Today we were heading to the capital city of Tasmania, Hobart. Out of the states and territory’s capital cities this would make it so that we’ve both visited the same five capitals. First, we needed breakfast though. We left our very comfortable Airbnb after a nice sleep and headed to the local bakery. We both ordered a coffee and a Cornish pastie. Ronnie had never had a pastie before and he regretted choosing it. He said it’s the worst thing he ate on the trip. Honestly it was a pretty bad pastie so not a great example for a first try.

We were full after breakfast though and hit the road to Hobart, roughly a two hour drive away. We had tickets booked for one of Hobart’s must do’s, MONA or Museum of Old and New Art. We arrived for our 11am entry and headed down the stairs to the bottom floor of the museum where you start and make your way back up to the top. MONA’s artworks are the most intriguing we’ve ever seen. It was crowded and some of the artworks had lines you had to join to view. We lined up at one where it was like a cave type structure and once you stepped inside it was like you were in a really long corridor because of the use of mirrors. It was worth waiting in line for because it was so unexpected.

One of the other notable exhibitions was called the Ben Salter Import Export. Ben Salter is a musician and he is set up in a space with what looks like a lot of his belongings and he just plays his music at random intervals during the day. He was great to listen to with a lovely voice and you just kind of drift towards it when you’re walking through because you can hear him in the corridors leading to the space.

MONA is well worth a visit and is reason alone to visit Hobart. The art is sometimes really confronting or just so bizarre but you can’t look away. The building and grounds are quite eye catching themselves. After we walked through the entire museum we were ready for lunch. On the lawns of MONA is a burger bar which is open sometimes. It was nice and sunny so Ronnie grabbed a falafel burger and organic cola and I got a Korean chicken burger and cider and we found a spot amongst the big crowd of people to eat it. There were musicians entertaining everyone out on the lawn. It was a pretty cool vibe.

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After MONA the weather was still clear so we headed up to Mount Wellington for the view. The drive was incredibly windy, steep and nerve wracking. As you’re getting to the top you’re driving up close to the edge of the mountain where it just drops off next to you. We’re both afraid of heights and we were dealing with this as well as it being freezing on top of the mountain with the wind chill feeling below freezing point. The views of Hobart are spectacular but we were so exhausted from the harrowing drive that we didn’t spend much time enjoying it. We snapped a quick pic of the view from as close as were willing to get to the viewpoint and made our way back down the mountain.

We breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the bottom and made our way to check into our perfectly located Airbnb which was a little apartment just up the hill from Salamanca, a very popular area of Hobart. We put our belongings down and walked down to the grocery store at Salamanca. Along the way a chocolate shop caught Ronnie’s eye and so we went in. They had a chocolate named Aimee, spelt exactly like that, so we purchased it and three other chocolate truffles to sample later.

We walked back up the deceptively steep hill to our accommodation for rest before our evening plans. We had tickets to an event called Street Eats at Franko’s which runs on Friday nights during the warmer months. This was the last one of the season. They had a band called 19 Twenty playing and about 15 food stalls around the park. We were really there for the food but the band were great live and fun to watch. They had the most hilarious odd characters rocking out to their music and a cool guest fiddler. Back to the food though.

We started our evening of eating with baozi or steamed buns. We got a beef bun and a pork bun to share. They were alright. Not bad, not the best we’ve had. While I was waiting in line for the buns Ronnie went off to surprise me with another tasty treat. We met on a grassy spot on the lawn and Ronnie had brought back a chicken and chorizo paella and patatas bravas. In no way was the paella traditional but no matter because it was really delicious and the patatas bravas were hot, crispy and had the right amount of sauce on them.

We then ordered an Indonesian savoury pancake called martabak. It was chicken and vegetables in a crispy pancake. It was yummy. We got it with a cold sweet tea but it pretty much just tasted like a putting a handful of flower petals in your mouth so it wasn’t very enjoyable. I also headed off to get a meat skewer for us to share from a stall that was grilling them. I chose pork and it came straight off the grill. It was tender and it was marinated nicely in sweet hoisin.

We had finished with the savoury dishes after this and had dessert room in our bellies. There was a busy bubble waffle stall where we ordered a cookies and cream bubble waffle with cookies and cream ice cream, cream and chocolate sauce. The wait was long but it came out fresh and crispy. The mix of hot crispy waffle with cold ice cream is just so delightful. A yummy finale to a great night of eating and entertainment.

We strolled home with extremely full stomachs and headed for bed after a long but fun filled day.