Mr Stretchy Snake

A dog toy I made for Shelley. Had the idea - cost 10 dollars to make.

It has rubber bike tubes in segmented pipes. Lots of fun. Idea floated around in my head for a few weeks. :)

Please see video.                Dedicated to her inner-staffy-nature !

Salamanca Market

           - Hello -

I attended Salamanca Markets and was surprised to find it was amazing.

If I could describe it,  I would say amazing ! The stalls were very numerous. And best of all the sellers were extremely extremely polite and not at all pushy.

The standard of local goods was really outstanding. Also I feel the produce matched the time of year. In other words there was mostly local produce.

I bought two scarves at a very reasonable rate. Thanks for the tip on the going rate of a good scarf Brenda :)

Tomorrow I will organize my washing.  But I have a very good memory of the market that is a major tourist attraction.

 

The Ferry trip to Mona............

Hello - 

I really like this photo I took in St David's church. You can read the writing at the bottom of each pane of glass.

The ferry trip to Mona was very impressive. The actual boat we went on was an amazing vessel. Like the top end boats extremely wealthy people would own. No expense spared for the passengers. I was greeted upon embarking with a wide array of gourmet food. I tried a sauce-age roll or two. Served with relish and a smile.

The ferry ride took about 20 minutes and the captains narration was very informative and enthusiastic. I was wondering before I boarded the ferry if I would get a good overview of this part of Hobart.

And I did.

Hobart Harbour is the second natural deepest harbour after Brazil. No dredging has been ever required.

On top of everything else it was "perrrfect" weather. Not one person complained about the day.

No-one needs really to feel sorry for Tasmania, if Hobart is anything to go by.

This photo below (taken from the ferry) is one of two main Hobart Bridges (and is the smaller one).

We past a Cadbury chocolate factory, a very well run zinc mine, a very successful winery and a lucrative (large) boat building yard that has many clients.

Two days ago 500 medical students arrived for a conference. A definite tourism boost. The hotel I'm staying in got really busy but not too crowded.

Oh and the victorians are still depressed about losing to Fremantle in the football. I saw a tv show about it. The geelong-ians were still extremely upset. :)

Stephen

Short Intermission on Blog...........

Hello - 

I am really and truly backlogged with photos that I really need to edit properly for this blog. My apologies.

Please Stay Tuned - there should be another posting later today.

If you are interested in the photo below. Please click this link I have prepared.

http://tinyurl.com/mulmtsx

Seen on the ferry trip yesterday.

Visit to Mona - Part One

                                        What is Mona - ?


If you have no idea what Mona is, I have prepared a link for you : 

 http://tinyurl.com/mjw2pc8



What is/was a visit to Mona Like  ? (for Stephen Fryc)

                                     P A R T       O N E 

I was going to make a two post blog posting. The good parts (of Mona ) Part One and Part Two, the bad points of Mona.

But I have changed it. Now it will be ( still a two part posting ) but the parts will be :

PART ONE (This Part )  The good and bad of Mona

PART TWO (Yet to be posted) The ferry ride to Mona.

So here it is : The Good and Bad of Mona.

The ferry ride was good (see part two )

Mona was good and bad. The good : WAIT Can you tell I am toying with                              words ?
                  Can you ?                         Welcome to Mona.

         Mona Toys with your Head.

                                     I will stop with toy words now. 


After the ferry ride, I clambered up the 99 steps and found myself in Mona. 

Three hours later I was hurrying down the steps anxiously hoping to get the ferry back to Hobart. I wanted to escape, escape Mona as I had had had had enough. I felt sick.

My perception of Mona is a set of artistic works designed to "conjure" emotions and "invoke" expressions from the onlooker. It's mixed (genuine) Egyptian art with a series of artworks, some I could relate to, others seemed very low budget.

I was glad in the end I had seen what was mOna. But could you believe I missed the entire central point display ??? 

MonA seems very well funded. What is not so well thought out is the layout for people who have never been there. I found myself starting at the top two levels when I was supposed to start right at the bottom level. 

There was supposed to be an Alice in Wonderland central display. Like Alice I found myself looking at the looking glass well and truly, in a manner of speaking. I got extremely  and positively lost.

I was so glad my first impression of MoNA was not the bottom basement third floor. That floor was full of low-porn-type-depravity-from-the-70's. I don't want to remember MONa that way. What a really poor first impression most people must get. Shame on the artistic director. Shame.

The other two floors above contained probably what was a series of artworks owned by the owner of the whole museum. They were better.

Here is an art work I have named :




Piece be        with you :

People like art !

DONT

expect to like ANY ART at Mona

A life size library with no real character(s)

Herein lies a major problem in that the artwork naming was by an iphone app. So was the map of what to see. I love technology but I also love to read about an artwork on the artwork itself. I donned the earphones and iphone and prepared myself to listen about the history of an artwork. It was very self indulgent twaddle.

I stopped using the app. Yuk..................

Who know what this was called?

Mon a     is a termites nest. Its sort of underground, I got overwhelmed and very claustrophobic.

This artwork was a hideous seat/couch in the dark that barks like a dog when you go near it.

By now you have probably read enough.

You feel queasy.

That's my version of MOOna.

art that works

 by Stephen FRYC

Divine Blog Posting....................

Ok - here are my initial personal impressions of Hobart. By the way the above photo was taken in St David's church. The stained glass windows in that church have been one of the many highlights of the visit so far. That's one of the main windows. Please download or view the full version at http://I.really.should.gotochurch.com       Yes that link is my humour but it should work.

Here is a toaster. No I don't think Hobart is like a my hotel room's toaster, quite the opposite. Its freezing.

But on the toaster is a warning, it reads : 

        BEWARE : Burning toast will activate the fire alarm causing a hotel evacuation.

It then reads : 

                            So use the cooking fan hood.

I get the impression small actions can lead to big consequences in Hobart. I can't think of an exact example but that's an impression I get. Also in Hobart what looks boring and un-interesting on first glance can be far from the case.

Would you believe the number of boutique coffee places Hobart has ? I can't. Gourmet and boutique food is in wild abundance here. It sounds silly but with all the coffee places and speciality food my brain got food overload and I haven't actually bought much in that arena. Give me a chance to settle in. I actually walked around when I first got here and thought at first :  Hmmm there are no coffee places or Cafes here. What a Dummy.

The people seem friendly but I noticed, as a stranger, it's a lot better to let locals say hello first. Several people I said Hello to never acknowledged my presence. So now I wait :) 

I could definitely use more presents.

Old buildings  - no these are heritage buildings. They are so fantastic. I am now so sorry Perth got rid of many of its old buildings. Would you believe I saw a Kodak building.

This is true.

I did a double take. I will have to get a photo before I go of that building. We will see how things develop there.

I will probably do a part two blog posting. "Second impressions".

There will be no blog posting tomorrow as I am on a tour for the whole day.

Please come back the day before the day after tomorrow. Just kidding. I will re-post this Saturday. 

                                                      Thanks for reading.

Here is another picture, its a funny sail ? type cover construction. An artwork ? Not sure......

Blabber Blog Posting...........

Simon - was very keen to know what the hotel was like.

If your curious too here is a video of my room. Pardon the dancing girls.

And the strippers.

And LuLu.

(Video has sound)

Gotta go...........

Ok so I hopped out of bed early and took photos. Simple.

Except it wasn't simple.

I rose early, but the temperature was 2 degrees centigrade.

I really wanted to work around in the early light but didn't want to catch cold. Then I had the 
idea.                                                  Give the thermals a go.

I had bought thermals (warm under clothes) and these saved the day. I was already a little chesty but decided to risk it with the thermals.

No problems.

The photo above was taken early at the "dock area". It the main wharf area of Hobart.

I have only just got back to the hotel room from walking around. My hands got very cold. The early morning has one big advantage in that there is no one around.

I have yet to go fully through my mornings photos. If you like the above photo please download the bigger version at;

http://home.exetel.com.au/wgp/tasmania/tas1d.jpg

If you get to see the bigger version, sit back from your computer screen a little. It looks better.

My camera lenses are really suited to lots of light, like during the middle of the day. So I'm glad a few seemed to have worked out.

I didn't want to do it - but I think I will. My next posting will be "Stephen's First Impressions of Hobart".
After all it's a good opportunity for a little peek for anyone that hasn't been here. :)

Great Hotel.....

Am staying in a good hotel. taDAhh ! OK apart from that.

Here is my view through the balcony glass. photo taken in evening behind room balcony glass.

I will set my alarm to do it perhaps better tomorrow;

Speaking of tomorrow - I want to get up  R E A L  early to go walking and taking pictures.

The tap water is really outstanding here, I cant taste any additives at all.

I would normally give everyone a boring list of "My first thoughts/initial impressions of Tassie"

But for now I  can just mention that I think it will really work out for the "camera concious". More details will unfold for my short time here.



Stephen

Possible Exciting News.................

Ok Here I am using free internet in Melbourne airport.

There is some big news for me as there is a good  rumour here its been snowing in hoBart.

At least Mt Wellington has definitely had some snow, so for the photographers it should be
shooting fish in a barrel to get a good photo of Mt Wellington.

The other side of the coin is none of these rumours have been verified (about the snow)

So it could be all fake. I am resisting the temptation to check on the internet (here at melbourne) and will hopefully get a birds eye view from the plane to hobart if I get the right seat :)

On the way over here (from perth to melbourne ) there was hardly any passengers so I could have easily whipped out the camera.

Thanks for reading :)

Stephen

ps thanks to brenda for getting up at 3.00am to be a taxi driver

pps rumoured to also be 10 degrees in hobart

Quite Soon - it will be - aHoy me Heartys...

Hi - am leaving Wednesday morning.

(Suitcase) Packing is going well can't believe how slow I am, not used to the travel thing.

IF YOU have been checking here and not seeing any postings, sorry. It should become more exciting from now on.

I have been up to -

> taking photos and testing my lenses on my dslr camera.


> trying not to learn all about hobart before I get there. Would like the odd surprise :)


The getting there travel path should be :

Perth --> Melbourne --> Hobart --> shuttle bus --> to Hotel.     Nice and simple.

Heres a photo taken at Bold Park;

cheers Stephen

High Tech.......

I am a huge fan of gadgets and also love my music.
Bought a small portable speaker system for $70, pictured below. I'm fussy with sound quality and for the size of the speakers they do a great job.

With an ipod I now have my travel music system for travelling.

For the product in description in detail :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AktihzOOBmI

Scraping things together and making notes.

Hello -

I'm not a world traveler by any means so any trip is big news for me :)

Am scraping ideas and things together for the trip. Mostly concentrating on electronic things, clothing items second.

Have fully booked and hope the weather is OK when there. Am reading pilot guide to tassie.

I thought of ear plugs for the plane :), bought some at bunnings lol !

Photo taken yesterday. Cheery blossom apparently.