Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Sunday | January 15, 2017

Awake and in Hobart, Tasmania, I couldn't really think of anything terrific to do, so I decided to visit MONA, the Museum of New and Old Art.

I took the 9:30 water shuttle –it was a lovely little ride. I was looking forward to this museum because many of my fellow travelers had extolled its virtues for the past several days. It is Australia’s largest private museum boasting a collection of 1,900 pieces including such bizarre things as Egyptian mummies, a waterfall, and some more odd things I will describe below. In sum, I did not much care for it and stayed only an hour, as opposed to the three hours I was supposed to be there.

The museum was devised and financed by an Australian multibillionaire who made his money developing algorithms to be used in casinos. It sure was cavernous!

I am not someone whose definition of art encompasses only the classics, but some of this bizarre stuff I just did not find entertaining.

I also found some a bit offensive, particularly some of the rooms dealing with sexuality.

This exhibit, for example, was entitled “My Favorite 88 Cunts.” Seriously, that title screams of pure shock value and I did not find anything artistic about it.

At various points in the museum, one could see an artist actually at work.

At another point, sat this man. Apparently, for $100,000, he sold his back to the museum to be tattooed and he sits there every day.

But more bizarre than that, when he dies, they are to carve his back off and hang it on the wall.

The poop machine was the end for me. In this room were suspended vessels. They were fed twice a day with human food and liquid.

Then, it simulates the digestive system and every day, at 2:00, it poops. Even though I was spared the actual pooping, the room stank of poop. Gross!

I left and took the water taxi back to the main dock. I stopped again for lunch, this time just fries and some local fish, again at a street-side place. The poop display had suppressed my appetite.

I met with several other residents about theories regarding conspiracies and vote manipulation concerning the upcoming elections. The board politics and personal sniping are becoming very offensive so if we can sell one of our apartments, it is likely I will resign from the board.

Back on the ship, I went to the pool deck and fell fast asleep in the sun for an hour. My face is bright red!

I retired to the apartment where I wrote the blog, caught up on emails, and set up all the clothing for the upcoming expedition to Antarctica; I am using our second bathroom as my staging area.

At 5:00 PM, I went to the 12th floor deck and participated in TRX with my favorite trainer. The exercise was wonderful, but it was also good just to catch up with him. This was the last time I was to see land for the next 21 days.

It was around this time the Captain made the announcement that we lost an anchor in Port Arthur a few days ago and that we have to make a detour to have a salvage team reattach it. That was certainly in inauspicious beginning to the expedition!

After dinner, I went to Regatta to listen to the Fossils for a while. Their playing or talent hasn’t changed much over the years, but it's kind of like comfort food. But the highlight of the time upstairs was going on to the port deck to watch the tugboat try to reattach our anchor to the ship. After three or four hours of trying, the process was completed and we got underway shortly after midnight. Around that time, I went to sleep.