Your Guide To Dark Mofo Recovery
Whether you’re here for a night or for the full two weeks, one Dark Mofo truth remains universal: you will require a recovery plan. Subsisting on a diet of mulled wine and hot chips, and a lifestyle of late nights and red lights does not a sustainable game plan make, but Tassie thankfully offers up enough panaceas to get you back to your Dark Mofo best for another day.
From physical fatigue to something more existential, here’s where to restore your body, replenish your nutrient reserves, and prepare yourself to re-enter the Dark Mofo vortex while you’re in Hobart this festival season.
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Kuuma Nature Sauna (image: Anna Critchley)
FACTORY RESET
When your internal systems are displaying the spinning wheel of death, it’s time for a hard reboot. Enter southern Tasmania’s growing sauna and cold plunge scene.
For the full Nordic treatment, book a hot-cold therapy session aboard Kuuma Nature Sauna (conveniently docked at Kings Pier Marina for the Dark Mofo season), Taroona’s Elsewhere Sauna, Sweaty Penguins Sandy Bay, or Sauna Boat Tasmania in Kettering, half an hour’s drive south of the city. Sweat out your sins in the sauna, then wash them away in the surrounding just-about-Antarctic waters. The result is less cure than reset - a shock to the system that leaves you clearer, calmer, and ready to ring in yet another midnight.
SWEAT IT OUT
Not to be confused with sauna-induced perspiration, a little thing called exercise has - inconveniently? - been shown to work wonders for sweating out the night before.
In Hobart, Kunanyi/Mount Wellington presides over Dark Mofo, at once foreboding and invitational. Kind of like the festival itself. A brisk walk along one of its many winding trails works wonders for clearing mind fog, but if the weather or your motivation levels aren’t cooperating, a casual pass to Hustle Street (cardio, strength and hybrid), Happi Studios (cycling and reformer Pilates) or Folde (yoga) should go some way toward convincing your body that the last few nights aren’t your new permanent normal.
TREAT YOURSELF
Not quite up to the challenge of working for your recovery? We get it. Sometimes, lying face-down on a fluffy towel with a soundtrack of bamboo flutes is the most a nervous system can handle.
For the most restorative of spa treatments, do not pass go without a visit to White Sage Skin & Wellness or Lavada. Heck, do both. Both of these local day spas dish out luxury in spades, whether via full-body massage, restorative skin ritual, or the literal and figurative cocoon of a sensory LED lounge experience.
And head spa converts, rejoice - Hobart is officially on board. Try Face and Scalp Co. by Peppy, or Hobart Float Wellness Spa & Massage, both within walking distance of your next inner-city Dark Mofo destination.
Farm Gate Market (image: Tourism Australia)
NUTRIENT DENSITY
Lazy late breakfasts, followed by long lunches, backed up with seconds, thirds and fourths at the Winter Feast: this is one of the best times of the year to indulge in Tassie’s food bowl, but at some point, your body will start begging for simple nourishment. Thankfully, this little island is really good at that, too.
Duck into Eumarrah on Barrack Street for some of the best organic wholefoods around, including fresh local produce and the kind of bulk products section that feels like a more grown-up version of the cinema pick-and-mix wall. For luxe groceries, visit Salamanca Fresh and Hill Street (various locations), and - if you’re about on a Sunday morning - hit Bathurst Street to stock up on edible elixirs at Farm Gate Market.
JUST FRIED THINGS
While virtuous in much of its food and drink value proposition, brand Tasmania also appreciates that sometimes a bunch of kale and three ounces of kombucha won’t cut it. For those days, there’s carbohydrates and fried things, ideally as a package deal.
On Argyle Street, Pigeon Whole Bakers is a Hobart institution for its stoneground sourdough, but it does plenty for the everyday hangover sufferer, too, with its line-up of flaky plain and almond croissants, treacle-y morning buns, and loaded sandwiches. Later in the day, make for The Standard on Liverpool Street to get your hands around a smashedbeef pattie or southern fried chicken burger, with wholly not-optional loaded fries on the side. Then head to the Winter Feast, and let the trajectory you’re already on do its worst.
Farm Gate Market (image: Tourism Australia)
HYDRATION STATION
If you had a few too many last night, today’s mission is simple: rehydrate.
For liquid fruit and vegetables, seek out absolutely anything Tasmanian Juice Press, or head to Hill Street Grocer for a freshly-squeezed OJ.
If caffeine is more your thing, praise up that Hobart CBD is a coffee community of its own, with highlights including Pilgrim Coffee (Liverpool Street), Two Folk Espresso (Bank Arcade), Villino Coffee (Criterion Street), The Stagg Midtown (Elizabeth Street), and Coffee Darling (Watchorn Street), just to name a few. On Harrington Street, Erda does a similarly mean espresso, but the real ones know that, here, it’s all about the Blue Sky - a vividly layered concoction of matcha, oat milk, banana, leatherwood honey and blue spirulina, topped with coconut yoghurt. As refreshing as it is Instagram-able, this is the ultimate Dark Mofo flex.
Restaurant MARIA (image: Fiona Vail)
HAIR OF THE DOG
Nothing else working? Good thing that old wive’s tale of backing it all up with more of the same still persists. Even better that Hobart takes its pub and bar culture really seriously.
Self-proclaimed best little pub in town, the New Sydney Hotel pours 15 beers on tap, including $10 pints of Guinness from 2-5pm Monday to Friday. A little closer to the waterfront, LARK’s signature cocktail lounge GOTHAM at The Still has unveiled a brand new list of libations just in time for Dark Mofo, and its selection of boiler makers might be precisely the ticket to soothe your already frayed edges. Bill’s Breakfast, for example, pairs Hobart Brewing Co.’s Harbourmaster amber ale with a dram of LARK Classic Cask for equal parts comfort and combustion in a glass.
And, from 6pm into the wee hours (Friday and Saturday), Restaurant MARIA’s Amalfi After Dark sessions offer a bracing entrée into the night after the night before, with a signature cocktail menu sharing main stage with more-ish snacks and vinyl soundtracks spun by local DJs. Dark Mofo hangover? We don’t know her.
