Back in November, I asked Bren if he’d do a trip with me while I was here. He picked Tasmania and I told him to just let me know when. It may have taken a while to pick the when but he did and we finally made it to Hobart, Tasmania.
After arriving at our hotel we quickly unpacked and set off for MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. It’s the most popular destination on this island and for good reason. It is an art museum that’s pretty much some rich gambler’s personal art collection. Housed in what feels like a super hero (or villian) hideaway it was surreal.
It took us a bit to find the ferry to the museum. We walked right past it and then turned around and finally went in to what appeared to be just a shopping and restaurant area but it turned out to be a tourist hub. The woman who sold us the tickets clearly was not thrilled with her job and as a result I missed out on paying double for the VIP experience which included access to a couch on the front of the boat and an open bar with canapés. She also told us to immediately to the boat queue since it would start boarding shortly. Well it wasn’t boarding shortly, in fact we stood there for 15 minutes waiting to start boarding the boat during which Bren got upset that we missed out on perusing the goods upstairs just to wait in line. He said that since I’m a New Yorker I was trained to wait in line but he doesn’t have the patience for it.
The ferry to the museum was cool. Everything was branded to match the funky aesthetic of the museum itself. There was a giant cow and a bunch of sheep on the rear upper deck that you could sit in. We took a bench and watched the scenery go by. As we pulled up to the museum the captain made an announcement that there were exactly 99 steps from the dock to the museum entrance and that if anyone needed special help to let them know and they would dock somewhere else.
We made the trek up all 99 stairs and around number 80 I thought of the five flights of stairs that awaited me when I would go back to commuting to NJ. We got into the entrance and were to go straight down to the lowest level. All those stairs to get to the top of the mountain only to take a dizzying spiral staircase back down. At the bottom it was amazing. Giant marbled stone and a couple paintings made just for the space. Ahead of that we spotted the thing I was most excited to see in the brochure that Bren has grabbed - beer roulette machine. The machine had a bunch of different beers from the brewery that sponsors all the beer in the museum. The losing option was a warm fosters (they don’t even sell fosters in Australia, it’s only an export beer). Bren got a pale ale and I got a brown ale. I was disappointed to not get the warm fosters and as we sat and enjoyed our beers I wondered out loud how I could convince my boss at work to invest in one of these beer roulette machines for the office.
The rest of the museum was actually really amazing. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in an art museum that I enjoyed more. The pieces were thought provoking, irreverent, and actually made sense as art. A lot of times we look at modern art and wonder who would pay for this? The companion app to the museum explained exactly why, or why not, someone would call a specific piece “art.”
By the time we made our way through the whole thing I was mentally drained and exhausted, having been awake since 5:30am and barely sleeping thanks to Alana turning in all the lights and drunkenly screaming in the kitchen with her friend around 3am. Anyway we set off next in search of some food since dinner was still five hours away. We tried to go to a bbq pit they had set up but when we got there they were just closing up for the evening. The wine bar had a bunch of weird food and the only thing next to it was a regular bar so we went back down the hill to the regular cafe. From the cafe Bren got a lamb wrap and I got a meat pie. We sat by the window and watched two of the fattest chickens I had ever seen roaming around the backyard seating area. Some of the tourists were feeding the chickens and I thought ok that’s how they got so big. It was great revenge watching the chicken peck the crap out of a lady who kept trying to feed them random stuff.
A quick ferry ride back and then we walked back to the hotel. I sat with Bren for a few moments before being too tired and I crawled into bed to relax. I wound up falling asleep and when I woke back up it was nearly 8pm. I had made us a fancy dinner reservation at 8:30pm! I couldn’t believe Bren let me sleep that late, although I could believe he fell asleep on the couch in the living room until then. We got dressed, I packed a dress and Bren brought his suit then headed out to dinner which thankfully wasn’t far from the hotel.
The restaurant was so nice. Artwork on the walls and a classic steakhouse design. We sat down and with a huge grin Bren put his hand up for a high five across the table and said good work. We tucked in for one of the best dinners I’ve had. The waitress we had was also amazing and brought us extra bread and even an extra oyster. We ordered oysters three ways, sirloin steaks (I got mine with lobster), duck fat fried potatoes and zucchini with feta cheese. I had an amazing glass of Pinot noir and Bren has a fancy negroni style drink with bourbon. For dessert I had strawberry ice cream (very fancy style with meringue and elderflower and yogurt) and Bren has a deconstructed cheesecake with gooseberries. Bren also ordered us an amazing dessert wine that I wished I had found sooner in my life. It was so much fun getting dressed up and treating myself to a fancy meal. The company was excellent as usual too.
Now we’re sitting in the living room of the hotel watching Trigun. Tomorrow should be quite the adventure. The waitress told us the vineyard with the amazing wine is only 20min away from here and Bren has a friend who lives here. Traveling with Bren is a bit more disorganized then I like but he is a great companion and is always willing to go with the flow. I’m only sad we don’t have more time here to explore.
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