Monday 11 August 2014

...not whinging, just MoNA in Green


Shane with Key ring
Shane with Key ring from Jason




G’day Possums,

Mrs Wombat, daughter No:1 and I had another trip to Hobart  its surrounds and particularly to MoNA.
Oddly, it seemed the days were warmer here than in the home burrow of the Tardis State where, today it has been lightly snowing again.


We had some encounters too that reminded us that not all politicians are as putrid as those we will refer to later in Wombat Droppings.












The light in Hobart is wonderful, crisp and clear, a pinging delineation of flora, which is at times quite different to the mainland and where history and its actions seem much closer to the surface . 
Rechereche Bay
Recherche Bay 
In the far south at Recherche Bay where Bruni d'Entrecasteaux sheltered in his search for the missing explorer La Perouse and made friends with the local indigenous people, which later did them no favours. As they happily ran toward later arrivals, English Redcoats and waving branch fronds as a greeting, they were shot down. 

Sandy Bay Rd near Albuera
Sandy Bay Rd near Albuera
There’s a small park on the side of Sandy Bay Rd near Albuera Primary school that had a melancholy feel and I took a couple of shots only to discover the next time I walked past that there was also some broken graveyard headstones fashioned into a monument as well.  Bones had been recovered during works on the playground and the saw marks on some of them seemed to indicate the cadaver(s) may have been used some medical procedure. 

Max
Max
Then we met Max and Ruby. Ruby was very quiet and secure in Max’s care but Max was very affable.

Max and Ruby
Max and Ruby
And some locals, possibly trying to upstage part of the exhibition at MoNA, who said they did Samian ( I think) craft and one who indicated she rode a very pretty bike which was parked just around the corner. 


Two sisters at Salamanca Market waiting for their snacks…. 

Two sisters at Salamanca Market
Two sisters at Salamanca Market


…and Larry the American on his way to same…. with supplies. 

Larry the American
Larry the American

 A restaurant dinner that night saw us sitting next to Greens ex-Leader, (and inspirational hero to daughter No#1) Dr. Bob Brown who told us he was doing a book signing next day at The Hobart Bookshop ( www.hobartbookshop.com.au ) and said he wouldn’t mind me taking pics.

Dr. Bob Brown

Dr. Bob Brown

Dr. Bob Brown

Dr. Bob Brown
Dr. Bob Brown at The Hobart Bookshop
His book, “Optimism” is a good read and a suitable antidote to what Federally, is presently ailing us.

Also seen at Salamanca Market were “Mangus” who made a very fine noise… check them out.

Mangus
Mangus

 We hopped onto the MoNA ferry, which is really the only way to go there if you are capable of ascending the 99 (zillion, trillion) stairs after disembarking. The quirky pointed humour of the owner David Walsh is present on the ferry too, as you are just another part of a live shipment being transported to another world. 
MONA Ferry
MONA Ferry

Which is probably as good a place as any in which to conflate this week’s Wombat Droppings…. The “ Fortress Australia” mentality of “Rabbutt-the-Hun” is grandly represented in the rusting steel walls of the gallery
MONA

And it’s Byzantine interior walkways reflect his meanderings into oblivion….. 

MONA
MONA

…as does the sculpture by (?)

MONA
MONA
 which encapsulates the feverish fripperies of “The-Coots-With-Queer-Ideas-From-a-Parallel-Universe” the IPA whose machinations have all seemed to have come unstuck at the same time to whit: “Blot-on-the-Landscape’s” 18C fiasco for  George "Bigot" Brandis; the same incompetents’ bungling of the Metadata explanation, then Eric “Vichy” Abetz’s foot-in-mouth conflating abortion with breast cancer to curry favour with the “Septic-Tanks” “ultra-right-happy-clappy” brigade. 
All this coupled with the loss/sacking of a pair of foul-mouthed candidates means it’s been a nasty week for a nasty bunch of people.


Dr. Lauren Rosewarne opined (Age 10-8-14) that “…social media is a very tricky game for some people.”  I would venture, good manners, too!

MONA
MONA
Joe “Cereal-Toyota-Killer” Hockey is blaming Labor and the Greens' obstruction of his fiercely unfair budget for the worsening employment rate which is odd ‘cause he’s the one whose decided that manufacturing is soooo C19th! 
But then, unlike art….

MONA
MONA
…politics is not a game.

MONA
Jason (who made the key ring) and Friend
Repetitive perhaps, selling the same thing in different guises perhaps and not all is as it seems. 


MONA
MONA
But if you drill down long enough you might just see the light....
...and with contemplation, find the truth…
 
MONA
MONA

as unpalatable as it really is...
 
MONA
MONA

...it’s enough to drive you to drink.

Hoo-roo, Petals,

Shane
Hobart Noir
Hobart Noir


Monday 4 August 2014

......Best served cold




G’day Petals,
It’s been quite cold around the burrow this past week as the pics will show and some more images from Queenscliff and 
Wombat droppings; the chronicle of this Wombat's country's demise and of it becoming nothing more than a hole in the ground provider of raw material to the lowest bidder.


There is a tourist rail line at Queenscliff and this pretty little 0-6-0 Tank Engine is one of the workers. Built in Kilmarnock, Scotland in 1919 by Andrew Barclay and Son's Caledonia Works its name Pozieires resonates this August in memory of the conflict begun today 100 years ago.
0-6-0 tank Engine Pozieres, Barclay Works 1919
"Pozieres" Queenscliff 
As I said it has been cold...

Frost, Greendale
Greendale, Frost

Greendale, Snow
Greendale, Snow

Wombat Droppings


Slippery Pete, remember him?  Well he was finally found guilty of defrauding the Commonwealth of around $1,000.00. 
As a dish best served cold, revenge is what the Liarbrils excel at…it is wonderful how they, Caligula like, eat their bastard offspring.
Of course “Rabbutt-the-Hun’s” rortings various of nearly $100,000.00 from the public purse was allowed to be paid back, incurring no penalties once the “error” was made known….ahhh, the age of entitlement…not yet ended...... let’s not look at their air-fares either!

Door, Queenscliff.
Door, Queenscliff
Although it’s odious to compare human suffering, between “Rabbutt-the-Hun’s” reaction to MH17 and the recent reports of life, in particular the children’s on Christmas Island  there is an appallingly large gap.
It’s a bit of an ask to play the “statesman hero” for sending children mad.

Julie “Death Stare” Bishop whilst basking in the praise coming her way for her mostly sober demeanour in her handling of the MH17 murders has been silent on a number of other fronts, not just  “… Labor’s extravagant UN Security Council bid… has distracted from core foreign policy interests…” Which she babbled about back in 2010 but a position that is now giving her a platform of some gravitas.
She has been silent on Gaza, the piracy by Morrison of the 157 Tamil asylum seekers, the death in detention on Manus Island of Reza Barati and has said nothing about Australia’s flouting of International law.
It is interesting to note that Peter ”Rottweiler” Reith and Andrew ”Blot-on-the-Landscape” Bolt both thought that the shooting down of MH17 “…was a positive for Abbott.”
Liarbril charm at work again.


Garden of St Erth, Blackwood
Garden of St Erth, Blackwood

The saddest part of "Rabbutt-the-Hun's" sycophant's over-strident extolling of his "leadership" on MH17 was just that, their pathetic stridency.
His first 10 months Prime Miniature-ial performance has been so abysmal that anything that looks like coming within coo-ee of a normal person's response is deemed worthy of the most fulsome, ranting praise.  If anyone needed a clearer example of the metaphor of the "Emperor having no Clothes", then this episode must be it.

It is also a sad but timely reminder that institutionalised cruelty to refugees is a bi-partisan activity primarily led by a nation whose core values are those of the selfish Aspirational Bogan. Liarbrils led by the IPA, rejoice in there being no social contract and Labor hasn’t the balls to stand up to the Murdoch fuelled Bogans with real leadership.

It is difficult to see a happy future for this selfish, myopic, divided country.

A couple who had paid a Thai surrogate $16,000.00 to bear them a child, on discovering that one of the twins born had “Down’s Syndrome” decided to return to Oz with only the “good” one. Baby as commodity… not 100%?  Leave it in Thailand….Selfish Aspirational Bogans?
 
another Brick in the wall..Queenscliff
another Brick in the wall..Queenscliff

“The Ugly American” Rupert “Phone-Hack” Murdoch’s rag in Oz “The Australian” was working itself into a righteous lather because they allege a left wing group, “New Matilda”, hacked into the computers of design school to get info on Frances Abbott’s dodgy scholarship … No-one’s sure if they were just miffed at being copied in their info gathering techniques or just pissed-off that they hadn’t done it first.

Senator Erich”Vichy” Abetz has had everyone, including the Business Council of Australia, rolling in the aisles with the floating of yet another brainless and unworkable theoretical thought bubble from “The Coot’s–With-Queer-Ideas-From-a-Parallel-Universe,” (IPA). This one had the 700,000 unemployed making 40 job applications a month for the 165,000 jobs available.
 Abetz saw nothing idiotic in this.
Neither did John Roskam, Head Plonker at the IPA.  He thought it socially responsible and that $0.50 per hour would be a good pay rate, too.
La-la, la-la, La-la, La-la, Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

And let’s not mention their “ideas” for higher education…. or Health … or shipbuilding, …or cars… or alternative energy… or environment… or law…or financial rectitude or industrial relations because that way only invites deep depression.
 
Old Post Office, Queenscliff
Old Post Office, Queenscliff
The Tardis State “Where-All-Goes-Backward” is rolling along Grand Prix like (around in circles) toward an election…offering to bring in legislation (possibly in the near future or by “The Rapture”, whichever comes first) banning outdoor smoking in eating areas. The Liarbrils had voted this down a year ago because a ”Green” had thought it up.
Louise “Dozy” Asher woke long enough for the Grand Prix contract re-signing to give Bernie Ecclestone and Ron Walker, Squillions of dollars of taxpayer monies to pollute the air and ears around Albert Park for another five years thus keeping the Bogans sated and not thinking about the $8,000,000,000.00 Tunnel to No-Where without a business plan they are going to pay for.
Pretend Premier Dennis “Do-Do” Naptime, (Genus: Inutilus Rusticus), has been kissing horses for their birthdays hoping they will vote for him and forgetting that this Vet thinks Jumps Races, are a good thing like shooting protected wild-life and clear-felling forest to make bushfire so much more devastating…..
 “Do-Do” is also proclaiming “We have a Vision, Liarbril Good, We have a Vision…. Labor,Bad ” a lot!
It might be looking backward but you have to concede…. it is a vision… isn’t it?




Hoo-roo, Possums,
Shane