the Royal Daylesford Hotel tonight. It’s a well restored old hotel and our room has a door onto an upper veranda overlooking the main crossroads in Daylesford. The town of Daylesford is equally old and now restored, the main street has a lovely selection of old buildings now used as small shops, cafes and restaurants. A walk uphill out of Daylesford leads us to the Farmers Arms Hotel which is an iconic old building which still serves as a bar and restaurant. As we enjoy a drink, the bar gradually fills up with men calling in for a drink presumably on the way home. Afternoon gives way to evening and after a lesson by the young barmaid in turning an air conditioning unit to a heater I am finally warm enough to get ready to go out!

Tonight, we fancy a steak and we’ve seen a steakhouse advertised in a doorway, it looks promising. There’s no frontage just a door, up the stairs is a two-room restaurant with the smaller looking like a gentlemen’s club complete with real wood fire, gorgeous. The steak is amazing and according to the waitress just for lunch time, but they’ll do it now for us, if they think it isn’t big enough, they’re wrong!