Tasmania, Australia - On the Road.

The last glimpses of Tasmania will come from the road. It is a bit of a compilation of stop offs while cruising about the coolest of islands, yes I do mean that in two ways.  This is about some wineries, some beaches and some happiness, ok, a lot of happiness.

Just round the corner from the gorgeous Wineglass Bay is this little place, Freycinet Vineyard. It is a little over touristified but still a nice place and some pleasant wines, but when the website has a quote from 2008, you know it needs some help.

Where to next? The Devil's Corner, a wine I just recently saw in the UK, too! The Sparkling was lovely and fresh, but the Resolution Pinot was outstanding.

They also have some great snacks available.

I went with the coffee instead, with this view I didn't want to be distracted.

The quaint Spring Vale Winery, their had a nice Pinot, but their Gewürztraminer was a touch sweet for me.

Spiky Beach and its little conservation park. Very cute. 

Spiky Bridge, not sure how this convict built bridge got its name.....

MOMA, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Wow. Just wow.

Like many people, I am truly not the world's most arty person. That means in relation to both creation and observation. I would struggle to tell a Rothko from a Lego but that may be his simplicity. That said I had heard lots of interesting things about Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art. So, we decided to hit it up while we were staying with the coolest kids in Hobart, the Timsar family.

Entrancing the Entrance.

Symbolic

The strange mirrored entrance, I wonder what birds think of it....

A welded intricate industrial art.

You do need to start the right way, coffee with a view.

A light view.

When you enter, you go down three floors into the ground. You get given "The O" which is an audio/reading guide that can give you as much or as little info as you like, all in an iPhone. Seriously good stuff.

The four entrances to the temporary rooms. On the Origin of Art. It was AMAZING. With four guest curators.

Flicker art.

It explored things like art and the impact on the brain.

The brain.

Simpleton and the Brain. 

Some antiques and some antiques.

Who wouldn't like to eat from this? 

Nude archer.

I loved the lighting.

Yayoi Kusama the 80-something Japanese artist.

Modern art can be simple

Interesting

Odd.

Creative.

Just plain gross.

And depressing.

Sidney Nolan's snake.

The great digester, it creates its own poop.... art you say.

Julius Popp's Bit.fall

Is well worth it!

Mt Wellington/Kunanyi, Hobart, Tasmania

Mt Wellington/Kunanyi is the impressive igneous mountain towering over the city of Hobart. I can remember the first time I ever visited here. It was freezing cold, windy, and covered in snow. Yes, it was just the end of Winter, and so that was expected. Whereas this time, we went and it was summer. Meaning that we had some really nice blue sky in-between white fluffy clouds..... for about 20 minutes. Then, in came a quick front, it smashed us with wind and even hailed while we were there. Then it happily returned to sunshine. That, to me, is the essence of Tasmania (Tassie to most Australians). I recall when living there working on Christmas Day and it snowed! This is in the middle of summer.... Yes, Tasmania is a completely different world to the rest of Australia.

This has to be one of the better toilet views in the world. 

Down the hill to Hobart.

A panorama from the top

Another panorama clearly

One of the walkways to a viewpoint.

As it got a little wild outside we popped into the observatory to ride out the storm. I love the reflections of people here.

and here.

I think we were getting close to that on the day we were there.

Here is the hail, wind, rain..... scary but fun.

It was hard to walk around, let alone get across the car park to the car!

Then to show you the contrast, as the front came from the SE here on the NW side of the mountain the rain created steamy situations on the road to the peak.

Worth the drive up to the top. If I had more time, and more appropriate clothing, I would have tried to take one of the walking trail to the top.