Planes, boats and automobile, it’s Tassie road trip time.

[bPeteb]

Dinner at Waterside Restaurant in Strahan Tasmania - Risby Cove was excellent. I'd realised we should book just before we left home for Tassie and spots were restricted even then.

The menus are also your place mat, creased and folded to be put in my pocket



we very much enjoyed our Iron Pot sparkling



shared entrees of Truffled Arancini


and Prawn Twisters


BigAl had the Patatas Bravas


and I had the Moqueca


we finished with desserts that we also shared. 'Home-made' cheesecake. Just whose home was it actually made in??


and apple and rhubarb crumble


We very much enjoyed our meal

 

[bPeteb]

Some final night time reflection shots of Strahan boat harbour

 

[bPeteb]

Day 8 was our longest drive and I take full responsibility. I'd said Lake Pedder was a must visit. From a campground perspective, and with the available time that we had, it was logistically impossible. The camp grounds along LP did not like 7.1m campers. The ones outside LP wanted two night stays. That meant we had to stay at Lake Pedder Wilderness Lodge.

The driving distance was 359 kilometres (including driving down to the Gordon Dam) and five hours without stops.

It wasn't long after sunrise when we got on the road


and not long before we made our first stop at Rinadeena Lookout. Just beautiful




we didn't stop at Queenstown


a lake midway between Queenstown and Nelson Falls


then we stopped at Nelson Falls. Beautiful

 

[bPeteb]

past some smallish-scale hydro


we were going to stop for a coffee but as we arrived into each town everything was closed. That's kind of expected on Good Friday I suppose. It had been suggested we stop at The Wall but it was also closed. It was Ouse when we eventually stopped for lunch and fuel.




Not far out of Ouse BigAl saw mention of gin, whiskey and wine on Google maps and we made the turn down the drive to Lawrenny when we saw the open sign. Very glad we did. A gorgeous house, a lovely owner who gave us a special look at his bond store plus a freeby whiskey taste, a glorious garden and some cracking gins. We walked out with a Meadowbank Pink gin and the Cold Brew Coffee liqueur

 

[bPeteb]

some more of the beautiful gardens

 

[bPeteb]

not long after that we drove across this causeway and dam on the other side of which was the most beautiful free camp site


I'd been to Mount Field back on that 1980 Tassie School geography trip so for me it was a no brainer to stop again. It was quite a chunk of time to get in there and then walk to the amazing Russell Falls. Next time we'll see all three and hopefully there'll be some more water falling






the road into Lake Pedder was pretty spectacular



there was this, the tar something, that BigAl was not at all keen at stopping and getting a picture for me. He was getting increasingly concerned about how long this drive was dragging on. It was already over seven hours when we got to here.

 

[drron]

You really lucked out on the Tasmanian weather. Seems to be perfect.
Your photos are great.
Will be interesting to see the Lake Pedder photos. I walked in before the dam but have never been back.

 

[RooFlyer]

You had much better reflections than us on the Gordon, and the buffet on board looks suspiciously the same, without the ocean trout.

we were going to stop for a coffee but as we arrived into each town everything was closed

You may have blinked and missed it, but I'd be staggered if the Cafe at Derwent Bridge (not the pub) was closed.

Thanks for the pics of Lawrenny. Always meant to stop and go in and have a look at the house, but too focussed on the destination. Lawrenny was founded by Edward Lord, a sort of Van Diemen's Land John MacArthur!

 

[bPeteb]

Soon Lake Pedder came into view and it is a magnificent stretch of water. Driving along the side of the lake reminded me a bit of the drive beside Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown to Glenorchy. How funny both of these places exist in Tassie as well.





but it also inundated magnificent wilderness. Since starting to plan this holiday it's been interesting to read about proposals to empty the 'new' (50yo) lake and restore the wilderness. The famous pink quartzite beach apparently still exists. For some reason the word auspicious just cracks me up


It was 4:15 when we arrived at the Gordon Dam, nearly eight hours after we'd left Strahan. I was beat. Yes BigAl could have shared the driving but I am truly the worst passenger alive. BigAl is very cautious and it could have gone dark before we arrived if we'd shared the wheel.

The Gordon Dam is... terrifying. I felt physically sick by the time I got to the bottom of the steps and stood on the 50yo concrete and steel dam wall. I made it a third of the way across, and even poked my phone over the edge of the wall to take a picture down the highest dam wall in the world (?). BigAl walked the whole way across to the other side but I found out later he got instant vertigo when he stepped onto the observation platform. I have zero issue with 'natural' heights but the moment I stand on anything high and manmade I'm Mr Rubberlegs. The things I do for a trip report...




not happy to be here at all

BigAl is mad

 

[bPeteb]

You really lucked out on the Tasmanian weather. Seems to be perfect.
Your photos are great.
Will be interesting to see the Lake Pedder photos. I walked in before the dam but have never been back.

The weather was just amazing drron. Didn't get our brollies out once, or even our rain jackets. As RooFlyer has mentioned Easter weekend was a scorcher. It was 30+ when we were at Fat Pig Farm.

 

[bPeteb]

You had much better reflections than us on the Gordon, and the buffet on board looks suspiciously the same, without the ocean trout.



You may have blinked and missed it, but I'd be staggered if the Cafe at Derwent Bridge (not the pub) was closed.

Thanks for the pics of Lawrenny. Always meant to stop and go in and have a look at the house, but too focussed on the destination. Lawrenny was founded by Edward Lord, a sort of Van Diemen's Land John MacArthur!

I'm sure it was presented on nicer serving dishes though and your booze was of course 'free'

 

[RooFlyer]

You guys got out just in time:

 

[bPeteb]

A couple more from Gordon Dam before we got back into the son of Zeus and drove back to Strathgordon and the lodge







I think about 10km back to Strathgordon and Pedder Wilderness Lodge in Tasmania's World Heritage Area We'd booked the basic Tim Shea room Tim Shea Wing - Pedder Wilderness Lodge and came prepared with earplugs to counter the biggest complaint - paper thin walls. We needn't have bothered. The rooms has two sets of earplugs! No photos taken of the room itself sorry but I can say we did score a room that looked to the surrounding mountains and not straight into the carpark


The view across the lake from the lodge as the sun waned was just beautiful. The barman introduced himself to us and it turned out he's actually the resident manager. I'm sure he said that he was the original lessee before Tas Hydro took the running of the property back. He'd come over from the Kimberley with his wife and baby to establish the resort. He left after the take back but they then asked him to come back to manage when it went downhill.

BigAl is such a child


shorts and t-shirt!

 

[bPeteb]

More from outside the lodge looking across the lake




view of the bar and restaurant and from our table

 

[bPeteb]

We really enjoyed dinner. It was nice bistro, not fine dining.

I don't usually eat oysters, and would never go au naturel, but the half dozen kilpatrick were very nice


BigAl's squid was a hit


as was his scotch fillet


and my half lobster (an off menu special)




we both had the delicious warm apple pie


all washed down with another very nice pinot grigio (what a terrible blurry photo!)



we adjourned back across to the bar to listen to the very good guitar playing vocalist and stayed until closing

 

[bPeteb]

Day nine and we splurged on the continental buffet. It was under $20 but coffee was extra. The view as the sun came onto the mountains was as pretty as it set


When compared to the previous day a way shorter and easier drive to Glazier's Bay and Fat Pig Farm - about 3 1/2 hours and 219km

Yet more beautiful scenery. Amazed to see valleys carpeted in covered stone fruit orchards




we seemed to be through New Norfolk in no time (we'll visit next time) and then it was into and through Hobart including a MONA drive by. My sister had lived in Sandy Bay when she was first married so we drove along the coast to Kingston, possibly not the wisest decision in a big camper...


we were slightly ahead of schedule so stopped at Huonville at HuonJet for a coffee

 

[bPeteb]

The instructions for arrival at Fat Pig Farm were very clear. Drive on this road, do not drive on this road. Arrive at 12.30 for a 1pm seating. Maybe we thought it said 12 and that's why we were the first to arrive. It gave us the opportunity to park the camper at the very end of the car park. When you book it's very clear that there's no guarantee that you'll see either Matthew or Sadie but on the path below the carpark I could see Sadie walking up to us.

Sadie could not have been any more lovely. She had seen the camper arrive and had come up to ask us to park exactly where we'd already parked. For the next 20 minutes we chatted about our holiday, the weather, travelling in a campervan (they were considering), northern NSW (where they were considering travelling there), sunburn, what footwear would be appropriate for the day (comfortable enclosed recommended as it's a working farm - I had thongs on and really didn't want to put shoes on my sore feet - Sadie pointed to her Birkies and said thongs are fine), and the food at Lake Pedder Lodge, all while walking along the drive with Sadie feeding us blackberries. Magical and surreal and I was borderline star struck.

Our favourite story was about the guy who lived next door. They had at one point asked if he'd always been a local. I'm not a local he said he said, I'm from 5km away across the bay. He'd lived in the house for 50 years!


Fat Pig Farm Restaurant.


Full socially distanced house - 45. I'd been contacted by FPF to check if we would be attending considering where we had travelled from. When I said we'd been tested all was good. When Sadie had first met us she'd straight away said "oh you're the guys from Brisbane".

the day's menu. Food is based entirely on what is available on the farm and alcohol locally. The rose arrives in large containers from the winemaker 'over the hill' and is then poured into carafes or glasses. The pinot noir was bottled but also local as was the beer and cider we were served. Four drinks served with the meal and you could have whatever you wanted if one didn't appeal. You could also buy additional drinks




You enter into this anteroom and are served the rhubarb cordial with optional gin (optional, hahahaha). The order of the afternoon is explained



then we were led out onto the verandah and served the lardo

 

[bPeteb]

view from the verandah across the farm up to their house


Then we were led into the dining room in small groups. We were served as per the size of the booking. We had dishes for two, there was a couple of larger groups that were sat at their own tables. Pre-COVID it was served at one long table and is a sharing meal

open kitchen behind BigAl


Sadie welcoming us all and explaining the food we'd be served


beer and cider to start


then the food began. Hardwood smoked ham, 36 month proscuitto, pickles, buttered radish, marinated watermelon radish and carrot remoulade


pastrami and sauerkraut


cider poached beets with drained yoghurt


woodfired sourdough and homemade cultured butter (bread kept coming out)

 

[drron]

You guys got out just in time:

View attachment 244619

Much more typical Tassie weather.The Lyell Highway closed at Derwent Bridge by snow.The Advocate will let you access 5 free articles so here is their link.

Snow covers and closes roads in regional areas

Snow above 700m.

www.theadvocate.com.au

 

[bPeteb]

we both had the local rose next as the meal continued

grilled eggplant and kasaundi


braised leeks


tomato and fetta


and the truly amazing goat empanada with herbed yoghurt sauce



it was then time for the farm tour. Keep an eye out for snakes...


Sadie and the fat pigs



the farm was originally an apple orchard, as every farm had been. When the apple industry crashed the orchards were removed, some more effectively than others. These are old stock that has regrown. The pigs love the apples as they drop


the herb garden