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Where to Stay: The George Penang

January 02, 2025

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The Dressmaker exhibition

Hosted at Ayers House, Adelaide Last year Ayers House hosted the very successful Miss Fisher's costume exhibition and I was thrilled to see that this year, the costumes from the Dressmaker were to be exhibited. The movie The Dressmaker starred Kate Winslet and is set in the 1950s, in rural Australia. Kate Winslet's character of Tilly Dunnage returns to the small town she grew up in, in the intervening years she had worked in the Paris fashion industry. (I won't give any more away about the movie, it's great though! The movie is based on the book The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham) The costumes are a vital part of the story. This exhibition has various costumes that the characters wear, designed by Marion Boyce and 'Tilly Dunnage' designs by Margot Wilson. One of the 'Tilly Dunnage' designs which I loved. I called it the 'winged dress' as the cape to me looks like bird's wings, the pleats being the feathers. I think the official descr...

Adelaide Hills, Hamlyn Cottage

Hamlyn Cottage Taking a break from posting about Singapore and do one closer to home. It's late spring at the moment in Australia and that's the time for the garden enthusiasts to visit private gardens that have been opened to the public. So a few weekends ago, off I went to a garden that was open in the Adelaide Hills. Hamlyn Cottage is a privately owned property just outside of Mt. Barker, the owner is a horticulturist who writes articles for various print media. She's established a garden that has low water usage (important in South Australian conditions due to hot dry summers) and is as organic as possible. It was a pleasant drive up the freeway through the hills, the countryside was still very green, the summer dryness had yet to begin. Once in the town of Mt. Barker it was easy to follow the signs back out into the countryside again to the open garden. It was very busy with a full carpark of other garden enthusiasts! The house is an old stone cottage which has b...

Museum of Old and New Art (MONA)

Hobart, Tasmania MONA is Tasmania's newest attraction, it opened in January 2011. The museum is the largest privately funded institution in Australia and it houses the collection of its (very wealthy!) owner, David Walsh. Full disclosure here in that I'm not the biggest fan of modern art, so originally this museum wasn't on my list of places to see in Tasmania. But I had recently read a travel writer's report his visit and he had caught the ferry up the river from central Hobart. I loved the idea of a ferry ride on the river and then seeing some art. The ferry departs from the Brooke Street Pier which also houses a large tourist booking service so it's possible to buy a combined ticket for the ferry and entrance to the museum. Once at MONA there are 99 steps up from the jetty to the main external area. There was some huffing and puffing from the ferry passengers going up the stairs! Having successfully negotiated the stairs, you are then reward...