Hobart: 24th and 25th March

We had a work catch up day on Sunday and didn’t do anything until we went for a walk in the late afternoon. It was still a bit cold but mostly fine.

We wandered down and around the town, which was largely closed except for the many bars and hotels.

We had dinner in the restaurant on the ground floor at front left.

Steve and Fiona drove to the Women’s Factory, which is what they called the former women’s convict penitentiary. Their description of the hardships endured by those women was pretty sobering. You do have to wonder how people can be so cruel to one another.

We saw some interesting and varied architecture on our walk around the CBD. It’s a pretty place all in all and they have done well looking after the heritage buildings while also progressing with modern developments.

The chimney is part of the old brickworks.

There is quite a bit of interesting public art

We joined the others for dinner at a restaurant on the parallel pier. Not sure of the name but it had very nice food. I enjoyed my lamb and veg and Mike enjoyed his pork.

We had arranged to go to MONA the Museum of Old and New Art, on Monday. We had pre booked tickets for 10am which is when it opens. There is a ferry that goes across from the wharf opposite but it takes longer and you have to specify a return time so we elected to drive the 15 minute journey.

It is set in a vineyard on the side of the harbour. The museum itself appears as a collection of sculpted buildings and artworks with no obvious way in, but I think that finding your way is all part of the experience.

It’s certainly a very impressive structure, especially from the inside. It is built into the site of a former rock quarry and most of the museum is underground.

This wrought iron concrete truck on a trailer is amazing.

You start on the lower floor and this is the view back up the circular lift well. There is a circular stairwell beside.

We really enjoyed the visit but not all of the exhibits, which is normal. I didn’t photo the yucky stuff.

This is a giant rotating work that is above you on the lower floor but which you can also look down on from a different level

This was amazing. The words are actually water droplets with light shone on them. Different words cascade down constantly. We were all fascinated. So clever.

Looking down from above. The words roll down continuously and are seemingly random, though probably not random at all.

This reminded me of my nanny’s lounge wall.

The White House by Ai Weiwei. The wooden structure is on top of these crystal ball things.

This was weird. A cross between a ginger beer factory and the matrix. Evidently they feed the flasks a couple of times each day. It all bubbles away constantly.

We stopped for lunch at about 1.30 and found this nice restaurant which is part of the complex. We’d have been quite happy at the more cafe type place but there were no inside tables and it was starting to rain! We shared our favourite pieces over lunch. Mike and I independently chose the same pieces.

These are 18th and 19th century model travelling globes. Inside the cases are either maps of the heavens or of the seas. They appear to be part of a collection of there must have been about 20 of them. So beautiful. Mikes and my favourites.

Fiona’s favourite was the cascading water words sculpture and Steve found a Picasso ceramic vase.

Steve and I got the roasted King Dory (some fish). Very nice but not as substantial as the risotto

While at lunch we discovered that Fiona had been to some strange tunnel and oil place that the rest of us hadn’t seen. She was telling us about a man that had got oil on his bag, which had dripped on him and on the floor and the assistant had paper towels on hand to clean up the mess. Intrigued we went back to discover this grotto.

Then you look down onto this weird reflection. The black is engine oil and the silver thing is a metal platform.

There’s a triangular platform that you walk out on (it’s kind of like walking along a metal boat which is fixed and not floating) and the oil comes right to the top of the metal sides. You can’t really tell it’s oil except at the edges (and except for the smell).

Very loud music plays as you walk along this tunnel. It’s fully immersive

We also discovered this library room we hadn’t seen before. There is no writing anywhere

Quite a fascinating place.

A shade and seating area. However the scale is all funny and you can walk around the back but it slopes away so you disappear from view.

Have I mentioned that I loved this sculpture of a wrought iron truck 🤪

We had a relaxing afternoon catching up on emails and then had cheese and crackers with wine in Steve and Fiona’s room. A good way to end the day.