Moreton Mayhem
We sold most of it, and packed the rest up real tight. Meredith and I condensed our lives back down to just a few suitcases hopped on a plane and headed off for another year of adventures on a new continent. We couldn’t be more excited.
Now, when we were originally considering heading abroad Australia was naturally high on the list. After all, Davis (Mere’s sister) provided some inspiration for us by moving over this way a couple years back and falling in love with the place. Well, it was a natural next step with an easy visa and a quick flight opening up a whole new world of opportunities. But before we got on with our Australian lives it was time to meet up with Miss Davis for some birthday shenanigans.
“We loaded up a friend’s 4 wheel drive hopped on a ferry.”
Davo lives in a killer place up in the very tropical city of Brisbane, a couple hour flight from windy Welly and we were sipping bevvies enjoying a warm evening breeze. A welcome change for us. True to form we didn’t come to loaf around the city, we had our eyes set on something a bit further afield. We loaded up a friend’s 4 wheel drive hopped on a ferry across the Brisbane harbor to Moreton Island.
Moreton is a rugged, sandy island facing out into the wide Pacific Ocean that exemplifies so much of what Australia has to offer. There are empty white-sand beaches as far as the eye can see, shipwrecks teeming with tropical fish, campsites nestled in the bush, and friendly bogans ripping around in the sand and crushing beers. Indeed, the four-wheel driving was a highlight attraction for many visitors. There isn’t a paved (or even really a developed road) in the joint. The ferry dumps you right on the beach and you take off; a few loose sand roads cross over the dune-y island but for the most part you fly along the wide, empty beaches that ring the island.
“Cooking up some kangaroo with your feet in the sand was every bit the Australian paradise we could have asked for.”
We nestled for a couple nights in a remote site on the far side of the island, waves crashing in just over the dunes. With nothing but snorkeling shipwrecks, body surfing, and beach walking on the agenda we all lived it up in our little vacation-from-our-vacation. Enjoying the tropical waters, flying down expansive beaches, and cooking up some kangaroo with your feet in the sand was every bit the Australian paradise we could have asked for.
It was great to catch up with Davis, meet some of her Brisbane friends, and really start to understand why she decided to stick around so long after doing a working holiday. Brisbane is a lovely city in it’s own right but is flanked by heaps of intriguing outdoor pursuits in every direction. It was great to get a proper vacation in before we packed back up and headed off to our new hometown: Hobart.
Making A Life In Hobart Town
A quick flight down AUS’s east coast and we stepped off the plane into a town that felt much more like our stomping grounds from the past year. Another deeply southerly harbor town clinging to the edge of the world. Now I know what many of you may be wondering, why Hobart?
“It’s a ragged little island surrounded by open ocean populated by vastly more sheep than people.”
Well, let’s start with why Tasmania. It’s a ragged little island surrounded by open ocean populated by vastly more sheep than people with outdoor pursuits at every turn. In other words, it’s New Zealand part two. Now the mountains may be a little less prominent, the volcanic activity a little less gratuitous, the bush eucalyptus-centric rather than fern and beech, but that would be to short change the undeniable beauty Tassie has to offer. Naturally, it seemed the perfect place for another summer of adventures. Once we landed on Tas as the region Hobart was really the only option for our next town. It’s by far the largest town being a bit larger than Dunedin (or twice the size of Boulder), and is the main center of activity on the island with many attractions right at hand and the most work opportunities. For being a utilitarian city choice though we’ve been surprisingly struck by its charm.
Hobart sits on the southeast coast of Tasmania upon the banks of the River Derwent with Mount Wellington rising in the background. It is a reasonably old town being the center of much early whaling traffic in the 1800s, so there is plenty of colonial charm around every corner, which is only to be outpaced by the outdoorsy ambition of the people. Riding, climbing, hiking, and surfing are all close at hand.
“Below the old homestead, the museum plunges five stories down into the Triassic sandstone below.”
Not only that, there are major cultural institutions as well, one of which we recently explored for Meredith’s birthday. The Museum of Old and New Art or MONA sits upon the Derwent a couple miles north of town. It’s usually the first thing out of a local’s mouth when they’re providing recommendations for the area, always saying “You’ll either love it, or you’ll hate it.” The museum was started after a local won it big gambling and decided to blow it all acquiring a pissant local vineyard and homestead to fill with some modern art. Apparently he figured out how to make some money off it, because today the complex is properly staggering. Below the old homestead the museum plunges five stories down into the Triassic sandstone below, opening up a labyrinth of caves filled with art from all eras.
“And that was all just on the first floor.”
For our visit (it being Mere’s birthday and all) we opted for the real splurgetastic experience. It kicked off from the wharf downtown when after a tidy brunch on the water we boarded their camo-painted catamaran ferry and stepped into the “posh pit” where we were treated to all the champagne we could sip and artsy snacks we could munch on the half hour trip up the river. We dove right in, riding their glass elevator through the layers of sandstone deep into the belly of the museum. They don’t go in much for labelling or long-winded artist backgrounds, you can use their app to try and find some info or navigate the joint, but getting lost really is part of the experience. Primarily MONA is filled with modern art of the variety that gets me frothing; installation and your interaction with a piece being as critical as anything hanging on the wall. With bellies full of bubbles we went in like kids in the proverbial candy store; wandering stony halls, dancing in mirror filled rooms, stumbling upon bars perched just above the river, pondering the artistic merits of a room filled with several tons of used motor oil. And that was all just on the first floor.
At midday we climbed back out of the grotto and into the sunshine to continue our luxury experience with a tour of the on-site vineyard. We learned about how the area was growing grapes long before it was an art museum and now produces one of Tassie’s biggest labels, Moorilla. Some tastings of their fine vintages, a quick cup of coffee, and a pastry kept us buzzing at an optimal level. So we dove right back in.
“That’s what MONA is, a cohesive work of art from beginning to end that delights and challenges you at every step.”
I could go in deep about the pieces we saw, or rather experienced. A room that lit up with your heartbeat, a maze of binary code, a wall of 77 sculpted vaginas, and a literal poop machine. But I clearly couldn’t do any of it justice, and it would short change the fact that the experience is really what you go for. We wandered those art filled caverns for so long we ultimately had to push back our return ferry trip, and honestly we could’ve gone for twice as long. After hours of serendipitous wandering the sun drew low in the sky and saw us whisking back over the Derwent, drinks in hand, giddy after experiencing one of the greatest works of art on the planet. That’s what MONA is, a cohesive work of art from beginning to end that delights, intrigues, and challenges you at every step. Not bad for a backwater whaling colony.
Life in old Hobart Town has proved fortuitous thus far. We’ve moved in with a young Tasmanian couple Jesse & Jemma (we live at 2/12 Woodlyn Ct. South Hobart, if you want to send us a card or stalk us on Google Maps). The place is surrounded by the mountain bike trails that cover the slopes of Mount Wellington, and Australia’s oldest brewery (Cascade) is right down the street. We’ve got ourselves set up with a sexy Subaru Outback and named her Dolores, and have been laying plans left and right for an epic summer of escapades.
Stay tuned for more tales from down under the down under!