I heart Hobart, Part 2

In the late afternoon on Saturday, Hugh and I grabbed some tasty sausages for a snack, and I dripped sausage grease all down the front of my only pair of trousers. The evening was to be full of schmoozing whiskey industry peeps, so I decided to go buy a new pair of jeans. Except that shops were starting to close, and I panicked a bit, and ended up buying a silk hippie skirt that showed off my unshaven calves. It also looked totally ridiculous with my brogues. Hugh and the others went ahead to the whiskey event while I shopped, and when I turned up to the event, the girls on reception were obviously not impressed with my fashion sense. I probably would have been better off with my greasy jeans! Oh well. We had a good night anyway, and Hugh totally impressed the crowd with his talk of cold filtration and micelles (did you know that adding water to whiskey has a completely different effect on the flavour than adding ice does?)

The next morning, we headed out of town to the New Norfolk region. We grabbed breakfast at a place called Salmon Ponds, the saddest excuse for a tourist attraction I think I've ever seen. Breakfast was stellar, though! They specialise in "pancakes" (the European kind). Then we headed further out of town to Redlands Estate to visit the onsite distillery.

The Estate was large and beautiful, with loads of historic brick buildings, including a main house, a butchery, a general store, tenements, and barns/warehouses. Oh, and what looked like a Victorian tennis court, of course. It's located next to a river, and there's a resident platypus, named Mr. Scratchy that comes and runs around sometimes. On the drive back to town, we caught three mountain goats climbing the hill by the side of the road.
 

Hugh's coworker's girlfriend and I spent an hour in the town of New Norfolk while the boys explored the distillery. The town is small and doesn't have much going on at all, but they had an awesome stationery store called Flywheel. There was an old printing press at the back of the shop, and they sold old unused letter blocks. There were also lots of larger home decor pieces like you'd find in Anthropologie. I bought some cute shield stickers by mt.

From there, we went to the Museum of Old and New Art, or MONA, which has improved the cultural reputation of both Hobart and Tasmania. It was created by an eccentric Tasmania who has won millions as a professional card counter. The site includes the museum, living quarters for the owner, a vineyard and winery, a brewery, and a restaurant. The owner's parking space is labelled "God" and his girlfriend/wife's spot is labelled "God's Mistress." The museum is housed mostly underground, in a cavernous space that would make a fantastic evil lair. Modern and classical art pieces are scattered throughout in artistic fashion.

Hugh and I failed to grab audio guides before heading down the spiral staircase into the museum, so we didn't really understand much of what was going on. But it was modern art. I doubt the audio guide would have changed much. I always want more explanation for stuff than the audio guide, or even the artists, are willing to supply. It was a cool museum, though, and I enjoyed it, even though I chickened out and didn't have a go on the bell-adorned trampoline.

And that was about it! Back in Hobart, we had fish and chips and caught a plane home!