Tassie Day 2: Hobart

Having landed in Hobart the day before, and having spent the night at the local airport hotel, we took it slow in the morning. Partly because this was vacation after all, partly because this was the last night for a week and a half that we would have a proper bed, partly because this was the last time in a week and a half that there would be a TV, but mostly because we could only pick up our camper-van at 12:30h.

But even the nicest budget hotel room gets boring after a while, so we packed our bags, dropped them off at reception and went for a walk.

The destination of the walk was Barilla Bay, a seafood restaurant, store and oyster farm. Unfortunately there were no tours of the farm that day, so we only browsed the store and left again.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was time to pick up the camper-van. So we took the shuttle to the airport to collect our mobile home for the next week and a half. (See title image.)

Since we still had half a day in Hobart, we decided to follow the tip from colleagues and tourism guidebooks and go see Mona. Mona is a “Museum of Old and New Art”, and is more or less the private collection of millionaire David Walsh.

One of the center-pieces of the collection is the Cloaca Professional: a machine that creates crap. Literally. It emulates the human digestive system, gets fed twice a day and shits once. Hence the smell.

All in all, I found the museum a bit underwhelming. While the buildings and grounds themselves are what I would consider good architecture, the collection itself did not really leave an impression. Maybe I am just too traditional and too used to the state galleries in Europe.

Leaving from Mona, we decided that we would drive to Richmond (20 minutes away) to go to the campsite there. This would be the first of three nights we spend there.