Week 538 · Hobart · Tinderbox Beach · MONA
Hobart &
After our trip to Tasmania in February, we had planned on returning in late fall/early winter to Hobart to visit MONA, Port Arthur, and hopefully get a glimpse of the Aurora Australis. We randomly selected the weekend of 11 May. It turned out to be one of the best decisions we made in Australia.
Although it is only an hour flight from Melbourne, our flight over was a bit rough. Due to fog we left late, circled over Hobart for a while, then attempted to land and aborted, diverted to Launceston, refueled, and by then the fog had cleared at Hobart — arriving six hours late. But during the six-hour delay, we saw that the US had seen a high level of Northern Lights on the news. We downloaded an aurora-chasing app and learned all about Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and the Kp index — a metric which combines several aspects of geomagnetic storms. Simply put: the higher the Kp index, the farther from the North or South pole you can see the aurora.
The Kp index measures geomagnetic storm intensity on a scale of 0–10. A Kp of 9 — which is what we experienced — is exceptional. Hobart sits at roughly the same latitude south as Boston is north, but because everything south is open ocean all the way to Antarctica, there is zero light pollution on the southern horizon. Combined with clean southern air, Hobart is one of the best aurora-viewing locations in the world during high Kp events.
After landing, we headed straight to Salamanca Market (closing at that time — looked like it would have been great around lunchtime on a crisp fall day). We then drove up Mount Wellington — stopped about halfway up as the top was fogged in — and while looking out over the bays at sunset, I got a notification from my new app that people were seeing auroras and the Kp index was forecast for 9 (on a scale of 0–10). We googled "best places for southern lights near Hobart" and Tinderbox Beach was first on the list.
We were concerned about clouds. As we drove, we transitioned to 2-lane roads then gravel roads, but ultimately came back out into a small town and found Tinderbox Beach about 6pm. There were already some people there — so we were successful in finding other people who could Google. Initially we couldn't see anything with the naked eye but the phone picks up colours. Over the next hour, the colours intensified and the aurora could be seen with the naked eye.
StarLink (Elon's satellite system) came overhead as well, which did freak some people out — but plenty of nerds were on hand to advise that we were not being invaded. By 8pm the aurora was diminishing so we headed out — at this time there was a line of cars miles long trying to get in. Although the highest Kp index was while we were there, all night was quite a light show away from city lights. We got back to Hobart and could see from the city, but barely.
"Definitely a trip to remember — I check the Kp index every night now as the aurora was later visible from Melbourne on the coast."
On our final day in Hobart, we went to the MONA — the most famous attraction in Hobart and the one everyone says you have to go to. You don't. Built by a person who made his fortune gambling at the horse track, it is a great building and like a movie set in many areas. But the contents are all over the place — and to their credit they own this a bit. Some of their brochures are labelled "that is probably not art?", "art your child could have made", "that is arguably immoral", and "art that gives Elizabeth the shits." Some pictures of the building interior structure attached — it is all underground.
We then found a nearby winery for the rest of the day with a final stop in Richmond heading to the airport. Nice countryside.
