A slow morning after new neighbours arrived last night – crashing pots and pans until 11pm. We didn’t have many plans for today apart from seeing the waterfalls which are walking distance from the camp site. A day of chilling out with the intention of a lunchtime sleep for the girls and for Lach and I to go for a walk while Dani stayed with the girls.

The footpath to Russell Falls was an extremely easy walk – suitable for wheelchairs – Audrey once again decided she wanted to be carried, but we reminded her that strength comes from running. So off she ran, backwards and forwards the entire way between Lach and I. The temperature varied from hot in the sun, to cold in the rainforest to even colder when we arrived at the waterfall. The marketing collateral of the waterfall did not do it justice – it looks like a token waterfall to tick the box. The sound of the waterfall only became apparent when we were about 5 metres away – then all of a sudden, a viewing platform appeared and a multi tiered wedding cake of water crashing down from at least 150m in the sky. Breathtaking. A couple of comments from surrounding visitors we all agreed that we all expected something much smaller and insignificant. We ascended through the forest up a >200 steps which the girls walked holding hands, with Ava pretending she was blind (not the best place to be walking with eyes closed). The walk ended at another beautiful, less dramatic, waterfall called the Horseshoe waterfall. Walking back down we made sure that both the girls were holding adults hands, as no ‘blind’ games were allowed whilst descending. After an hour round trip, our walking ended in some Devonshire Tea at the visitors centre. 

Seeing as it wasn’t even midday, we thought we could visit the Salmon Ponds at New Norfolk, to see the oldest trout hatchery in the Southern Hemisphere, before lunch and for the girls to have their sleep, so we literally jumped in the car and off we went. I secretly hoped we could have fish for dinner. 10mins into a 25min journey, I proposed we visit MONA today rather than tomorrow. It was an additional 30mins in the car and we thought Thursday may not be as busy as a Friday. Heading to MONA on Thursday also meant we didn’t have to factor logistics for parking the caravan!  So with a quick change of plans we continued driving past the Salmon Ponds entrance and arrived at MONA at 1230. Aware that the girls were surviving on weetbix and half a scone, we wondered whether we were pushing our luck entering the museum at lunchtime, but aware that they had headphones for the girls to have their own commentary and music etc, we thought we would try our luck.

I purchased 3 tickets as U18’s were free – should have said Dani was U18!! –  however for $28 a ticket I couldn’t complain – significantly cheaper than any Sydney museum would charge for adult tickets and they would have also charged for any child over 4 years old. I am not quite sure what I expected from MONA. Everyone who knew we were heading to Hobart said “you MUST visit MONA”, however for the three of us, we expected more than what it delivered. We were all provided our own devices (like iPhones) which connected to headphones so we could listen to each artist talk from wherever we were in the museum. The girls had ‘minor’ options, where they could listen to fun music or songs that related to the art. The girls had a ball!  We spent most of the time encouraging them to not look at their screens whilst walking along and to actually look at the art (novelty for them seeing as they aren’t allowed to use devices at home). The art was more ‘clever’ and ‘quirky’ than ‘skilful’ or ‘memorable’. We can’t decide whether having seen The Wall the day before had tarnished our expectations of art, as The Wall is a living masterpiece created by someone with amazing talent, as opposed to multiple artists from around the globe presenting their own work in their own room without the flow. The most memorable piece of art was a man with a tattoo on his back – he is the art – he must have just had a break when we arrived, as i watched him take his shirt off and take his position in the plinth. He put his headphones in and began meditating. Audrey was amazed that it was “for real life that’s a real man that’s breathing?” “He really is just sitting there and he is real?”. He has so far sat there for 2,700 hours since 2011, and his skin has been sold to a German art collector – when he dies his skin will be framed.

The architecture of MONA is outstanding, with all 3 levels underground with rooms, ups and downs, and round and rounds all designed with each piece of art in mind, then about ground the restaurants, hotel, vineyard, play area and wedding venue all built onto a small peninsula on the River Derwent. After 2 hours we finished the tour and the girls went on the trampoline for a few minutes then they decided they were hungry, so with nothing close by (we didn’t want to pay MONA cafe prices for a snack) we headed to he bottle shop across the road and purchased 2 share packets of crisps. Girls thought it was the best having a whole packet of chips for lunch!

We drove back to the campsite and continued up through the forest for another 5km to have an explore to see what was further into the national park. A narrow gravel road which twisted and turned up and up, then suddenly a pheasant ran out of the bush and Lach’s reaction was so quick that he honked the horn and the pheasant continued to run across the road without being squashed. We turned around at a viewing spot then proceeded back to the campground where we spotted an echidna foraging for food. Dani was in the shower and the girls ran to tell her, but at first she didn’t believe them as she had been talking about wanting to see an echidna all day, eventually she came out to us all standing around this gorgeous ‘soft looking’ creature minding its own business. 

The weather on the east coast of mainland Australia and east coast Tasmania is meant to be bad over the next couple of days, but we are hoping that we will miss the worse of it due to being south.