Arrived around 10am in time for the tour. Very interesting how they make chocolate...quite the process.
Cadbury in Tasmania is the second largest chocolate factory in the world and all the cocoa beans are processed in Singapore and then the cocoa butter and chocolate mass is shipped over. I was sad to hear that about three years ago Kraft had an aggressive takeover of the long time family owned Cadbury empire...they offered 2.5 times the share value in the takeover. Created quite a stir in Australia, but in the end it was bought out and the family now own no real shares at all.
All the chocolate produced in Australua stays in Australia...so of course being the chocolate lover I am, I had to buy some to take home. On my way out I also purchased the best hot chocolate ever...shavings of white, dark and milk chocolate mixed in with steamed milk...delicious!!!
By 11am I was on my way to return my car in Hobart. Dropped off my luggage at my bunkhouse...glad to be back...and made my 11:30am return time with no time to spare. The weather was warm, but starting to rain as forecast. I headed down to the waterfront to meet my ferry to MONA...the Museum of Old and New Art located just outside the city limits. The ferry arrived at 1:15pm right on time for our 30 minute journey over....even the boat was artistic!
MONA is only abou 3 years old and acclaimed as one of the best modern art museums in the world...one of Hobart's top tourist destinations as well. It is quite a spectacular place...from the art, the building, to the cafe, restaurant and winery.
Upon arrival I was greeted by this amazing metal sculpture of a cement truck positioned right outside the entrance...incredible detail and massive in size.
Upon entry into the building it was a bit overwhelming ...four levels of museum stretched out over a massive area. I decided to start at the bottom and work myself up...they even had a bar on the bottom level and a band playing...pretty typical museum I would say!!!
There were only three of us on tour...a bus tour did not show up...so we had a special tour with lots of extra wine...awesome! The tour was about 1.5 hours and we had a chance to see things in production and taste about 8 wines along the way and in the tasting room.
None of the wine from MONA is exported outside Australia...in fact 80% is purchased right at the MONA site itself. My fovourite was the sparkling Riesling.
After my tour finished...I was feeling pretty loopy by this point...I had an hour left to finish touring the museum. I visited the mummy exhibition, also saw the "fat car"...representing our over indulgence in the 21st century...the chapel, and the most talked about exhibit, the "poo" machine...you feed the machine, it simulates what happens during digestion and you end up with poo at the end!!
At 6pm I was back on the ferry heading back to Hobart. Decided to pick up some food for breakfast in the morning and also stopped at a very busy and lively pub for a bit of supper...great atmosphere overall and super food.
After travelling up the Kelly Steps one last time, I arrived back at my bunkhouse around 8pm, checked in and decided to make it an early night. A bit tuckered out and ready to move on to my next destination in the morning...Perth...where the weather this week hit a record high of 44.2 degrees...yiiiikkkes!!
Until tomorrow....
The chocolate factory looks and sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteDad would love the wine tour and maybe get some tips on making wine.
Have a great evening.
Mom
Chocolate is always awesome Mom!!
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