Trip Report Contents
Day Six: Back to Hobart & The MONA (Hugging Tassie’s
curves)
Quick Summary: We loaded up
and headed back east, to Hobart, saw the famous MONA, turned in the rental car,
and had our last meal in Australia.
<><><><><><>
Leaving Strahan
We left Strahan much as it was most of the time we
were there: cloudy, misty, cool, and fairly deserted. After a quick
breakfast at our “usual” spot—a local, Tasmanian chain called Banjos, we went
back to the room to brush our teeth and gather our things for the long drive
back across Tasmania. We wanted to visit the MONA, so we had to move
pretty quickly to fit in the drive, the museum visit, and to get back in time
to hand in the car and get to the hotel. It would be a long day.
The Drive Back
Luckily, I had become completely comfortable with
driving on the left side of the road. And, since we’d traversed the
island earlier that week, taking the same route, I was somewhat familiar with
the road. So, we managed to make the trip back so much more quickly than
on the way out. On the way out we’d had spectacular sunshine and
naturally stopped often to take photos; this direction, however, I moved the
car along as quickly as I could safely do so, leaning into the road’s curves
and hugging them when I could see nothing oncoming. It paid off, as we
made it to MONA, on the outskirts of Hobart, pretty quickly.
 |
| Along the way we stopped at THe Hungry Wombat Cafe, for a snack |
 |
| Pretty typical offerings for a roadside place |
 |
| Um, okay... |
 |
| And, of course, there's this sign all over the place |
 |
| Tasmanian countryside |
 |
| Tasmanian countryside |
 |
| Sheep on the move |
MONA
By the time we reached MONA, it was about two o’clock
or so. We knew dinner was set for seven and we didn’t want to ruin that, but
we also didn’t want to starve, so we ducked into the wine bar and had a light
snack. Then, we headed into the museum for a look around.
 |
| Time for a snack |
 |
| Pre-museum bite |
 |
| This is what $75 looks like in Tasmania |
The MONA has gained quite a degree of interest and is
apparently quite a draw, bringing in tourists from across Australia and the
world even. The MONA—The Museum of Old and New Art—is unique not just in
its mix of old and new, but how the mix is displayed. There is no real
separation that gives you a context of what period or era it comes from:
ancient pieces are displayed next to new pieces. I suppose the idea is to
expose you to everything, to bring you to that which you’d otherwise not seek
out, but it just seemed disjointed, and not in the good way that was intended.
Then, there are the explanatories of the art.
I’m used to seeing something at a piece of art that gives at least preliminary
information. I’m also used to having electronic guides to give more
in-depth information. At MONA, there are no placards or other info posted;
instead, each visitor is given an iPod touch with GPS. Turn on the iPod
and it will display a list of the pieces near your location. This is good
in theory but was just clunky: it sometimes lost track of where it/I was,
and it wasn’t easy to use. In the end I just quit looking up stuff, as it
was taking too long and was just too much trouble. It deprives the
visitor of glancing at a description and forces the visitor to seek everything
out. This approach would seem to go against the idea of serendipity that
mixing all of the art together is supposed to lend.
Some of the Objects d’Art:
 |
| This may have been my favorite: the bar at the top, where the lights are, releases water in such a way that it spells-out words as the water drops. There was something mesmerizing about it |
 |
| ...more words... |
 |
| ...and some I didn't even get... |
 |
| Striped cat? |
 |
| Smile for the camera |
 |
| Eye(s) see you |
 |
| Cat wearing a nun's habit? |
 |
| Paperwork |
 |
| Um, you've sprung a leak or two ... or three ... or more |
 |
| Lips or a trunk? |
 |
| The word machine, from above |
 |
| Jewlery |
 |
| View of Mount Wellington from the museum |
 |
| Mount Wellington again |
 |
| Philip poses on the museum terrace |
 |
| Just a little disturbing |
 |
| The building also fancies itself a piece of art |
 |
| More of the building's interior |
 |
| Another shot from the terrace |
 |
| I'm sure it's just sleeping |
 |
| Now, this one is the one that everyone always seems to talk about: it's a device that is supposed to replicate/simulate what the human digestive system does. The "food" goes in at the left, goes through the digestive process in the various hanging devices, and ends up at the right, in a pile of waste |
 |
| Feeding time |
 |
| And, here, the guy in the lab coat points to a pile of turds and announces "And, this ... is ... a ... poo." |
 |
| Shhhh ... you'll wake her |
 |
| Another on the terrace, looking out toward Mount Wellington |
Returning the Car
The afternoon was slipping away and it was time to
head across town, to the other side of Hobart, to the airport and the car
drop-off.
 |
| Hobart traffic on the way back to the airport |
Although we hit a little bit of traffic, it wasn’t
too bad and we were soon enough back at the airport, where we dropped our stuff
at the hotel, headed to the airport, dropped the car, and went back to the
hotel to freshen up before dinner, our last meal on Tasmania.
 |
| Our car for the week: time to turn it in |
 |
| One last night in Australia ... at the Quality Inn |
The Last Supper
When I was researching this part of the trip, I
thought about how horrible it would be to be stuck with a hotel restaurant for
our last meal on Tasmania. A little research offered Barilla Bay, about a
mile north of the airport hotel. The reviews were mostly good, it was
within walking distance, and seemed like a good idea. It was pretty good,
not excellent, but good, with an excellent staff.
 |
| On the way to the restaurant we passed the airport. The roadway is directly at the end of the runway, so we could see aircraft coming in to land |
 |
Aircraft on final approach
|
 |
| Where we had our Last Supper |
 |
| My fish dinner |
 |
| Philip's dinner, which was an appetizer sampler |
After dinner we headed back to the
room to gather our bags and sort things out so our departure morning would be
as stress-free as possible. We weren’t tired but we knew we’d never make
our 4:30 wake-up if we didn’t throw the towel in and head to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment