Monday 15 August 2011

My World Tuesday - Hobart town and a wind from the south.


My busy weekend was caused by a trip to Hobart. It was cold, but clear, with a wind straight off the Southern Ocean, straight out of Antarctica. It made your face sting, it made your nose drip. It made wearing a scarf a matter of function not fashion. As far as it goes it was real winter weather. I loved it.





The antarctic feel was enhanced by the presence of the L’Astrolabe and the Aurora Australis – Antarctic research ships from France and Australia – in the harbor. Both of their hulls showed the tell tale signs of battering and ice. They both seemed so tiny, too small to travel over an ocean so large.


We visited galleries – including the new and remarkable MONA, with its art buried into three deep floors of caverns – we visited museums and drank coffee. We walked until we wanted to stop.















Not all the art I saw was to my taste – that is only to be expected. Some I disliked intensely – which may have been the intention. The falling words made of water drops that stretched and blurred as they fell was my favourite - if I’d seen it in a film I would have assumed it was a digital effect.







We walked and walked and walked. We noticed that we were not the only ones with a scarf. In the evening we felt as if we had earned a glass or red wine or two.




The harbour with its boats and the chill wind off the water kept pulling us back. I admit it could also have been the smell of the many fine fish and chip shops in the area! The cold, the sea, the chill and the fish reminded me of where we were and for how long this town had looked to the south.

I can only recommend that you pay Hobart a visit, although I understand that some of you may need more than a weekend to make it worthwhile.
You can find lots of other good things to see here or by clicking on the My World Tuesday button on the RHS of the screen.

You can also see my most recent post on my other blog by clicking the Paying Ready Attention button on the RHS of the screen.

11 comments:

  1. Great post and an interesting place to visit. Thanks for sharing your world today.

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  2. oh, i could use a cool/cold breeze right now! we have temps over 100 again all this week...

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  3. Interesting post as always, Stewart, and terrific captures! Looks like a fun place to get away to! Hope you have a great week! Thank you for your kind words, Klaus will be missed. I hope we can continue the memes!

    Sylvia

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  4. It's a few years now since I wandered Hobart! Missed out on MONA! Wished it had been around! Great series of photos! And love the quirky red-scarfed statue!

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  5. Great post and what a interesting place to visit!

    Hope you have a nice day!

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  6. Oh, I love those words on the wooden panels! Lovely shots.

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  7. interesting post and the wooden panel art is way cool! That statue must have been really cold too:)

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  8. Always great to see new places and a friend of mine visited Hobart a few years back and shared some lovely pics as well.

    Great post and pics. thanks
    Veronica
    www.mothercitymagic.blogspot.com

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  9. Hi there - just thought I'd point out that the background to the "falling words" is stone rather than wood.

    The whole of MONA is cut into the ground - so many of the gallery spaces show exposed rock. The building itself would be worth a visit even without the art.

    Stewart M

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  10. Great that you had, even if a chilly, break. I'm all with you about eating at the harbour. Nothing like fish on the water . . .

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