Quick stats:
- 4 graphic novels / 2 books read
- 3 movies watched
- 2 comedy shows attended
- 4 ferries taken (2 of them camo ferries!)
- 0 white wallabies seen
- 1 new pie eaten (curry scallop)
- so much roadkill–mostly wallabies (I stopped counting at 20… and this is unrelated to the bullet above)
My explorations of Australia continue as I headed to the island off the island (and an island off that too!). But first, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has begun! I don’t follow comedy too much so I had no clue that this festival is the 3rd biggest comedy festival in the world (after Edinburgh and Montreal). I mean look at the list of the folks playing just on one single day:
Also look at the stellar handwriting of whoever did this board. Epic.
Annie and I kicked it off strong with Michelle Wolf! I loved her HBO special and that White House correspondent’s dinner is stuff of legend. She got a night off and we had a blast! She was hilarious and we got to cap the night off with stellar Taiwanese fried snacks.
We got to enjoy the night out! Drinks for all! 
Some seriously great fried mushrooms.
Denise and I went to see a local comedian, Lawrence Leung. It was great! He’s kinda dorky and worked the bow tie he was wearing. I think I only lost a bit in terms of Aussie speak but I think overall I did pretty well. I gotta say having my first ever choctop was kind of the thing I was most excited about. They’re standard movie and theater fare here. Such a great snack. I can see a lot of these in my future.
The venue was a neat circus tent. 
It’s simple but a great show snack. 
He does a new show every year! Impressive.
Got some time with Joe Marie before he left town too. Fit as much family time in together while he was here. We had a nice day in the city and he even used that custom KitKat machine and made his own to take home. Loved the Aussie print.
Fancy brunch at Journeyman 
Baby Joey and his spiky hairdo are just the best! 
Love Tilly’s side eye. 
Custom prints for his custom kit kat
Okay, now on to Tasmania! Ever since I was a kid and would draw Australia and then put the little triangle island off the edge–I’d wanted to visit. It’s just so close to Antarctica! The bookshop even had an “Antarctic Transport” section. I even got to see the Aurora Australis parked downtown! Since 1990 it’s the first Australian Antarctic icebreaker. It still regularly makes supply runs down South.
Look how close Tasmania (bottom right) is! 
I’ve seen that orange boat in documentaries! 
I also thought it’d be a good place to drive on the other side of the road for the first time, since it’s quieter there. Rented a car for a couple days to visit some parks.
It has some of the most beautiful national parks and super unique wildlife (even for Australia). I was hoping for sighting the white wallabies that can live as they don’t have any predators on the island. I was in the area but didn’t know that’s the only spot where they were! Another reason to return.
Freycinet National Park has the glorious Wineglass Bay, which was a steep but short hike to view. All the trails were well maintained and it was a great visit.
I see why it’s called Honeymoon Bay 
Sleepy Bay does seem like a good spot to take a nap 
Loved the steps on the trail. It was all so maintained 
Wineglass Bay is gorgeous! Worth the mini hike for sure.
Decided to hop on a lovely island cruise of Bruny Island, to check out oodles of wildlife. Drove onto my first car ferry too! Just a short ride but it was super fun. The island has a North and South separated by a skinny sandy isthmus called The Neck. It’s crazy pretty and I got to chill out at the lookout there for a while. Couldn’t have picked a better spot.
The best breakfast view I’ve ever had 
The Neck view. Speechless. 
I could stay there for ages! 
I love the word “isthmus” now.
Took an island cruise off the Southern end and they doled out dramamine to each of us but 10% of the boat still barfed. I am so thankful that I managed to hold it in myself since it got pretty swell-y at times. Amazing towering rock walls, deep green waters, a pair of dolphins but it was a bit early in the season for whales.
If you look closely, there are seals on those rocks! 
There were about 30 of us per boat 
The Friars 
The water is that deep green as it’s full of phytoplankton 
The Breathing Rock 
The Monument 
Water caves abound 
Cormorants aka long-necked penguins 
Seals aka rock sausages
It’s such a nice, quiet place where folks from Sydney and Melbourne seem to go to get away from the busy city life so I guess I was surprised to see a museum like MoNA here. It’s just super edgy and full of unique pieces. There’s no signs on any art (you get a iPod touch full of info that detects the art near you if you want to know about it) and you’re encouraged to wander the premises, discovering pieces all around. It was pretty epic but kind of hard for me to know if I caught everything (I didn’t) but I’ll be back.
Seriously the coolest ferry I’ve ever been on 
The 100 steps up to the museum and the crew had these awesome jumpsuits 
You could ride a sheep on the ferry. Why not? 
The Fairy Horde and the Hedgehog Host 
“Tim” is a real person who’s tattoos have been bought for €150,000 
“Cloaca” — it makes poop! 
Loved that the interior was fattened too 
“Fat Car” uses a real Porsche 
The art generated from wind! 
Wind Section Instrumental 
The windmill is controlling the pen! 
It was an awesome exhibit that you’d get to experience alone. 
20:50 is a visual illusion but the black is oil! Filled to the brim. 
“Beside Myself” is a full Tron-like LED experience 
“Pigment Pur” by Yves Klein 
“Spectrum Chamber” is an outdoor piece that fills with rainbows at different times of the day
One of the first exhibits you see is a captivating one that uses water droplets to create words. They’re popular words that have been searched on the internet so they’re random. It’s called bit.fall by Julius Popp. Seriously, I have lots of picture of this since it’s something you can just keep watching. It makes a great mechanical sound each time.
Tasmania houses Port Arthur, their Alcatraz (and also tragically the location of the 1996 mass shooting that changed their gun laws) where there’s an old penal colony. I decided to not go visit this trip, so maybe next visit.
Got to try some of the local delicacies, mainly seafood-related. Had local fish ‘n chips and a scallop pie (they pack like 5 in one pie!). They also have a local plant, pepperberry (tastes like it sounds but like a light pepper), so tried pepperberry ice cream. It was nice with a kick!
Dinner dates 
The restaurant is on the water so it has to be fresh! 
Peppermint choc chip choctop. The best one I’ve had so far! 
Proper National Pie – pepper beef 
Eggs benny with a banana + orange juice 
Pepperberry & honey ice cream 
Okay, these Tasmanian apples are pretty great 
They’re good in apple strudel form too
I walked a bunch too and walked downtown daily (preferred that over fighting for parking downtown). It’s super hilly there so it felt kinda of reminiscent of SF. Saw some excellent street art (it’s just all over this country, isn’t it?) and some pretty architecture.
I survived driving although I did avoid parallel parking since I wasn’t quite up to that challenge yet. Made it through some roundabouts though! Pretty pleased about that.
Got back to Melbourne and watched a few movies and saw some lovely Melbourne-isms:
- metal straws (the only proper substitute to plastic I’ve had but they’re pricey so I don’t see them often)
- cinema snacks in refillable tubes! so smart.
What Em's Eating Now 
Amazing scenery photos! Looks so beautiful. Haha..rock sausages.
Hmm pepperberry-never heard of it but im intrigued. Not so keen on the banana OJ..haha.
Isthmus…isthmus..yes its a great word
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