Hobart

Hobart was a leg of our trip that I was particularly excited about.  One of my best friends from my speech pathology class moved there in early 2012 for a chance to work at the Royal Hobart hospital.  I had been dying to go there and meet up...sadly, the timing was all wrong and as we flew into Tasmania she was flying back to Brisbane to spend the holidays with her family.  Oops.  Fortunately, she was doing a house swap with some lovely Brisbane friends and so we arranged to spend Christmas at Nicole's house with Jules, Bruce and Billy. 

The first thing we did when we got into Hobart was grab Bruce and head to MONA - the museum of old and new art.  Here's the wikipedia description: The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is an art museum located within the Moorilla winery on the Berriedale peninsula in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the largest privately funded museum in Australia.^[1] The museum presents antiquities, modern and contemporary art from the David Walsh collection. Walsh has described the museum as a "subversive adult Disneyland.

 This was a really cool exhibit where you grasp a handle and it translates your heartbeat into the lights seen above.  As other people do it, your heartbeat light gets pushed further along.  Jeremy was having fun diagnosing arrythmias!

 

There were all sorts of fascinating exhibits.  This one is called "Cloaca".  As we approached, we smelled something unappealing.  Any guesses about what this could be?  Well - it's basically a poop machine!  The different components mimic stomach enzymes.  At a certain time of day, employees "feed" the machine, and then at another time - it poops!  Jeremy couldn't stand being in the room with this one, but my sense of smell is pretty dulled, so Bruce and I examined it for awhile.

 

Since the site of the museum is also home to a winery and brewery, Bruce and Jeremy were pretty much required to do a tasting of Moo Brew.  I was the responsible designated driver.

 We returned to Nicole's where Jules and Billy were waiting!  This is the view from Nicole's balcony.  Absolutely beautiful!

 

 Here's my pal Billy checking out the view with me.

Christmas morning while Billy was opening presents, they decided to do a foot size comparison.  Jeremy's was slightly larger than Billy's!

 On Christmas Day, we drove up Mount Wellington - it couldn't have been more than 5 degrees!

 We had a nice warm hug at the Mount Wellington lookout.  Check out the view!

Everyone was definitely all rugged up for the cold weather!

Back at Nicole's, we decided a Christmas mimosa was in order.

The boys settled for beer.

We got this awesome dinosaur tail for Billy, which you can put around your waist and push a button to make it roar.  He liked playing with it, but really didn't want to put it on!  I think the adults might have had more fun with it than him!!  He is standing in his plane, which we flew him around in.

 We decided to talk a walk to the beach and after some convincing, Jeremy finally posed for this photo!

 Our delicious Christmas dinner - minus the main ingredient - a tasty leg of lamb.

 On Boxing Day, we headed to our next destination - Cradle Mountain.  One the way, we stopped at Russell Falls and Jules, Bruce and Billy T accompanied us there for a picnic before saying our goodbyes.

 Apparently the most viewed falls in Tasmania.

 We went up to the top of the falls and Billy hitched a ride on J's shoulders.

We had such a wonderful time with our great friends and tried not to be too sad as we parted ways.  It was hard though, because they were staying in Tasmania till the 6th of January and we were leaving Brisbane on the 3rd.  I usually manage to drop by Jules' house almost every week, and not being able to do that makes me sad - but we already have plans to meet up this year :)