Hobart, Australia

Today was our big visit to MONA, the Museum of New and Old Art. It could put Hobart on the map similar to how the Guggenheim Museum did for Bilbao. Almost everyone we met on this trip, when we mentioned we were going to Hobart, asked if we were visiting MONA.

We had pre-booked our tickets (it’s timed entry), as well as the dedicated ferry from Hobart harbour up the River Derwent. I upgraded to the ‘Posh Pit’ on the 25-minute ferry ride based on reviews that said it was worthwhile.

We were up early so had a leisurely breakfast at our Airbnb. Heather had a moka pot coffee, she’ll be an expert on every type of coffee maker by the time we’re done this trip! She had bought ground coffee beans from a little store on Bruny Island, which made great coffee. Also we had fresh mango, strawberries, blueberries and lychee, all local (Australian) and in season. Mmm good.

Wandered down to the waterfront, we were a bit early so checked out the Salamanca Market which is open on Saturdays. It’s huge, with dozens of stalls selling pretty high quality crafts. We didn’t have much time to browse, just as well as it’s too early in the trip to be accumulating stuff.

The MONA ferry lady was right on top of things as we arrived. Made sure we had our tickets ready on our phones, and that we had downloaded the O app, which we’d use to tour the art.

At 10:15am she lined us up, a separate line for posh pit and regular tickets. The lines were both about the same length - so much for the exclusivity! But as we boarded, the posh pit folks were seated in comfy chairs and then we had sparkling wine and canapés on the ride over :) plus, we were in the front half of the boat, for the all-important view of the approach to MONA. The complex sits mostly below ground level, and the entry is part of the experience.

Anyways the museum staff were very efficient at herding everyone. We had our passes scanned to enter, and then descended down three floors below ground level to start touring the gallery.

There were quite a few works that struck us, probably cause the gallery does try to be provocative.

Anyways it took us about 2.5 hours to get back to ground level. By that time we were out-galleried, so walked over to the various restaurants on-site. Had lunch at Moorilla Wine Bar.

I had originally booked our return ferry for 4pm but it was easy to change to 3pm at the ticket counter. Waited outside in the gorgeous weather (about 25C and sunny), and then caught the ferry back to Hobart. We had a cappuccino and assorted cakes in posh pit, which probably covered the cost difference :)

Walked back home. Hobart has a very compact walkable city core. Unrelated, people don’t jaywalk at all here.

For dinner, figured we’d just walk around Murray St and Elizabeth St and pick a restaurant that appealed to us, and hope we could get a table for two on a Saturday evening. We ended up at Dāna Eating House which was excellent.