MONA & Hobart, Tasmania

Our day begun at 3am when we woke and bundled ourselves into Cherry and headed up the highway to Tullamarine Airport and onto a 6am Jetstar flight bound for Hobart. At Hobart we hopped onto a bus into town then boarded the MONA ROMA to the museum. We ate beautifully delicious fresh and local foods from a berry smoothie at the Salamanca Markets, to pasta at the Museum cafe, sardines and rare beef at the MOMA restaurant, Faro and fresh Atlantic salmon back at Salamanca. Our flight was delayed; we ended up getting back to Florence at 4am, having been awake for 25 hours, but we made the most of our additional time in Hobart and finished off the day with a dark chocolate fondue and fruit. Wonderful.

mona roma posh pit

Get amongst the Posh Pit, with complimentary canapés, cups of tea and comfy seats, in your own area away from the blebs that are general admission and cattle class. Worth it!

museum of old and new art 

We drove, flew, bused and boated it to reach the art gallery that has made Hobart a major tourist destination, MONA; Museum of Old and New Art,  the collection of David Walsh. We salute you!

David Walsh is a frickin' genius. What an amazing idea to create a museum from your own collection in a gallery built under the home of a local Hobartian wine maker, Claudio Alcorso on the Moorilla Estate. The original home of which was designed by Australian architect Roy Grounds, who was most famous for his work on the National Gallery of Victoria and the Melbourne Art Centre designed in 1959. MONA was opened in 2011, with the original home being used as the entrance to what is currently the largest private museum in Australia. We had the most incredible time at the museum, using our GPS audio guide iPods to navigate through the catacombs of underground rooms, into a sublime world of thought provoking art, Egyptian tombs and original artefacts. Nothing compares to what has been created at MONA, it is hands down one of the best experiences to be had and even if you don't 'enjoy' art go just to marvel at what can be created with an open mind when you are only limited by your imagination. 

hobart

Hobart was founded as a penal colony in 1804 and is Australia's second oldest Capital City, after Sydney with a current population of about 225,000. We really enjoyed the slower pace of Hobart and despite the absolutely freezing conditions made the most of our one day in this "ye ol' worldy city."