A few quickies for the Drrons..

[drron]

So now to dinner.The menu-

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It didn't look promising for mrsdrron.She had notified them beforehand she didn't do spicy food,chilli and capsicum.Yet 2 of the entrees had spice and she doesn't like raw tuna.Two of the mains had spice,we had already had an overload of quinoa and smoked tongue is not on her list of favourite foods so she was left with the fish of the day-morwong.I had the tuna entrée and the Murray cod and squid main.
At 1915 we were served the amuse bouche.salmon sashimi.very nice.

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At ~ 2000 I was served my entrée.Enjoyable.

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But it wasn't until 2115 that our mains appeared.Mrsdrron was not amused.As both were fish dishes what took so long.

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So after finishing we got up and left immediately.
Within a minute of getting back to the room the front desk rang and apologised.We wondered how this might be recovered as it is an all inclusive resort.

Well at breakfast the service was definitely more attentive.I had their version of baked eggs.

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[KitKat]

Oh dear, problem in the kitchen?

 

[drron]

I presume a misplaced order.
But back to Thursday.No more blue sky.Forecast to rain all day but as usual that meant it didn't until the early hours of Friday.But we just had an easy relaxing morning.

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The good news was that the wind had died down so our afternoon cruise was on.So we see the Hazards close up-

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Past the fisheries one of the old whaling station sites around this bay-

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[drron]

Must be billions of dollars of pink granite in those hills.Well they did mine it for nearly 60 years and it can be found in the Empire state building and new Parliament house.Most went to Italy.Here are some of the offcuts-

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I do like looking at rocks-

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Did a few burnouts on the water-

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The other side of wineglass Bay and evidence of indigenous life-

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Then mrsdrron spotted one of the 12 pairs of sea eagles on the peninsula.magnificent creatures-

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[VPS]

Must be billions of dollars of pink granite in those hills.Well they did mine it for nearly 60 years and it can be found in the Empire state building and new Parliament house.Most went to Italy.Here are some of the offcuts-

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I do like looking at rocks-

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Did a few burnouts on the water-

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The other side of wineglass Bay and evidence of indigenous life-

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Then mrsdrron spotted one of the 12 pairs of sea eagles on the peninsula.magnificent creatures-

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I love those rocks too (in fact lots of rocks)

 

[drron]

A little further on we came to 2 fellows in a tinnie.We had noticed off the beach in front of Saffire the day before.But these weren't amateur fisherman.This is what they were after-

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That one though went back in the water.These were the keepers-

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Professional squid fishermen.The season had just opened the day before but due to the wind they stayed close to the shore.The squid apparently come in here for breeding.Some are destined for tonights meal.
Next anchored off a sheltered beach and enjoyed some sparkling wine,oysters and canapes.

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The clouds are descending again so time to head towards home.

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[drron]

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Saffire from the water-

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And the village of Coles bay-

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And the Wineglass Bay cruise boat is slightly better than a few years ago when we did it-

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Though our captain still refers to it as the chunder boat.

 

[drron]

Back for our final pre dinner drinks.This is Diego who arrived from Peru in April.Excellent English and plans to do more hospitality studies here.Of course we chatted about our time in Peru in February this year.So he made me a plum pisco sour-

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Now we had $100 to spend so it was decided it was my lucky night and I could get a nice bottle of red.being of scots descent this meant looking at all the wines in the range $90-$100.The manager came over as I was discussing with mrsdrron the strange name of one of the Tassie pinots on the premium list.he recommended it so here is what I had-

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On the back some strange verse that might mean something to someone more cultured than myself-

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As well much info about the wine including which clones of pinot noir go into this wine.

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All I can say is that it was exceedingly good.
The rain started about now so the view from our drinks chairs not so good.

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Well apart from the wines.

 

[drron]

So to dinner.The service certainly made up for the night before.Each individual dish was brought out by a member of the kitchen staff and at the end the chef made an appearance.A little OTT but we forgave them.
So to the food.Broccolini with healthy grains.

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For entrees mrsdrron had the spanner crab and squid on pasta whilst I had the kingfish and squid ceviche-

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both very nice.For mains mrsdrron just felt like the Cape Grim beef.Perfectly done.There were the usual side dishes as well.

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I went for the venison with rhubarb and a pickled beetroot relish-

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I did wonder how this would go but need not have.Excellent.
Next dessert.please understand I had had a pisco sour and nearly a full bottle of red by this time so these pictures look just like they did to me at the time-

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So mine was chocolate icecream with a macadamia slice and mrsdrron was a citrus icecream with a coconut thingy.Memory wasn't too good by that stage also.But I did have a great nights sleep.

 

[drron]

So finally coming to an end for our quickies in 2017.The last morning at brekkie and the special hot dish was a spanner crab omelette-full of crab.Delicious.

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So now back to LST for our flight home.As usual mrsdrron wants us to leave an hour earlier than I planned.Result-a wait of an hour at LST before checkin opened.Boarding on time but delayed as they were having difficulty with luggage-10 fellows who obviously had been on a bike tour with their bikes in bike bags-quite large bike bags.
QF2284. LST-MEL. ETD-1325 Push back-1350. Take off-1354. Seats-2A,B
ETA-1430 Landed-1457. At gate-1500
An important flight as I earn my first tier points and avios for BAEC.Certainly not great but every little bit counts.
After takeoff we fly over Launceston-

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The CBD,Tamar,Cataract gorge and looking to the west.Then a close up and the Tamar wet lands-

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Then the Rosevears pub with Windamere on the opposite bank.

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Cloud over Bass Strait but good views of Port Phillip bay-

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After landing we waited as the 6 pax connecting to CBR deplaned first and rushed to their gate.Stroll then to the J lounge-probably last time with mrsdrron as WP.It was really crowded and hard to find a seat.Pretty average food and a bun rush when a new supply of any hot dish came out.And contrary to Pushka's experiences it was young and middle aged women pushing me out of the way.
In the lounge was Darren Lehmann who got the earlier BNE flight.on our flight was Michael Atherton.

Flights were delayed because weather in SYD holding things up so our plane had a delayed arrival into MEL.
QF632. MEL-BNE. ETD-1825. Push back-1937. Takeoff-1957. Seats 6B,C.
ETA-1940. Landed-2100 At gate-2104.
Uneventful flight with very ordinary catering-I had a lamb
Biryani.a box of rice with a small amount of sauce and 3 very small pieces of lamb.
As per usual 1 of our bags out reasonably quickly,the second near last so a late arrival home and straight to bed.

I will do a comparison between Saffire and the Southern Ocean Lodge from our perspective.

 

[RooFlyer]

Must be billions of dollars of pink granite in those hills.Well they did mine it for nearly 60 years and it can be found in the Empire state building and new Parliament house.Most went to Italy.Here are some of the offcuts

Not to mention numerous Tassie kitchen bench-tops. They are still being made, from pieces stashed away or recycled. I have about half a ton of it in my garden at Coles Bay. You can judge the quality of your granite boulder by it having several quarry drill holes down one or more sides.

My favourite story about the Coles Bay granite quarry: Although they stopped mining there some time ago, it remained a gazetted mining lease, but this was effectively forgotten. About 8 years ago, the National Parks and Wildlife Service upgraded the Wineglass Bay track car park and wanted some large rocks to decorate / divide the areas. So they just wandered down to the nearby quarry and helped themselves. Not long after, the Director of the NPWS was rather surprised to be summonsed for 'illegal mining'

Now we had $100 to spend so it was decided it was my lucky night and I could get a nice bottle of red.being of scots descent this meant looking at all the wines in the range $90-$100.The manager came over as I was discussing with mrsdrron the strange name of one of the Tassie pinots on the premium list.he recommended it so here is what I had-

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Happy to say I showcased this in a 'Trip Report' on Dark mof_ Winter Feast, in 2015.

 

[drron]

Rooflyer you obviously have great taste in Pinots.
I certainly will be getting some when the next vintage is released.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

Rooflyer - I really like the pink granite and I spent the days at Saffire thinking where I could put some in our house on the coast !

But if you ever see a pink granite bracelet let me know ASAP !!!

 

[drron]

So a summary of Saffire v Southern Ocean Lodge.
As to the basic style they are very similar which is not surprising seeing Saffire was modelled on SOL.So as far as the room goes they are very similar.
Pre arrival.Both got in touch with us before arrival to ask dietary requirements and preferences for experiences.So a tie.
Surrounds.Both have wonderful views but I would give the edge to Saffire because of the Hazards.Just magnificent.At Saffire you could walk into town if you wanted but I am not sure you would ever want to.Also much more to choose from if you are into walking.So an edge to Saffire.

Food.both are very good but I give it to Southern Ocean lodge.More variety and quite frankly I got sick of the quinoa,kale and lentils that infiltrated into a lot of the Saffire dishes.
Also mrsdrron cant do spices,chilli and capsicum.Saffire relied on the fact there were always choices though one night that meant only 1 choice of entrée and 2 of mains.Southern Ocean lodge though gave her a choice of those menu items that would be OK but also a variation of the dish that contained those items.A win to SOL.

Wine.I just preferred the SOL way of doing it.The wine room and being able to go in and choose a bottle was a more enjoyable way of doing it than just picking from a list.Also a greater choice of complimentary wines at SOL.Some that they had as complimentary were on the premium list at Saffire.On the other hand the number of very good Tassie wines especially the pinot noirs and sav blancs were great at Saffire-as they should be.But a win to SOL.

Experiences.here a marked difference in experiences.Loved the koala experience and canapes with the Kangaroos at SOL but nothing beats the oyster experience at Saffire.The devils and a cruise also very good.But as they are different I score it a draw.

Service.Different styles and a bit more laid back at SOL.Did have the dinner failure one night at Saffire but the service recovery was excellent the next night.on top of that a personal email after we left with a credit to our CC for the fail.Totally forgiven.It really comes down then to individual preferences and which staff you can relate to so again I will call this a draw.

Both give you a departure gift.not that much but a nicer one from SOL with Kangaroo island products.

But then there is the important question-would you go back?SOL was a fantastic experience.but it is so unique that a 4 night stay was enough for us.Whilst we would return to Kangaroo Island we don't feel the desire to do so at SOL but experience the rest of the island.
Saffire-well this was a repeat stay.Quite likely we wont be back as too much else to do but a place that certainly you can go to more than once.

So the conclusion.if you can afford it go to both!

 

[drron]

So that is the end of the quickies but certainly not the TRs.
In just under 3 weeks we are off again to LOTFAP.Christmas in Las Vegas,some Presidential Libraries,many malls and taking the grandkids to Disneyworld in Orlando.
And for good measure a few F flights-BA,SQ and ANA.

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for the time spent in putting this all together - and often making me jealous.

 

[OATEK]

So that is the end of the quickies but certainly not the TRs.
In just under 3 weeks we are off again to LOTFAP.Christmas in Las Vegas,some Presidential Libraries,many malls and taking the grandkids to Disneyworld in Orlando.
And for good measure a few F flights-BA,SQ and ANA.

Trying to keep up with your trips reports makes me feel tired, let alone actually trying to undertake so many actual trips. Thanks from me also for the info in all the reports. Just missed you in Tas the other week.

 

[Denali]

Dr & Mrs Ron, did you need to purchase national park pass for KI?

thank you,

 

[drron]

No it was taken care of by the Lodge.

 

[Denali]

Heh. Yeah, for those prices, I'm not surprised

Thanks