But Tasmania (Tassie) is steeped in interesting architecture, Australia's colonial history and is full of glimpses into the punitive past of our convict ancestors.
It also has tremendously delicious food, is easy to drive around, not overly populated, and has some really spectacular natural scenery.
Three major highlights for me, apart from visiting with lovely friends, were
* flying through the treetops, 20 minutes from Launceston:
Hollybank Treetops Adventure. Visit www.treetopsadventure.com.au
We were harnessed, helmeted, and attached to a cable 50 metres above ground, fastest speed at one stage was 80 km/hr. Like being on an extra super-long extended flying fox. Exciting! See the video below and/or check out the website.
** visiting MONA, Hobart's spectacular Museum of Old and New Art, established by a multi-millionaire with great vision and a quirky taste in art,
www.mona.net.au.
It's not 'just' the exhibitions, it's the place itself that is an experience I went down into the bowels of the lower levels of the museum, carved into sandstone rock, to enter a Gothic realm of fantasy, savagery, erotic art, and thought-provoking exhibits.
It felt like being immersed in someone else's mind. The whole event was a comment on the human condition in all its aspects, a lot of it dark.
Above is just one of the tiniest parts of only one exhibition. Enchanting.
*** visiting Australia's grim convict past, and subsequently wanting to immerse myself in all the literature.
I'm especially engaged with women convicts and the Cascade Female Factory in Hobart, www.femalefactory.org.au and am now reading as much as I can on it all. Is there another book here?
If you're interesting in flying through the treetops, check out this video. If you can't open it, go to the site mentioned above:
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