Moving Up

Before I ventured down to Tasmania, I flew up to visit my amazing friend Kate on the Goldcoast - so, good. Kate had planned a week of awesome adventures - I fed Kangaroos at the Australia Zoo, need I say more? After meeting me from the airport, we stopped and took a little stroll along the beach to an incredible view of Goldcoast City, then we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with her lovely family, heading to Brisbane the next day.

I don't like to sound like a broken record in these little ditties o'mine, but the only word that pops to mind in order to describe my short trip is, awesome. Here are a few from when I arrived and some from around Brissie.

Out and About Sydney

It's a very big place, with a very big population and there are many tourists too, so lots of things to see and do to keep 'em all occupied. The highlights of my trip were going to see a free film featuring a young Marlon Brando (babe) at the Art Gallery of NSW, being up close and personal at the Opera House and taking a dip in the open-air, saltwater Andrew 'Boy' Charlton pool just next to the Royal Botanic gardens.

Sydney

Moving on into NSW territory now. I popped up to visit my cousin for a short spell in February. It was an early start followed by a slightly tense wait at the Melbourne domestic airport departure gate, where the notification board alerted us that the plane scheduled to fly myself and the other sleepy passengers up and across, was boarding... yet there was no plane. The airline (that shall remain nameless, as I can't come up with a witty name for it) and I have met on several occasions now, it's one of those things where neither parties particularly likes the other or wishes to be with them for longer than a short distance flight, when both sides meet it's with a cold '...you again?' 'yup...' and are essentially using each other just to get somewhere, me to a destination, them to my bank balance.

But enough about the cold, uncomfortable, garish flight provider and their planes, it turned up eventually and I was off to Sydney! Shiny, big and oh so bright-orange tanned skin, with maaany, many people to fill all the nooks and crannies, I came over all tourist and went straight up to see the harbour bridge and opera house.

Mt. Wellington

Life has taught me that if you wanna go up, you'll probably have to go down (and vice versa.) In this case, after a free bus ride up, I decided it was a great idea to walk via the not so instantly obvious way down - there was a map, but choosing one of the many colourful squiggly lines leading off in multiple directions is tricky when you're not entirely sure where 'YOU ARE HERE' is or which side of the mountain you need to get to in order to catch the local bus back...

I assume I expected to have one of those life altering experiences, you know the one, all alone except for your thoughts and nature to keep you company, when suddenly you're hit by a moment of clarity that changes your perspective on reality forever... Sadly it didn't go that way. Based on the 'up, down' principle, meandering my way along slippery rock paths leading downward, all I got hit with was good old panic, plunging further into what I imagined at the time was not dissimilar to a witch's cauldron as the cloud and mist rose around me, wondering whether I'd ever see civilisation again or if nature would have its way and I'd end up living out my days as a bush woman, surviving solely on small grubs, mud and tree bark... until I saw a real life person walking towards me, sanity and calm snapped back into action and I realised I was going the right way. (Quite possibly I helped the young man reach the top faster in a bid to gain distance, lest he be caught by the crazed bush woman of Mt. Wellington...) I recorded the trip just in case the above played out.

Mona

This place was mind blowing, literally. I'd been told by many, having said I was heading to Tasmania, to check out Mona - Museum of Old and New Art. It's hard to describe the initial experience - I had no idea what I was walking myself into. Giant Mickey Mouse hands scattered all over the shop, a path leading to a large mirrored box with security manning the entrance, wooden teepees... you start to question reality.

So, after a friendly nod from said security encouraging me onward through the glass doors, directed by museum staff to the ticket desk and supplied with an iPod touch as my tour guide, I was ready for what lay under the two flights of spiral staircase and further below ground level, not to resurface for sunlight until a good couple of hours later - my brain was saturated and a tad confused by the work on show. It is a long time to be underground, but if you do anything in Tasmania, Mona is a must.
 

Hobart

About time for an update, hmm? There's a rather impressive thunder and lightening show taking place outside so I may be slightly distracted here, the downpour - or 'dam bursting from the sky' to do it justice - was a brilliant supporting act.

It seems in keeping to show more of Tasmania, I spent many a rainy day caught out by the clouds that 'appeared' from behind Mt. Wellington, clearly natures game of 'hide and seek', I never quite made it to shelter... but on the odd occasion it held off long enough for me to snap away!