MONA

Mr Harvey and I took a mini break to Hobart, Tasmania to celebrate his upcoming big 3-0. The main plan being we check out MONA, eat oysters and drink wine. Finn was having a vacation of his own at Nan and Papas.

After a super quick flight we arrived late on the Thursday afternoon. We checked into our hotel, found a great little Japanese place for dinner called Rin and followed it up by a nice pub with an open fire for a few drinks.

The next day we had breakfast at this amazing little bakery in battery point called Jackman & McRoss, a high recommendation from a good friend of mine who recently visited Hobart. This did not disappoint—the food was really well priced and tasty, and the coffee was good too. The surrounding streets were filled with beautiful old cottages. It's such a pretty city to stroll through.

Cake selection at Jackman & McRoss

Next stop, MONA ferry. This itself is a bit of a statement piece decked out with great artwork on the walls and painted in camouflage. The staff uniforms are military inspired this making more sense after visiting the gallery. 

MONA ROMA ferry

After a 20 minute picturesque trip up the Derwant river you arrive at the MONA jetty which leads up to 99 steps carved into the rock. On the left of the steps is the MONA owner's residence. What I'd do to get a little sneak peak inside. Apparently there is a section in the gallery where you can look up into his house. I looked but couldn't find it. I'm such a sticky beak! The gallery is the largest privately owned collection of art on display in Australia. The man behind MONA, David Walsh, made his fortune by designing and developing a gambling system which was used to bet on horse racing and other sports.

MONA owner's residents on the left

On entering the gallery you walk in and go down deep into the gallery which is somewhat disorientating. The collection itself is a real mix of old and new with some very interesting and rather strange pieces. A lot of stuff which left me going 'Wow! What the? Really? That is awesome!' It's very hard to explain but very well worth the visit even if you're not a bit arty.

I'm not sure I could say that the chapel was my favorite piece, but it was very interesting and really great to take photos of. It was located on the grounds of the gallery under a massive gum overlooking the water. It was made by a Belgian artist, Wim Delvoye.

The architecture is incredible, the gallery space is built down into the cliff face with a bit of a bunker like feel to it—hence the military uniforms I guess. After being led through a smorgasbord of different art works you end up back up the top for a well deserved ice cold Moo Brew and tasty lunch. Added bonus to MONA is the that gallery itself also shares the site with the Moorillia winery and Moo brew brewery. We had a 'flight' of beer and shared a delicious cheese platter while overlooking the grounds of MONA and the beautiful Derwent River.

Moo Brew beer flight

After a belly full of beer, wine and cheese we headed back down to the ferry to spend the afternoon exploring beautiful Hobart, eating yummy seafood and having a wine or three.

On the Saturday we checked out the Salamanca market, by which stage I'd forgotten that I had to take photos—I'm useless at this photo blogging stuff! So sorry there is no visual excitement for that part of the trip.

So I highly recommend a trip to Hobart and MONA. While you're there enjoy a bit of the awesomeness that Tasmania has to offer!