MONA, the coolest art gallery in the world

Turns out I was half right. They do eat a lot of apples. For everything else, here’s my list of awesome things to do in Hobart:

1. Museum of Old and New Art (MONA): MONA is my favourite place on earth. I recommend it with alarming vehemence (and spittle and exclamation marks!).  The building is a strangely erotic collision of sandstone, metal and red velvet curtains that gives the whole place a slightly ’dungeon’ vibe.  The art ranges from grotesque, crude and confusing to technically exquisite and sublime. It has a bar called The Void that serves fiendishly good espresso martinis, a cafe with a view overlooking the Derwent River and a bar that serves Praxis and Muse wines that are made on the property. Maybe I was drunk the whole time or maybe it was true love? All I know is that it rocked my world.

2. Mount Wellington: If you like being really cold, a trip to the top of Mount Wellington is a must. Natureboy and I drove up there and it was 1 degree Celcius with a wind chill factor of about a gazillion on the first day of autumn. We ran to the viewing shelter, buffetted by strong winds, and looked out into … a cloud. We couldn’t see anything except for the jagged rocks and windswept heather in the near distance. For one glorious moment, the clouds parted and Hobart sparkled like a faraway fairy land.

3. Salamanca Foreshore: If you are cool (and I suspect you are), Salamanca is the place to go and eat in the company of your feathered friends. Natureboy and I tried Grape Winebar (small plate menu), Cargo (famous hoisin duck pizza) and Tricycle (order the scrambled eggs).  If you fancy a picnic, head to the Saturday morning markets to buy fresh produce such as blueberries, chilli ginger beer and fennel, cinnamon and fig bread and then pop into A Common Ground and Wursthaus Kitchen to pick up schmancy deli-style food; Bruny Island Cheese, pinot noir spiced cherries and ready made quiche and cake slices.

Giant beetroot at Salamanca Markets

4.  Hobart Royal Botanic Gardens: I confess – I am a plant nerd. I used to willingly watch Gardening Australia before it got axed. It was very exciting, then, to come face-to-face with the veggie patch made famous by the show’s former host, Peter Cundall. In said garden there was a bunny rabbit stealing lettuce which delighted me in a very Enid Blyton way. The gardens are in great nick and there is an enviable range of species on display, from the Japanese Garden to the hot house with monster begonias hanging overhead. Even if you’re not into plants, it’s a very pretty spot to soak up some of Hobart’s intermittent sunlight.

Have you been to Hobart? What did you think? What did we miss?

Lastminute in Hobart delivered two nights (Thursday and Friday) at the Blue Hills Motel for $233.50. The swanky Battery Point location was the only thing going for this unfortunate establishment. The room had all the ambience of a nursing home; mushroom pink curtains and furniture rescued from the curbside. The kindest thing I can say about this place is that the receptionist was friendly and the water pressure was excellent.

Compare this to the ultra fabulous warehouse conversion in West Hobart where we stayed in on the Saturday night for $141 and the Blue Hills ‘Bates’ Motel becomes a mouldering memory. Crisp, white linens, a modern kitchenette, a shiny white bathroom with confusing contemporary taps and a spacious lounge area make this option ultimately more luxurious. There was very little evidence to suggest that this was someone’s home. The presentation was impeccable – clean, uncluttered and comfortable. I loved it and would definitely opt for Airbnb over a hotel room if this experience is anything to go by.

Wow, MONA. If Tasmania’s new Museum of Old and New Art was a person, she’d be cool and approachable. Built by art-lover, self-made-gambling-savant and Tasmanian-made-good David Walsh, then filled with his collection of oddities, it’s a world-class museum that’d be at home in Berlin or Beijing. Instead it’s loitering on a riverbank half-an-hour by ferry outside Hobart.

At the entrance, walk in through a fun-fair mirror wall beside a tennis court. Huh? Prepare to cast off the lines of rational thinking as you descend into MONA’s belly, along ramps and nuclear-shelter tunnels, into vaults and video rooms. It’s a vast, underground, wonder-ful world of innovation and imagination – with a few Egyptian scarab beetles and mummified cats’ heads thrown in for good measure.

MONA's mouth

With you is the provocatively named ‘O’, a modified iTouch that’s soooo much more than an audio tour. The exhibits have no labels (rumour has it there were originally no signs on MONA’s public toilets either) – instead, you press the O and it locates you and offers up Artwank (written commentary), Ideas, Gonzo (a rave by David Walsh or curator Elizabeth Mead) and Media (soundtracks, interviews with the artists, music inspired by the art).

It also lets you Love or Hate an exhibit, and find out how many others feel the same. At the time of writing, Bit Fall (a waterfall of words) is the most popular, Cloaca (the eating, pooing machine) the most hated; Walsh has threatened to remove the most loved and keep the most hated works – just to keep us out of our comfort zones. And when you leave MONA, you retrieve your tour online, to re-read, relive and share it with friends.

The famous Cloaca by Wim Delvoye

The O makes MONA at once public and private, personal. There are no guided tours, there’s no jostling around exhibits. It’s often busy – the museum has had about 280,000 visitors in its first eight months and can get 3000 people a day – but it never feels crowded. And unlike a more traditional museum or art gallery, the works are not arranged thematically or chronologically; 2000-year-old artifacts rub shoulders with avante-garde artworks that don’t just push the envelope of good taste, they tear it up. Be surprised, blown away, affronted, amused, touched, involved. This is art at its finest. Run, don’t walk, to MONA.

The fat Porsche by Erwin Wurm

Go: MONA is open Wed-Mon 10am-6pm, entry $20 (it’s free for Tasmanians). Cloaca is fed twice a day, at 11am and 4pm. Also on site are a restaurant (The Source), micro-brewery (Moo Brew), winery (Moorilla Estate) and eight fantastically surreal accommodation pavilions, starting at $490 a night. MONA FOMA (Festival of Music and Art) is on 13-21 Jan 2012. See mona.net.au and mofo.net.au 

Have you been to MONA? What did you think? Were you confronted? Inspired? Outraged? Do tell!

By Maggie Videan

This is the story I don’t want anyone to read. Please don’t visit. I would like to find Hobart the same; a quiet, mostly forgotten township oozing with mix of a historic charm and organic character.

Unlike its sun bleached vacation rivals of the northern states, Hobart is best visited when it is a bit nippy. It makes for an easy getaway, as there is enough to do over a weekend to recharge your batteries without wearing you out.

Nestled behind Australia’s second oldest city is Mt. Wellington which is 1,270 feet above sea level. Hobart has Australia’s first legal casino, Wrest Point. Near Hobart is the convict historical town of Port Arthur. It still holds the world record for the worst massacre by a single gunman. Thirty-six dead. Sadly, that puts them on the map.

Hobart is best known as the destination point for the Sydney to Hobart race. I imagine that standing along the harbour front watching those yachts turn in would be quite spectacular. So, for those of us not fortunate enough to herald in the race competitors, the harbour sights and activities are just as appealing.

If your budget can stretch to the Henry Adams Hotel in the old IXL factory, that would be the premium choice for a sleepover. It’s close to everything and it’s so very charming. No matter, if you decide the Grand Chancellor is more to your liking or any other place you find, you can still enjoy a pre-dinner drink in one of its cosy bars.

All points of interest can be easily accessed on foot. Start out by just walking around the foreshore. The Elizabeth Street Pier has a range of bars and eateries to choose from. There is even accommodation above the eating complex. A whole array of boats, some resembling old sailing rigs and a multitude of fishing vessels cruise in an out. Squawking gulls and fish loving birds congregate waiting for a handout. People saunter, sit or just stand and look out to the ocean.  It does take some doing to slow right down to a Hobartian pace.

The Salamanca markets are a must on Saturday morning. Set in amongst a line of elegant 1840 sandstone terraces all in a row, the markets are a bustling, music filled and a happy place to be.

Even if you are not stocking up on your groceries for the week, the fresh, often home grown produce is a joy to behold. Bunches of wild flowers, bundles of lavender, fruit based products like whole fruit ‘straps’ and fruit cordials, sensational jams (of note- Gennaro’s Late Summer Apricot Jam and Gennaro’s Cherries in Grappa – fabulous to drop into a glass of champagne!), oils, hand spun wool items, are readily available as are funny antique and old ware sellers, and purveyors of all things kitsch and Tasmanian. Who could resist a hand knitted possum beanie or matching Tasmanian tiger and Tasmanian devil oven mitts.

Just behind the markets in a small square is a nest of little cafes, ideal to park oneself for a nice brunch before searching out the perfect wood turned Huon Pine salad bowl. The author found herself angling over the same wooden item as one K Rudd. There is however, no guarantee that your shopping compatriots will be as lofty as the PM!

In the evening, when market time is over, the street is returned to its original simple line of sandstone buildings that host great bars and restaurants. Take your pick, take your time and think about what you plan not to do the next day.  Sunday, is of course a day of rest.