Yesterday we drove through Tasmania's "Western Wilds" to get back to the capital city of Hobart. There were a few small towns, but the landscape we drove through was mostly wilderness. So we saw lots of temperate rainforests and plenty of waterfalls. At 30 meters high, the most impressive cascade that we saw was Nelson Falls, and we had it all to ourselves. It was so peaceful.
Further up the road, we stopped at the Franklin River Nature Trail. This walking trail follows along the river and had some impressively big trees.
At the side of the path, we saw these beautiful bright purple berries. They were so brightly colored, they almost looked fake. Unlike the cherries the other day in Ross, we didn't know if these purple berries were edible. Later on I looked them up and they are Purple Appleberries. They are edible, just not the seeds, and they supposedly taste like apples.
Around lunchtime, we took a nice walk at Lake St. Clair. Lake St. Clair is at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park. The multi-day Overland Track that starts up by Cradle Mountain ends here.
The park ranger told us that if we were lucky we would see a platypus up near Platypus Bay. Fun fact: like its distant cousin the echidna, the platypus is a monotreme -- a mammal that lays eggs. With their duckbill, webbed feet, and furry body they look like an otter trying to disguise itself as a duck. We weren't lucky enough to see any living ones in the water, but when we got back to the visitor center we did find this taxidermied one. Does that count? Dead or alive they sure are bizarre-looking creatures!
After lunch, we continued towards Hobart and found another beautiful waterfall -- Russell Falls. This waterfall is even taller than Nelson Falls and looks like it would be absolutely breathtaking if you saw it after a rain -- it has so many tiers of cascades.
To reach the falls, you walk through the most amazing fern forest. The tree ferns were the tallest I've ever seen.
Actually, all the trees in this area are huge (there is a nearby walking trail aptly named "The Tall Trees Trail"). This fallen tree trunk was hollowed out and you could fit a small car in there.
The remains of its trunk and tree roots were nearby.
It was a long drive yesterday, but we managed to see quite a lot on the way. Today is our last full day in the city of Hobart and we decided to see one of its most popular attractions -- the MoNA Museum.
MoNA is an acronym for "Museum of Old and New Art", and it's the largest privately-funded museum in Australia. Its founder David Walsh has some eccentric and interesting ideas about what art is and what it can be. The whole space is definitely avant-garde; all the art is mixed together and you'll see ancient artifacts right next to paintings that were just made a few years ago. It's a beautiful big space, and many of the exhibits were done on a grand scale, like this wall of individual crayon drawings that together look like a snake or a wave.
Living up to its name, the museum had some VERY old art and artifacts, like this ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic panel.
Surprise! There was even a Renoir. This was part of an adult-themed exhibit and was one of the tamer pieces of art on display. I'm sure it was shocking in its day!
Speaking of Impressionists, I personally liked this modern take on Monet's Waterlilies, done in sparkly sequins. Kind of a nod to both old and new at the same time.
Some of the newer stuff was very bizarre. This puffy car, for instance. It looks like the Care Bear Cloudmobile from the 1980's cartoon. Does it look cool? Yes. Is it driveable? Who knows? Is it art? I'm not sure how to answer that one.
Some of the displays were confusing, or irritating, and some just made me laugh. There was a large exhibition space of display boxes filled with spiderwebs. They were beautifully arranged and illuminated to show off the delicate threads of spidersilk, but is this the work of the artist, or should credit really go to the spiders who made the webs? More importantly, does this mean I can charge admission for viewing the cobwebs in my house?
We ate lunch outside in the museum's garden. It was really pleasant to sit on a comfy beanbag and listen to some live music on a beautiful day.
But we couldn't stay all day; we had one more sight to see in Hobart. Building on the theme of waterfalls from yesterday, we headed for the Cascade Brewery Bar for a tour and tasting. This beautiful building was established in 1824 by Peter Degraves as a sawmill that later became a brewery.
One of the interesting facts we learned on the tour was that the brewery workers would get four ten-minute breaks each workday. During those breaks, they were allowed to drink as much beer as they pleased. The tourguide asked us to guess what year this practice was discontinued. What would you guess? The 1920s, or the 1950s, maybe? Wrong -- the workers were still drinking beers on their breaks all the way up until the early 1990's. It does sound very Australian to drink a bunch of beers on your break, then go operate heavy machinery or drive a forklift full of beer kegs around. No worries, mate! To go on the tour, visitors were required to don hardhats, goggles, and high-visibility vests. Now I know why.
At the end of the tour as we walked to the tasting room we could see several tables of workers in the beergarden enjoying some pints after work. Well, hopefully it was after work...but who knows? It was very good beer, though! Cheers!
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