Our first destination today will require a little driving. We are going to the nearby historic town of Richmond. Of course, a few wrong turns are made, but with no disastrous results, just a few extra trips over the Derwent River bridge, then we are there. Richmond was a very early settlement here in Tasmania, which of course means that its history is tied up in Australia's history of convict relocation from England. It was a natural stopping point between Hobart and Port Arthur on the East Coast and has many preserved old buildings. The most famous landmark in Richmond, however, is the bridge over the Coal River, which was constructed by convicts in 1823. It is Australia's oldest bridge and its second most photographed (bonus points for anyone who can guess number 1). It is a very scenic spot as evidenced by the following photograph:
After viewing the bridge, we visited St. John's Catholic Church, also Australia's oldest (Catholic) church. There is a very interesting cemetery behind it, including a restored grave of Bartholomew Reardon, who was relocated in 1810 and died in 1847. This is most probably one of the oldest graves in the cemetery, if not the oldest. Descendants restored the grave in 1995.
We walked through the town and our next stop was the Richmond Gaol (jail). Paying the admission price, we got to see what incarceration looked like circa 1850. The attendant at the gaol provided us with a walking map of the town and we followed it for a while, seeing older homes, called cottages, and various other buildings including churches and an old school. The town is very well preserved as an example of what early Tasmania looked like, well worth the visit.
The area also features various wineries, at least six that I noted, and the Fodor's guidebook recommended having lunch at a winery called Frogmore, so that is what we decided to do. We had earlier passed it on our way to Richmond. We pulled in and the tasting room was as nice as any in Napa. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed due to a private event scheduled for later that day. No worries, they were offering a tapas menu on the outdoor deck ovelooking the vineyard. This would turn out to be perfect! We each ordered a glass of chardonnay and it was crisp and delicious. For lunch we ordered four dishes to share: a rocket salad with couscous and feta, Thai fish cakes, Morrocan chicker skewers, and spicy chicken thigh soft tacos with pickled red cabbage. All dishes were executed flawlessly and could not have been enjoyed more! This was the perfect experience. The weather today is warm, but not too warm and mostly overcast. One might think a lack of sunshine would give cause for complaint, but after yesterday, neither of us had any interest in sitting out in the sun! We liked this weather. The only outstanding question was: would I be able to drive back to Hobart on the wrong side of the road after a glass of wine? No worries! Check me out enjoying the chardonnay on the deck with the beautiful scenery in the background:
Aftter we return to town and park our car back at the hotel, we proceed to the Brooke Street pier to catch the catamaran ferry to Hobart's popular attraction the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). The ferries run each hour and take you north up the Derwent River to the museum, which is on the water. The ferry ride is about 25 minutes long and gives us the opportunity to see Hobart and the environs from a water view. The weather has taken a turn for the worse, however, and has become very overcast and drizzly. So the scenery is not at its best, but that's okay.
The museum is impressive and lies mostly underground in very large rooms for extremely modern installations. The temporary exhibition, and the museum's largest, is by artist Matthew Barney and is called the River of Fundament. This features modern sculpture combined with Egyptian artifacts which were inspired by and featured in a film entitled River of Fundament, which in turn was inspired by a book by author Norman Mailer called Ancient Evenings. The whole thing was, quite frankly, a lttle over my head, but did feature some interesting pieces. Other parts of the museum had quite a bit of video art/installations. The most interesting piece we saw is called Artifact by artist Gregory Barsamian. It is a giant brass head turned on its side, with "windows" that allowed you to look inside and see things like birds emerging from a womb and then getting snapped into a book or a piece of fruit that falls into and then through a hand before landing in a hat -- freaky, but cool! Check out this photo, found on Flickr:
We were there about one hour and then took the boat back to the Hobart harbor. The weather is actually quite cool at this point, and we find ourselves underdressed as we disembark. Given that it is still drizzly, we elect to take a late afternoon break to rest and watch a little Australian Open tennis on the television in our hotel room.
For dinner we decide to return to the Italian restaurant where we had lunch called Maldini. We had noticed earlier when we walked by that they had a special dinner of a fish called blue eye trevalla, somehing we had never heard of, but wanted to try. We arrive at 7pm, but with no reservation they are unable to seat us. However, our lunch waitress from before told us to come back in one half hour and she would fit us in. She also advised us to go down the street to a place called Grape (a wine bar) to have a glass of wine, so we did (a glass of Barossa valley shiraz, winery label forgotten). When we arrived on half hour later, we were seated at a lovely table inside. We would have sat outside even though it was drizzling and cool. It seems all of the restaurants at the Salamanca Place have great umbrellas with heaters.
Dinner for Rob was a special salad with broccolini followed by a seafood stew. It had mussels, shrimp, some whitefish, and Moreton Bay "bug," a kind of Australian lobster type shellfish. I had a rocket salad with parmesan (lots of parmesan as it turns out) and the blue eye trevalla as my main. The fish was a firm white fish, a little dry like a Hawaiian ono, but not as firm, very good. I came with a potato saladwith greans., which was a little too rich for my tastes. This is a very good restaurant; pasta dishes served to nearby tables looked quite good. All in all, a great day.
Note to readers: I will be writing in the next few days, but not necessarily publishing to the blog as our next destination may not have wifi internet access. Stay tuned.
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