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Showing posts with the label ferry

Sydney: Watsons Bay, The Golden Sheaf Hotel

A recent trip to Sydney afforded me an opportunity to fulfill my long-craved fix of its beautiful harbour. With family on the East side, someone suggested a drive over to Watsons Bay for a look-see and stroll around. Why, yes! How lovely , I thought, truthfully but somewhat nervously, the words "Watsons Bay" having invoked from the dark recesses of my brain a memory of eating fish and chips in the park one sunny weekend and a greedy seagull (one of the many that are constantly overfed by stupid visitors who ignore the signs clearly instructing NOT to feed the seagulls) flying to my shoulder and pecking a chip FROM MY FINGERS. Scared the LIVING BEJESUS out of me. Nevertheless, I like visiting Watsons Bay - not least for the entertainingly windy drive past clean and impressive mansions, The Macquarie Lighthouse * and the notorious " Gap " to get there - but also because it feels like a little holiday nook of Sydney: sheltered, village-y... yes, expensive; with a pr...

Hobart: Museum of Old and New Art (MONA)

Mona sounds like your great-aunt. Or someone with big hair that Craig McLachlan would sing about . It is also the snappy and memorable acronym for Hobart's newest - and so far, very successful - tourist attraction: The Museum of Old and New Art . View from MONA Cafe Opened in 2011 after a $75 million refurb of its former identity, the Moorilla Museum of Antiquities, MONA is happily situated among the Moorilla Estate winery on the Berriedale peninsula of Hobart. Outdoor stage area Australia's largest privately-funded museum, its artworks come from the collection of David Walsh , a Tasmanian millionaire and professional gambler known as quite a character (or,  according to the MONA website , a "prick"). The art featured tends to err on the side of shocking, frequently referencing sex, death and violence, and apparently designed to challenge the viewer's sensibilities wherever possible. In a nutshell, MONA is the must-see attraction of Hobart, ...