Jenny and Beazy on the High Seas: "Why Can't We Be Like They Are, Perfect In Every Way?" (apologies to Bye Bye Birdie)

We loved Sydney, we loved Melbourne even more, and now we love Hobart more than that! I have always been proud to come from Vancouver, Canada, and still am, but travel always makes you look at new places and put them in the context of your own city, and it is clear that all three cities do some things way, way better than Vancouver does.

Transportation for example. Both Sydney and Melbourne put Vancouver to shame in that department. Museums. Melbourne and Hobart have way better exhibition spaces and imaginative, well laid out displays. Keeping history alive. Even though all three Australian cities are considerably older than Vancouver, they seem to have been much more successful in keeping, and using, their heritage buildings and houses. Modern buildings. Vancouver’s highrises are almost identical in shape and materials. Here, there are slight variations, colour is used intelligently, combinations of materials and shapes of balconies, windows and walls make each building stand out just a little from its neighbours, enough to be distinct from the rest without the wildness of a London, England for example. Old and new are cheek by jowl, but it works. Green space. Large green spaces – just grass and trees – add elegance and a sense of calm in the middle of Australian city downtowns and neighbourhoods. Imagine Shaughnessy boulevards and Cypress Crescent in more places. Public art. It’s everywhere here! Whimsy. We have no whimsy in Vancouver. Nothing to make us inwardly smile and feel a unique sense of fun and humour. New York has it. London has it. And Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart all have it. A few of our public art pieces have it, but as a city, we do not.

Here’s an example from Hobart. We took a ferry up to the large and interesting Museum of New and Old Art, a privately owned collection that is open to the public and situated on a hill overlooking the Derwent inlet. A winery/brewery (it does both!) and very fine restaurant is next door, and the entire area includes a lawn with a stage for free concerts. The ferry, which leaves right from downtown, has two prices for two classes of seating: the “posh pit”, which is an enclosed area in the bow filled with black leather seating and a huge gold chaise lounge on the deck, includes a glass of wine or beer and little canapes; and regular seats in the larger stern and upstairs area an decks which are comfortable and spacious and are billed as “sitting on sheep”. The loo is below decks and promoted as “the bilge”. See? Total whimsy, as well as an extra income stream for the ferry that does not inconvenience or restrict the larger population at all as the ferry is rarely if ever full. Two docks: one proudly highlighting its “99 steps” and the other less advertised, with a ramp and buggies that drive to the museum to accommodate those that cannot handle the steps. Whimsy and accommodation. There is also a bus if the boat is not fancied. Now why can’t Vancouver do something like that to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, pretty much the best museum we have but hard to get to for visitors? Or trips up Indian Arm or Burrard Inlet? We do salmon barbeques well, but what about 3 Canadian cheeses and 3 Canadian wines for $20, like we saw at a little café near the wharf in Hobart?

The MONA’s lawn area was filled with giant pink and grey bean bags. A trampoline area rewards boisterous jumpers with large bells that ring if suitably agitated. A brass band plays old and new tunes. (Why not something like this in Alexander Park on occasion?) The Moo beer kiosk and canvas-covered wooden bench tent seating space is set up on one side. The Moorilla wine tasting bar and café with more upmarket seating is over there. And the really fabulous restaurant is upstairs with a great view. All can see the lawn and band stand.

A CEO’s parking space is labelled “God” and his wife’s is “God’s Mistress” (although personally I think it should be Goddess). Little alcoves advertise “free wifi here”, all over the city; parking place sized access points that also act as meeting social interaction places. Areas where graffiti art is encouraged and curated to some degree, promoting true street art that is not profane. (Our newly painted murals along Main Street are a great version of this I am happy to say). Street signs that warn “don’t even think of parking here” or “you park, you die”. Slogan “Did you wash your hands?” on the inside door of a restaurant. Public cylinders that allow you to juice your electric car but also your iphone.

Things that are practical but just a little tongue in cheek too. We need more of that.