Hobart - Part 4

Written on: 16.04.12

Yesterday I went to MONA (Museum of Old and New Art). Actually I biked there! I got a free bike at the museum and art gallery in the city and then I cycled the 10kilometres there. I think it’s around 10 anyway, I can’t remember what the signs said, someone said it was 13. Anyway. However far it was I could definitely feel it in my legs. Getting back on the bike after I was finished at MONA to go back to the city was absolute torture!

Outside MONA

 MONA was really good. I absolutely loved it! I was able to get a concession ticket for $10, a normal adult ticket is $20. But it would have been worth the $20 as well. There seemed to be more new art than old, and usually I’m not good with new art (completely white canvas with one red line anyone?), but it was actually really good. It’s completely uncensored and some of it I guess is quite controversial and it makes you think. There is a lot about sex and death, but also some funny things like a water feature that makes words and a fat car and plants growing in plastic. If you ever go to Hobart, or anywhere in Tasmania, you HAVE TO go to MONA. Someone also told me that they change things around and get some new thing every 3 months or something, so even if you’ve been it’s worth going back. I’m not allowed to share pictures from it unfortunately.

There is one exhibit at MONA you have to line up for: the Gallery of death, or Death Gallery. And you’re only allowed in 2 at a time. I had to wait 30 minutes to get in.  There was another girl on her own further back in the line, so when it was my turn I asked if she wanted to go in with me so she wouldn’t have to wait. The exhibit, was good, but wasn’t really worth waiting that long for. The thing is; they were just wasting space in there, if they had set things up differently they could have let more people in at a time.

View from outside MONA

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Today a girl from the hostel and I rented a car (she drove, I was the map reader) and went on a mini-road-trip. I didn’t really want to have to spend more money, but as it meant I got to see a little bit more of Tasmania for less than it would cost to pay for a proper tour I decided to treat myself (I tend to do that a little too much….).

 We went to Richmond first. There are loads of beautiful buildings but, as usual, you have to pay if you want to go into the gaoul or the model village or anything, so we just walked around and looked at the buildings and then we walked to the oldest bridge in Australia and the oldest continuously used Catholic Church in Australia.

 After Richmond we went to see the Tesselated Pavements. It’s so impressive that it’s all made by nature, it looks like it’s man-made!

 At the Tesselated Pavements I managed to drop my camera in the sand… Yeah… It’s not working anymore… It’s only 9 months old! Oooops!! Hopefully I will be able to take it into a shop and get it fixed, they should be able to just use one of those air machines or whatever and blow the sand out of it. I borrowed my friend’s camera for the rest of our trip but didn’t take many pictures anyway.

After the Tesselated Pavements we continued driving toward Port Arthur, stopping at the Tasman Blowhole, Tasman Arch and Devils Kitchen on the way. I have to say: one of the best things about driving your own car is that you can stop wherever you want to.

Since you there is nothing to see at Port Arthur unless you pay to go in, we just went to a lookout and saw it from a distance. We’re poor backpackers! I would have loved to go there, but I just couldn’t justify spending even more money today.

 After Port Arthur we went to White Beach before heading back to Hobart. White Beach is nothing exiting; we only went there because the name made it sound a little bit interesting, like it would be as white as Whitehaven Beach.

All day we saw a lot of road-kill!! It was horrible! At one point I saw a wallaby that had been hit and I swear I saw its ear twitch!! I regret not stopping to check, but I didn’t have any gloves or anything. We actually stopped at a chemist’s about an hour later and bought some disposable gloves, just because we felt so bad about going past so many dead animals without checking them. I found the number to call if we found anything alive, and then we stopped and checked the road-kills that looked fairly fresh. When I went to BonorongWildlife Park there was a baby wombat there that had been found alive in its mother’s pouch after the mother had been killed by a car. However, all the road-kill that I checked had all been dead so long that if there had been anything in the pouches that would have been dead too as the babies can’t survive that long without milk. I felt better about checking them, but at the same time I’m glad they had all been dead so long that I didn’t have to check the pouches. I wish I could have gone back to the one I thought twitched its ear, but it had been so long and we couldn’t remember where it was we had seen it.

We drove a total of 255 kilometres. For the car and fuel we only paid $45 each altogether, and I think that we got too see a lot for that amount of money. It was a good day trip.

Like I’ve said before I would love to come back to Tasmania. Maybe I’ll get a 3-month tourist visa one day and use all that time just to explore Tasmania. I have to save up some money first though so that I can pay for all the various attractions. Hobart also has the best tap water so far in Australia.

By the way, if you find any hurt animals or orphaned baby animals in Tasmania, especially around Hobart, you can call Bonorong Wildlife Park 24/7 on: (03) 6268 1184. I’m not sure how big an area they cover, but at least if you call them and it’s outside their area they can probably give you another number to call or something. And always carry disposable gloves in your car.