Hobart, Tasmania

From Melbourne, we traveled across the Bass Strait over to Hobart, Tasmania, which is the big island underneath mainland Australia. The high temperatures were in the 10-12 degrees C range (50-53 F) and lows hovering around 5 degrees C (41 F), just above freezing! Fortunately it was mostly sunny and not very windy, with a couple light rain showers. That made traveling in winter a lot more tolerable.

flying in to Hobart

Hobart was home to some interesting artsy pieces in seemingly unlikely places. And we arrived on the final days of one of the weirdest events, their annual Dark MOFO festival (an abbreviation of the Museum of Old and New Art [MONA] and Festival of Music and Art [FOMA]), which is a wintertime week-long festival. Sunday evening there was a large procession of people walking in the central city with a couple floats, one of which -- the ogoh-ogoh creature -- was to be burned (to dispel the bad spirits?). We waited around but it was freezing and there was no indication that the chanting and drumming were actually leading to something, so we gave up and left. Apparently a couple hours later it finally was burnt. It was one of the strangest things I've been to and confirmed that I was not interested in going to the MONA museum, even though several people in NZ had recommended it. We're not that into modern art, and we didn't have extra time in the schedule to take the ferry out to it.

close-up of the ogoh-ogoh (looked like a dragon)

the procession of the ogoh-ogoh through the city's edge

The conference over the next several days went well, and Hobart had some beautiful (albeit very cold) nights, being on the waterfront with the moon rising.

Fish Frenzy's fried food was just average, though the
Caesar salad was good.

Tried a Panookie (cookie in a pan with ice cream and marshmallows)
at an all-day dessert restaurant

Around Brisbane

We made it safely to Brisbane and picked up our Hertz rental car, a small, silver, bug-shaped model, then drove south of the city to our host's house. We chatted for a bit and then she took us to the mall so we could grocery-shop for the week. The mall had a Target -- a Target! -- so we couldn't resist popping in and checking out the clearance racks. I spotted my first Australian bugs, two small cockroaches in the bathroom, but they ran back into a crack before I could do anything. 

The next day (after she hand-fed magpies from her patio - I couldn't believe how close they came; apparently they have walked into the house too!), she drove us around Brisbane which was really nice because we would definitely have had a hard time trying to navigate all the places without GPS. We went to the Botanic Gardens which have a great view of the city, Mount Coot-tha, and a jetty out on the water.

Welcome to Australia: Sydney

We arrived in Sydney in the morning (after the time change) and took the train from the airport to the hotel to leave our bags at the counter before check-in time. I thoroughly enjoyed my first glimpse of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge from the train. They look spectacular on the waterfront. 

Next we were off on the search for food. The hotel (Napoleon on Kent) ended up being in a great location downtown, within walking distance of most tourist locales. We happened upon a shopping market with lots of booths and wares. We sampled some licorice and bought a small bag for D. Although I don’t like black licorice, it actually tasted a lot better than the processed stuff from stores in the U.S. We ate a quick lunch at Subway, took some pictures of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge, and enjoyed walking in the sunshine. Compared to the freezing temperatures in Christchurch, the mild winter here was a relief.

I had read online that the Australia Museum was having a free weekend for kids and adults, so we decided to brave the large crowds to save some money and fill up our first day before my conference started. There were definitely hundreds of people there, with kids in tow. It was hard to move around (major fire hazard) but there was some good dinosaur stuff and info on the continent’s history. A photography competition’s winners were also on display, with some gorgeous photos of landscapes and wildlife. We did our grocery shopping for the week (staying at an apartment-style place with a kitchenette) and crashed early.