Hobart Day 1

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After a good nights sleep, we rose early ready for the big day ahead. The whole plan was to be in Hobart for Saturday morning so we could go to the Salamanca Market. This is a huge market held every Saturday Morning in the Salamanca square. It has everything from glass and metal, wood and textiles to plants, food, wine, whisky and gin. It is a must see for any tourist in Hobart and well worth every cent of the free admission!

We arrived at 8.30 AM just as the market was starting and already there was a decent crowd there. After doing a lap of the market we stopped at the food stalls for a coffee, and to soak up the atmosphere. Ready for another lap we set off to see if we could find some huon pine slabs for Ann's glass art projects. Unfortunately we didn't find any so looked at the local galleries alongside the market. There are a few there and one that caught my eye was a metal and jewellery galley. 
We needed to kill a bit of time before our 12.30pm boat ride to Mona and  somehow in our last 2 laps we missed a Paella stall. Yee haa lunch was sorted. After sitting in the park enjoying our lunch we noticed the market was pretty packed, so we casually strolled over to the wharf precinct to catch to boat to Mona. There are a few levels of ticket for the boat ride and entry. You have the normal old cattle class that we take that cost around $66 concession return, or the Posh pit which will cost around $93 each return. The boat ride was relatively quick and is a good way to see the upper reach of the Derwent. 

Once at Mona you are greeted with 99 steps to get to the top ( or a lower tunnel entrance for those not able to do the stairs. At the top of the stairs the first thing that caught my eye was a semi trailer with a cement truck on the trailer. It was made entirely of plasma/laser cut metal and was very impressive. 
The outer structure of Mona is clad in rust steel (most likely Corten) and was rather eye catching. Once inside you have 4 different levels to view and can either take a spiral staircase down or wait for a space on the elevator.  There are 2 exhibits that most people know Mona for. One is the poop machine, a machine that replicates the journey from food to faeces. The other is the wall of vaginas. The artist title for that is pretty disgusting in my books and that alone put me off. 
There is a lot to see there, some is good art and some is just a waste of space in my opinion. After about 2 hours wandering thru we caught an early boat ride back to Constitution dock  and made our way back to the appartment. We stopped to get some supplies at the supermarket for dinner  and the crowd was slowly diminishing from the market and also the MRA toy run that finished there. It was a full on day with plenty of highs and a few lows but in all a good day out.

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