MOT Tour Day 16 - Burnie Art Gallery/Museum

Smooth as silk pack up. We really are a team.

Boat Harbour Beach

Dreadfully sorry to be leaving Stanley. We both really loved the relaxed vibe of the place. It’s a town that seems happy with the way it is and pleasantly welcome new neighbours.

A few restrictions on calling in to see places along the way. It’s not always easy to turn the van in some of these small coastal villages. Rocky Cape Lighthouse was postponed for a return from Burnie when we just have the car but we did make our way into Boat Harbour Beach. Why, I don’t know. Almost immediately we turned off the access road, the carriageway shrank to barely two car width and dropped alarmingly. Every van driver’s nightmare is to drive into a situation where there is no space to turn at the end and this was looming as a trogglehumper.

About three quarters of the way down, a space opened up on the left side and I took it gladly and we walked on from here to find the only coffee shop in the village, attached to the surf life saving club. Lots of people, big line up, “sorry, there will be a wait for coffees”. I ordered and Sue wandered off to enjoy another beach. Sixty plus, you’d think she’d be over them but no. 

Back to the coffees: mine was in the wrong mug, was luke warm and had no crema but other than that, fine.

We walked back to the car, completed the drive down the hill, turned in the car park and returned … despite a big bus that was in the way. Regardless of all that, it was a pretty place and I’m sure the cafe was just having a bad day.

On into Burnie where we missed our turn into the caravan park because it looked like a motel. We reset our GPS and returned to find out the caravan park is a motel … with a caravan park out the back. Sites are all across a significant slope. Challenges.

After setting up, we ventured in to the CBD for a visit to the Art Gallery and included the Museum as a bonus.

Pioneer Village Museum

The Burnie Museum is a cracker, with a permanent exhibition that was the brainchild of Peter Mercer, Burnie have a really unique take on displaying items from the 1800's. An avid collector, he had small museums in the district but always had the idea of creating a village street scape inside a larger building. This he achieved in 1971 and then the local Council took it on. What we saw today is his masterpiece - a village in microcosm, displayed as though its early evening inside a huge, purpose built building. Inside each residence are the things of everyday. You can peek in on the dentist, the newspaper office, the saddle maker, all as if they have just stepped out of the room. In the storeys above, curtains are drawn over lit rooms. It really is a brilliant exhibition. An adjoining room is a more conventional display of the early history of the north west of Tasmania. An enthusiastic volunteer, Chris, added many interesting anecdotes.

The Burnie Art Gallery, next door to the museum and part of a large performance space which would rival Port Macquarie's Glass House, had an exhibition called The Games We Play. It was interesting but not really art. It was more of a museum exhibition. Apart from some photos, the only art piece was an early Ben Quilty painting of a Holden Torana. Despite my qualms about the efficacy of an art galley hosting a museum-style exhibition, it was a really good exhibition with a number of quite nostalgic items.

Click to see today's photos.

Burnie is an international port, with a big cruise liner at berth currently. It seems a busy place and from the lookout, a very industrial place. The roads are a blur of cars. The lookout's major reveal was a large industrial area, a port and railway lines.

Back tracking tomorrow to the places we missed today.