Taster

It's officially less than 2 weeks until I leave my home town of Perth to embark on a 6 month trip across Europe and North America. Over the weekend I snuck in a whirlwind visit to Hobart and Sydney, which served as a little taster of the months of travel ahead.

The last and only time I have been to Hobart was when I was 2 years old, so I wanted to pack as much as I possibly could into the 24hrs available.
Because we were going to watch the West Coast Eagles take on (and beat) North Melbourne in the afternoon, we woke up bright and early (before the sun in fact) to make our way over to the Salamanca markets. They were stocked with the usual adorable local products, but while homemade whiskey tasting at 8am was tempting, the only purchases I made were a $1 Oliebollen- a nice, warm, traditional Dutch doughnut-esque dumpling with apple and sultanas, coated in cinnamon sugar- and a pair of thick gloves. Both were necessary purchases needed to warm me up, as I drastically underestimated how cold it would be.

/ sunrise from my window / Oliebollen / eskimo shoppers

Next up was breakfast at a cute little cafe called Tricycle, which was endearingly and not so subtly decorated with its namesake mode of transportation. The breakfast was ok but this place got extra points for having little blankets draped over the chairs for customers to snuggle up in.

/ cycles and cute spoons @ Tricycle

We then jumped in the car to get out to the MONA, located further up the bank of the Derwent River. I have to say the "Museum of Old and New Art" has got to be the most unoriginal name for a gallery ever. So unoriginal in fact that it HAS to be intentional, because this is not your average gallery. The building is stunning. You start with panoramic river views as you enter the building, then descend in a glass elevator through 15m of sandstone, reminiscent of traveling down a mine shaft. The first thing you come across is the bar, which now tops the list of my dream party venues (see photo below that doesn't come close to doing it justice), then you're left without a clear direction as you start to get lost in secret rooms, passageways and behind the odd curtain. I could gush about this place for a while but instead I will just provide a taste for you all and tell you to go as soon as possible.

x

/ coolest water feature ever

/ my favourite piece- this was viewed by looking through a window into a giant bronze head

/ yes the books are blank inside... don't tell them that I checked...