Tassie

I chose to come to Tasmania for its history and its supposedly beautiful landscape. I was not disappointed. I'd heard mixed things about it before I arrived, all Melburnians emphasised its small population. One man from Queensland was very bitter about 'the rest of Australia paying for Tasmanians' indulgent lifestyle', which seemed a bit extreme... I did wonder though when the airline I was flying there with said 'oh, don't worry about your ID' as I was checking in!

The first thing I noticed about Tasmania is that, compared to the rest of Australia, it is positively mountainous, covered in trees and that it has an unusually high number of roadkill. I am not alone in noticing the high numbers of trees; one Tasmanian told me how he'd gone to the UK and was surprised at how few trees there were. He was in Cumbria, asked someone about it and was very surprised when they replied 'Oh, the Normans got rid of those...' The trees are not only numerous, they are also rather beautiful with stripey trunks. I won't bother showing you the large number of attempts at artistic photos that I've taken of them...

Where I went for a swim on my bike ride!

The high amount of roadkill, given that there is a relatively low population in Tasmania, is, unsurprisingly, due to the large amount of wildlife. I was struck by this almost everywhere I went. Whilst on a bike ride I came across one wallaby, two kangaroos and an echidna (very exciting), whilst walking I saw two more wallabies, whilst driving I saw kookaburras and yellow tailed black cockatoos and, less fun, this is the place I got most mosquito-bitten too. I also saw Tasmanian devils, Australian fur seals and albatrosses, but I'd deliberately gone to see them, so I'm not sure it really counts. If I'd caught a later ferry, I also would have seen a pod of dolphins but unfortunately missed out on that.

Tasmanian Devil

I had a whole conversation with this wallaby...

I mostly stayed with Mandy, another family friend (to be honest, the links are getting increasingly obscure here, Mandy's parents showed me photos of when I'd last seen them and I was in my first term of school), who was extremely generous and let me stay on her boat for most of the time and lent me her car for a lot of it. That was brilliant and I think the best way to see Tassie is to drive around and see the very beautiful landscape. I did this around the Huon trail, which is quite close to where she lives, and also went for a sail with them around Peppermint Bay, much cheaper than paying for the cruise and much more fun.

In Mt Field National Park

The car also meant I was able to go up to Mt Field National Park, which was hot but good to walk around with lots of waterfalls and views, as well as able to drive up to stay with Mandy's parents in Coles Bay. This is near Freycinet National Park with Wineglass Bay in it. This may have been my favourite walk on Tasmania that I did, particularly as I was quite pleased by beating the estimated time quite significantly. (Unlike when I went for a bike ride on Bruny Island, that is extremely hilly!)

Wineglass Bay

I also went for a boat cruise around Bruny Island. This included a bus ride that really reminded me of the Flight of Conchords song. For example, 'the only Anglican Church on the island, the only place you can get roast penguin, etc. etc.' (Incidentally, the driver was asking me about sailing and compared Contessas to women 'they look good and they can take a thrashing', I wasn't sure what to say to that!) The cruise was a success though, masses of Australian fur seals, which was good fun and some cool bits of coastline. We also stopped at the 'Get shucked' van and I had the best oyster I've ever had, very much recommended.

Australian Fur Seals

'Get Shucked'

Bruny Island

I did do some things that weren't enjoying the landscape. I took a trip down to Port Arthur, which was where reoffending convicts were sent. It was a big area and in a very beautiful spot and I actually really enjoyed walking around it. They were at pains to emphasise that, whilst there were horror stories, the main aim was to reform convicts. Although they admitted this was more out of financial than moral interests. I did come away thinking that it did do that pretty effectively. They also had the beginnings of a welfare system there. It was a good trip as well as it's on the Tasman Peninsula, more interesting coastline and views.

Port Arthur

Tasman Arch on Tasman Peninsula

Tesselated Parvement on Tasman Peninsula

Tasman Peninsula

Driving back again...

I also visited MONA (Museum of Old and New Art). This was kind of amazing, more for the concept than the art. They clearly just had fun with an art gallery. It is on the waterfront a bit back from Hobart and all underground, the building is actually quite remarkable. Nothing is labelled, you have an iPhone type thing with GPS that, mostly reliably, gives you information on the art. If you want more information, you click on the 'art wank' button (!). It is also not organised by era, there is a lot of ancient Egyptian next to very recent pieces.

At MONA

In MONA, showing what was on news the most that day.. '2Day'

I also wandered around Hobart a bit. A great spot for a city, on the water with Mt Wellington behind it. I enjoyed Salamanca Market (doing Christmas shopping in the sun is much more cheerful!) and was taken to 'Rectangos', an outdoors bar with a band in a little square. I very much enjoyed my time in Tasmania, I was lucky with the weather and was really impressed by how beautiful it is. Not often included in trips to Australia, but I'd recommend it!

Hobart

More of Melbourne

I am sorry, blog readers, for the delay in writing. I have been staying in other people's houses and also on a boat and it's a little harder to have Internet access long enough to sit and write up my blog. However, I will now write a couple to update you!
 
  Since last writing, I spent a little longer in Melbourne staying with Barb. Unforutnately this did not include further visits to schools, as I had expected, but it meant I got to see a but more of the city.  This included two more art galleries, the NGV International and Heide Gallery. The former goes alongside the gallery I had visited previously, but is all international art, very predominantly European. It is in a rather impressive building with a very striking great hall. It was also, being near the end of the year, filled with school children learning to draw the ceiling etc... Heide, however, is a little bit out of Melbourne and is a big expanse of land (watch out for snakes). I was lucky enough to be shown around by Barb, as she has done tours here, and the amount of space means that it has some great sculptures. Unlike other sculpture galleries I've been to, they are also really spaced out, so you can take your picnic and wander around, get lost and come across some unexpected sculptures. Which is what we did!

Ceiling of Great Hall in NGVI

Melbourne is renowned for its sport watching. The MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) is absolutely huge and some Melburnians will have their name down to become members from birth (it'll take more than twenty years!) The Australian Open also happens in Melbourne, along with AFL. The sports museum was highly recommended here, so we went and had a look. If you have not just had a whole load of Olympic information rammed down your throat all summer, or if you are obsessed by cricket or AFL, I would recommend it, but Barb and I were a little disappointed... To cheer up, I went to see the new Bond film, which was also highly recommended but, again, I was disappointed! I had heard it was absolutely amazing and, while it wasn't bad, was not particularly impressed. As though we want Bond to have a childhood...

I also went with Barb to visit Somers, which is a beach further around the peninsular where Barb has a summer house. Unfortunately it was not very warm (apparently there are often dolphins there that you can swim with!) but it was rather beautiful, even in the rain! Finally, we went up the Eureka tower, which is 88 floors above Melbourne and got some lovely views over the city. I and one of Barb's friends also went 'over the edge', in this weird glass box that sticks out the side of the building. Rather daunting but recommended!

I very much enjoyed Melbourne, it is a good city to visit and I can see it being a really good place to live. It is certainly different to Tasmania where I headed next...

Melbourne (The City of Brides)

So I am currently staying in Melbourne with Barb, my honorary godmother, in a lovely one-storey (definitely could not describe it as a bungalow) house. Initially, I spent quite a bit of time enjoying the house and meeting Barb's grandchildren (Henry and Bridget, excellent names) and children, rather than exploring Melbourne. This was particularly the case on Thursday when it reached 39 degrees, followed by the hottest night since 1901.

However, I have now seen some more of Melbourne and am really enjoying it. I can't help but compare it to Perth and the contrast is very striking. Melbourne is a bustling city, much more cosmopoliatan with a big mixture of architecture (see below) and often feels quite European. This is partly because it has a ridiculous number of cafes and they seem to be full nearly all of the time. Perth, by comparison, has hardly any independent cafes and the architecture is really very similar all over.

Firstly, I did a tour of the 'laneways' of Melbourne, with lots of cafes, arty shops and old warehouses that have been made into various things. There's also a lot of street art or graffiti (depending on who you're talking to) with brides having their wedding photos next to them! You see these women dressed up in full wedding dresses crossing the road on a week day to have their photos done while their groom is on his phone texting, very strange. I then went to the Ian Potter Centre, which is all Austrlian art, as opposed to the gallery opposite which has International art. The Ian Potter Centre is an amazing building near the River Yarra. (Incidentally, the Yarra is very bendy and narrow when you consider how many boats do the Head of the Yarra and, apparently, it almost all bends one way - bad luck bowside over 9k!) I also went down to the beach and looked at the beach huts (bathing boxes here) with a view over the bay.

On Saturday, Barb gave me a tour through parts of Melbourne, which seemed to be a tour of bridal photos as well! To start, we wandered through the Botanic Gardens. These are really spectacular and very big, you would completely forget that you are in a city (two weddings). The War Memorial Shrine is very impressive as well, on the edge of the gardens and absolutely vast. We walked to the top and had a brilliant view over Melbourne. We then drove down to the sports area with some huge stadia, all very close to one another, where the Aussie Rules Football is a big deal, along with the Australian Open etc. Then, driving through the city, virtually every park, of which there are a lot, church and town hall, of which, again, there are a surprising number, had more brides.

We finished in Fitzroy, which is a suburb that was obviously once quite grand, as evidenced by the large and ornate town hall (more brides), but is now a bit more edgy. It has lots of independent shops, cafes and winebars, and reminded me quite a bit of London. All the shop facades were quite old and impressive with, again, various bits of street art.

Finally, today Barb and I went on a tour of architecture with courtyards. There were some extraordinary houses, particularly Robin Boyd's house in Wash Street. The house with bare brick inside reminded me of the tour we gave Barb of post-1970s Cambridge, when I'd last seen her.


Ian Potter building





Federation Square

 





A shop in Fitzroy



Fitzroy



Walsh Street



Walsh Street

 

Walsh Street



Victorian ironwork that is quite common



Edwardian style that is quite common





Bathing boxes on Brighton Beach



Flinders Street Station

 

Other than that, I've also managed to visit the Australian TF briefly, including a school. It happened to be on the very hot day and a strike was planned for the next day so attendance was low but there were still students outside the headmaster's office 'they're not allowed to throw water, so they were throwing milk'. I was lucky enough to watch a class and was vaguely reminded of Jonah... I also was lucky enough to visit the university's education faculty, through a friend of Barb's, which is linked with TfA and that was very interesting. Barb's daughter, Julia, showed me a bit of Melbourne's pub culture (I found out they do not call them halves, but a 'pot' or, in Sydney, a 'mini') and Barb and I went with a friend to the cinema as well (to see 'Argo', very tense), so all round I've been very busy and am very much enjoying Melbourne.