Tried to go to bed early. Still trying to dry the clothes I want to wear! I set the alarm for 3.45am. (*sighs*)
Friday, 3.00am
Woke up early. I couldn't get back to sleep, despite trying for 40 mins! My bag was already packed, and I'd already decided what to wear, so it didn't take long to get ready. I was ready before Stephen!
4.30am
We left the house. Everything was so quiet. There was no traffic. The bats were the only noise. It was quite beautiful. I started to get really excited on the way there. Making us catch the shuttlebus from the long term car park to the terminal was a bit silly. It wasn't very far at all!
6.10am
Waiting when you're really excited sucks! Finally we got on the plane.
S used his barging skills to get us good seats. We agreed I could have the window seat on the way there. The lights of Melbourne were so very beautiful. Then we flew above the clouds. The sky outside the plane was dark except for a thin band of red, graduating to deep blue on the eastern horizon. Slowly the band of red got thicker and thicker... I briefly worried about that old saying ("Red sky in the morning...") but we were actually extremely lucky. The sky had already cleared by the time we arrived. I bought a cup of coffee, and was a little confused when the lady handed me a cup of hot water. Then she gave me a little container with a coffee bag, milk jigger and sugar in it, and I mentally went, "Ah!" S and I were both happy that we got off the plane via the good old stairs method. I threatened to do my Jackie Onassis wave, but resisted.
Some of the others complained about the cold, but we were expecting it. Current temperature: 4°. Expected top: 10°. Bring it on!
We took a shuttle bus from the airport to the city centre. The first sign we saw coming out of the airport was a huge, community-participation safety-warning type billboard; in slightly curly, hippy style letters, it said: "PLEASE KEEP YOUR BUTT INSIDE THE VEHICLE AT ALL TIMES!" I wanted to take a picture of it so badly! First evidence of the alternative raver/hippy culture mentioned in the guidebook.
We did the almost obligatory tour of various hotels before being dropped off at the the reassuringly-named Midcity Hotel. Went through North Hobart and saw the North Hobart Oval (which S, being the sports geek that he is, expressed an admiration for). I was a little excited, and I had to bite my tongue from saying things like : "Look, they have Officeworks here, too!" "Ooh, a Sign-a-rama!" "Look, they have Subway here!" "Wow, traffic lights!"...
8.10am
We arrived over an hour early for the Chocolate Tour. We went up to the bus office (near cnr. Elizabeth and Brisbane Sts.; see #1 on map 2) to pay and check the time.
Then we went down to find some breakfast. A cafe on a corner had a special on a cappuccino and egg and bacon roll (which seems to be a popular food there!) so we went in and had some. There was a local newspaper on the bench (The Tasmanian Mercury) and had a flick through. The cover mentioned a Harry Potter article on page 3, so naturally I turned to it. I was confused, because it mentioned that all the sessions the night before had sold out, and hundreds of fans were lining up to see it. But I thought it wasn't out in Australia yet! I thought it might be some kind of special preview, but then it said that HP & PoA had opened at the same time as in the UK, on account of the school holidays starting a week earlier in Tasmania than anywhere else in Aus. I instantly got kind of excited! I showed the article to S, and said, "We could go see Harry Potter! ... I'm only about 55% kidding!" He agreed that we should do it! Back at the bus office, I asked the ticket guy where the cinema was. About 10-15 mins from there, on Collins St. Not a problem.
#1 Bus Office - near top left
#2 Flippers Fish and Chips - centre right, at Constitution Dock
#3 Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery - over the road from Flippers
#4 Village Cinemas - lower left
9.30am
We left for the chocolate factory (see map 1 above). S and I were the only ones on the bus. It was pretty cool. The bus driver was very chatty and told us all about everything! His comparisons of Hobart and Melbourne were interesting, but some of the other stuff he told us was pretty obvious spiel.
[Warning: geeky work-related section coming up!]
On the way, I saw the Derwent Entertainment Centre! It's quite a modern-looking building, set on a peninsula right next to the river (everything seems to be set in a spot of that description here!) The billboard outside mentioned some familiar events! I tried to take a photo of it, but couldn't get a good shot through the trees.
The factory is right next to the river, in a beautiful valley setting.
All the homes and the school nearby were built by the Cadbury family. Some people have been working there for 2 or 3 generations. They really take care of their employees, not like some places I can think of! There was a small display of newspaper cuttings and old chocolate-making tools to look at while we waited for the tour to start.
10.00am
The tour started. First we saw a short video, which looked like it was c. 1985! It was very cheesy. We all had to take off all jewellery, watches, hats, scarves etc. (anything that could fall in the food!) and wear these absolutely sexy papery showerhats (men with beards had to wear 'beard snoods'!) and ... (worst of all!) we weren't allowed to take photos! The tour was very interesting. We had free samples, etc. We didn't get to see a few things, i.e. the melted chocolate being stirred, and the favourites being wrapped, because of broken machines. But it was still great. S and I cracked a few jokes, e.g. "Haven't seen any OompaLoompas yet."
My favourite part was when the wrapped Favourites chocs were being sorted and put in the boxes. It was very Willy Wonka-esque, with the chocs dropping down and piling up in hoppers, being sucked up into overhead conveyor belts, then dropping into the boxes, and the full boxes moving along another belt behind, to be picked up by suction cups and placed in the transport boxes. It even had the soothing, hypnotic 'vwoop, shoop, VHWOOP' noises. Afterwards, we bought a ton of chocolate from the shop. They don't have seconds, but they had a lot of out of date choc (dodge!) which I didn't buy. We got some cheap crunchie bars, a bag of assorted Favourites, dark chocolate flakes, a Yowie, and a huge bag of what I call Vomit Buttons (i.e. choc buttons in 3 ghastly colours). I bought a keyring and a fridge magnet showing the surrounds of the factory. We took the bus back to the city, to the docks (which have a very different connotation in Hobart than in Mel!)
12.00pm
We were dropped off at, handily enough, the Tourist Information Centre. We started a brochure collection. I find something curiously and primitively enjoyable about choosing brochures. Perhaps the bright colours? Perhaps because they're free?
We passed a souvenir shop on the way to look for lunch, and S wanted to go in. I thought, "what the hell? We're tourists, there's no use denying it." So I went in too. I didn't buy anything, but S got a t-shirt. He asked me which one to get. Foolish boy! Asking me to make a decision! While he paid, I admired some 'Genuine Kangaroo Scrotum' pouches. S didn't think they were I real. I hoped they weren't.
12.30pm
There were a line of floating fish and chip shops at the docks, attended by a steady stream of customers (and seagulls!). The bus driver had recommended the nearest one, Flippers, so we went there (see #2 on map 2).
This pic I stole off the internet is old - it has a different sign now.
It had an impressive array of meal deals, though having to stand on a small platform over the water to order was more than a bit disconcerting. My fishburger was delicious, and my flat white was not half bad. While I was eating, I noticed the chippery swaying slightly in the breeze, and I couldn't help but wonder how they secure the deep fryer in a high wind! Slosh ... slosh ...
1.00pm
We decided to find the cinema and buy the Harry Potter tickets straight after lunch. (Yay! Harry Potter!!) It was on Collins St., about 3 blocks up from Elizabeth St. (see #4 on map 2). Most of the streets in Hobart have the same names as those in the centre of Melbourne, but in different orientations, so it was a little confusing. S made the obligatory joke: "no it's not, it's on Bourke St!" We decided that something between 4pm and 6pm was best. Being a small cinema, they only had one screen showing Harry Potter (how primitive!) at 3 hour intervals. We had to go for the 3.30pm. There was an Intencity arcade at the cinema; it must have been the cool hangout for the under 18s, cause it was crawling with teenage boys in very large pants, and teenage girls in very short skirts and very fluffy boots (wow, they have fashion here!).
Speaking of the native population...
There were no homies. There was a healthy sprinkling of skater boys (they seemed to hang out at the Elizabeth St. Mall) and teenyboppers (mostly at the cinema), but I didn't see any hippies at all. Then again, they probably don't hang out in the city. I didn't see very many people of my own age, but the ones I did see looked to be unassumingly alternative, I guess you could say, in their dress (neither ultra fashionable, or daggy). The adults were fairly standard - neither particularly rich nor particularly poor in their dress.
There were plenty of high fashion shops (e.g. Esprit, Sportsgirl), but there weren't a lot of people going in and out, like in Melbourne. (Later, when we went through Miss Shop at Myer, I could see all the latest fashions all lined up and ready to go (I snorted at the cable-knitted jumpers), but there were no customers there. This was at 7pm, but still...)
It slowly sank in as we walked back from the cinema that we would only have time to do one touristy place before the movie. We made a beeline for the museum (see #3 on map 2). We'd noticed that it was right over the road from Flippers when we were having lunch, so we knew exactly where it was.
On the way, I observed that almost all the buildings were really old.
"This imposing Modern-style building was erected in 1938. The stepped clock tower is a typical Art Deco feature."
-- Young, David (writer) and Dean, Rebecca (illustrator). Hobart's Historic Places : A Walking Guide through the City Centre. Hobart: City Council, 1997. Item 32.
I'm sorry to say that "imposing" is a rather misleading description. It now houses, if my memory serves me correctly, an Esprit store and a newsagent. How the mighty fall!
To be fair, the poor author was probably instructed to fill up two A4 pages with old buildings within one square kilometre of the GPO and was starting to get a bit desperate. He was probably hoping that potential readers would subscribe to the notion that every building more than 30 years old must be important!
I wish we'd had time to see St. David's Park (the first cemetery), the Neo-Egyptian design synagogue, the model tudor village (built by a man with polio), the State Library, the W. C. Crowther Museum of medical instruments, the Japanese garden at the Botanic Gardens, Narryna Folk Museum, the Allport Library/Museum ... and that's just all the stuff within walking distance!!
Anyway, I didn't mean this to turn into a rant. Onwards to the museum! It was around this time that I was observed to say, "I want a penguin hat too!"
1.45pm
The museum/art gallery was really quite small, but that was okay.
Why didn't I take my own photo??
You have to put up with this tiny one stolen from the internet.
First we saw a Muttaburrasaurus skeleton, stuffed animals, rocks & crystals (the fluoroescent ones were cool) and the Megafauna: the short-nosed kangaroo, a wombat the size of a rhinoceros, etc. S and I discussed the possible reasons why the megafauna became so mega, and why they died out. Next, some landscape paintings (which I never really liked - but there were some great portraits).
Then a temporary exhibition called eclectica. It certainly was eclectic! Billed as a display of various items that people have collected, and donated/sold to the museum, really only the first room was. It had your standard birds' eggs, stuffed animals and pressed plants, plus a really cool artwork which consisted of a pile of museum-style metal storage boxes of different sizes, with different animals made of cut-out tin sheets with black ink details inside each one, seen through bars drawn on the clear plastic fronts. A label on each one made a wry comment on its occupant, e.g. the endangered bird of paradise still opens its wings, despite having no mate to show them to. Very moving. If only I'd been able to take a photo of it!
The second room had furniture, a couple of 19th-century jackets (which I examined closely), portraits, modern paintings with a collecting theme, antique homewares (the ugly type that officials receive as gifts and they have to keep to avoid offending anyone and starting World War 3), documents granting land, etc.
The third room told the stories of various families and people who were prominent in Hobartian society, e.g. the governor; a physician; an apothecary, etc. It had more portraits, furniture, a writing desk, needleworks, medals, etc.
Another tiny photo because I couldn't take my own. Sigh.
At the back I saw a sedan chair (carry chair) and was about to go into a rant of righteous indignation about the abuse of convicts and their unofficial status as slaves, when I read the panel next to the item. It had belonged to Lady Jane Franklin, described as "intellectual and explorer" (exhibition text card), who had almost single-handedly brought culture, arts and literature to Hobartian society. In her 50s she became ill, but wanted to go on one last expedition to the north-west of Tasmania. Her husband (?) had the chair built for her so she could go. However, soon after the expedition started, her maid became sick, so she let her maid ride in the chair almost the whole way. What a woman! She sounded fascinating. I wanted to know more!
The last room had items from the 20th-century: medals and guns from World War 1, portraits, an artists' easel, toys, chocolate moulds and stirrers from the Cadbury factory, household pots & pans, and some fabrics samples from the 60s (which, of course, I examined closely). There were also a Fair Isle jumper and mitten (black and white), made in the 1930s.
By this stage we both had very sore feet and had to sit down at regular intervals, but we ploughed on upstairs.
I skipped past the Coins & Medals Room (which was very comprehensive and looked interesting) to the Costume Room. It consisted of 3 chipao (Chinese garments: 1 men's, 1 women's and 1 child's), about 5 Chinese embroidered sleeve bands, and 10 pairs of Chinese shoes. That's it. It was a little disappointing.
The displays on Aboriginal life (as were the Geology and Megafauna displays) were very traditional: cabinets with wood panelling, lifesize dioramas with fibreglass models of unclothed natives by a campfire, along with line drawings of down-trodden-looking Aborigines with names like 'Timmy' and 'Fanny', probably done only minutes before they were packed off to a rat-infested reservation far, far away from the 'civilised' people. The topics covered were also very old-fashioned: material culture like stone tools, shell necklaces (all actually created in the 1970s and credited to people with very English-sounding names), and baskets, as well as maps of migration patterns. There was no info on language, music, art, nor the genocide.
I buzzed through the Wong Collection of Chinese ceramics, which was just beautiful, but we had very little time left. We also buzzed through a room with model ships, and the convict history room, which was extremely small (think my bedsit, but with no windows!). They had a couple of mannequins in soldiers' and convicts' dress, some manacles and handcuffs, a text board about female convicts, and ones on transportation, settlement, etc.
Some of the most impressive paintings were on the staircase on the way out (a little bit Harry Potter!). They have a Bougereau!
I wanted to buy at least one book on the trip, and by now my curiosity about convicts and Tasmanian animals had been piqued, but I couldn't find much that wasn't too expensive at the shop! My Secret Tasmania was too touristy, I've been wanting to read Thylacine by David Owens, but that was too expensive too, there was nothing on personalities like Lady Franklin. I ummed and aahed for a while,then bought a booklet called The Convicts of Van Diemen's Land by James F. H. Moore, for $8, which purported to dispel some of the myths about convicts that tourists have.
3.00pm
Then we went to the cinema!
Lucky we got there early, because there was a queue out the door! I had expected some such thing, but not quite so bad. Some people were exclaiming as if they'd never seen a queue before! We get that sort of thing all the time in Melbourne though. S and I had a discussion on general admission and how reserved seating is much preferable in most circumstances. We got good seats though. While we were waiting, the man behind us in line whistled the refrain from the Harry Potter theme - just once. It made us all smile, boosted my excitement level considerably, and it was stuck in my head for the next 3 hours!
A review of the movie itself would make this description of my trip way too long! So I will skip to...
6.00pm
I walked out of the cinema on a high. It was the most ridiculous, but the most right thing to do - on a day trip to a historic town, to see a movie!
By this stage, it was dark. The air seemed much clearer than at home. We had dinner at Little India - a restaurant we'd seen on the way to the movie. It was packed out, which we figured was a good thing. I had the Chicken Alfrezi and a cheese naan, which were both fantastic! We (well, I) talked about the film almost non-stop during the meal. I must have been so annoying!
6.30pm
We had a lot of time to kill, and all the touristy things close at 5pm, so we searched out some late night shopping. We went to Myer (as you do). S bought some shoes. I found it quite boring, because all Myers are the same. Then we wandered to a Tabaret (classy!) where we ordered some hot chocolate which took ages to come. We only had 10 minutes to drink it by the time it came! We were both very tired by this time, and I'm sure my eyes were just as bloodshot as S's.
7.50pm
Finally it was time to get on the bus to the airport. We were subjected to a lovely sample of another Hobartian radio station playing hits of the 70s on the way (I was a little tired and emotional by this stage, okay?). The moon was full and hills were beautiful. As we were taking the most circuitous route I would have thought possible around the city to the various bus stops, I realised that many of the streets of Hobart are one-way. I'm kind of glad we didn't hire a car!
A small surprise on the way - we drove past the Neo-Egyptian-design synagogue so I got to see it at last! (There is a picture of it in Hobart's Historic Places.) It was very very small and rather interesting-looking. But there you go.
I tried to take in as much of the landscape as I could while we swept past the Botanic Gardens and over the Tasman Bridge. Looking back over the river from the far side, I mentally waved and said goodbye to Hobart. I'll come back one day. Then my attention turned back to staying awake long enough to get back home! As S said, "Travelling somewhere is half the fun, being there is the other half." I wholeheartedly agree!
8.20pm
We were unbelievably early for the flight. S had to have a 'random' test for explosive materials. It was (slightly!) amusing.
That almost tangible feeling of being able to sense the hundreds of hours of waiting that have passed in airports came back, and it was quite oppressive. We amused ourselves by watching some kidlings playing: "Look at the plane!" "Waaah!" "You're not my friend anymore Daddy!" etc. I had a look in the shop, hoping to buy another book, but they were all too expensive as well. I ended up getting another booklet, entitled Ghosts of Port Arthur : a Detailed Account of the Sightings of Apparitions and Unexplained Occurrences at Port Arthur Historic Site from the 1870's to the Present Day, which cost $5.95. I read the whole thing before it was even time to get on the plane! It has a cool map of Port Arthur though.
9.20pm
Beeeep! Another passenger has to take her shoes or her belt off.
9.30pm
Why aren't we on the plane yet?
9.40pm
We're supposed to be leaving now! What's going on? Actually, I don't mind planes being late at all. Take as much time as you need to check the plane. Check it again. One more time! You can't just pull over if there's a problem like in a bus.
10.00pm
We finally took off. S got the window seat this time, though I felt a bit bad that he had much less to see than I did on the way there. He snoozed most of the time too. I gave him the trivia test from the free magazine (the answers to most of the pop culture questions were: "Who gives a rat's?"). I had a cup of tea and read my convicts booklet. Terribly civilised. It seemed to be much quicker than the journey there.
11.15pm
We landed successfully and made our way out to the shuttle bus stop. The 10 (?) minute wait for the bus seemed almost interminable. Finally, though, we got back to the car and drove home. The scrubby trees by the freeway were beautiful in the moonlight, and I thought about how visitors to my home might perceive it. I had been away just long enough to be glad to see Melbourne again, but not quite long enough to miss it. Just a little bit longer next time would be lovely.
12.15pm
Got home and fell straight into bed.
I love flying! I want to fly again so badly!
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