Planes, boats, oh no, the thread name has been stolen!! Instead I’ll call it ‘The trip that nearly wasn’t.’

[kookaburra75]

Great trip report, and some good places we'll have to check out when MrsK and I get back down to Tassie

 

[RooFlyer]

the painted cliffs

Did you get around the corner there? Bets part of the Painted Cliffs (as long as its low tide).

Drum roll for the Meredith house breakfast ....

 

[bPeteb]

Day 4 Swansea - Bicheno

RooFlyer reckons the best breakfast on the east coast is at Meredith House and luckily it lived up to expectations.




Croissants like airships


Pasties and more pastries. Excellent eggs bennie.



All baked and cooked by Noel, Neil’s partner. You even get a doggie bag to take away what you don’t eat, and away those pastries went with us.

Another short drive, just to Bicheno, broken up by a walk on Nine Mile Beach a very windy drive out to Lake Leaky and a couple of winery visits.



Nine Mile Beach - beautiful if just a tad windswept. Amazing views back towards the Freycinet Peninsula.





Lake Lealy - as Noel and Neil said “why would you want to go out there?” Maybe if you were trout fisherpeople. One lonely fly fisherman performing the art out in the shallows.

 

[bPeteb]

First winery stop at Craigie Knowe Craigie Knowe Vineyard, Tasmanian Wine, East Coast Tasmania.



What a beautiful place. Sat outside at high tables, or lounges or even bean bags. We’d wanted to do the chocolate and wine tasting but they were out of chocolate. and we didn’t want to do the pastries with wine so we opted for the tasting and a platter



Three of the five whites were out of stock so there was nothing we wanted to buy.

We wandered back to the car and as I was about to start it the owner was wandering towards us and I said to bAl, who was outside taking pictures of the vines



“cough! We haven’t paid!!” With tail between his legs bAl went in and paid, and of course out of guilt bought some pastries, sold to him by the patissier herself




Gala Home Page - Gala Estate is just across the highway. We have bought Gala before so were quite looking forward to trying some more of their wines. We pulled into the carpark and saw the sign that said you had to book. It was 2 minutes past 2 and clearly there was no-one else there but we couldn’t book until 2.30. We could have walked across to the door but instead we drove back to Milton Home - Milton Vineyard, thoroughly enjoyed our booking free tasting, and spent up



Our wine should be leaving for home tomorrow, Wednesday 23rd.

Short drive to Bicheno where we checked into Beachfront Bicheno Beachfront Bicheno. What looks to be a pretty old motel, with attached hotel and drive through bottlo, that has been nicely renovated.

 

[bPeteb]

Unloaded the bags and went for a walk around the shoreline




before calling in to the Lobster Shack The Lobster Shack | Where to eat Bicehno Tasmania




initially for a beer, that turned into two, then three, then… and ended with a seafood feast




Delicious.

Apart from the delicious seafood the highlight was a gull feeding frenzy when the people down from us all wandered away from their box of fresh prawns, one to have a chat with someone, one to take a phone call and one to gather up a crawling baby disappearing up some steps behind them.




Much to bAl’s relief (more our bank account’s relief) he kept me away from The Wine Shed. Damn!!

We then finished the evening in the tavern with some more drinks.

 

[drron]

That was indeed an old motel. We had stayed there in 1976. At the time they had a nightly lobster cook up. Boiled on demand at $5 a time. We did keep going until full.

 

[bPeteb]

Day 5 Bicheno - St Helens

Another short drive, under 100km, from Bicheno for two nights in St Helens.



A bit of a dreary morning. Stopped at Denison Beach for a long walk.





Lots of blue bottles washed up on the tide line.



We drove out to Akaroa (not at all like its namesake except I suppose it’s a peninsula. Really nice, and east walk around to the easter Beerbarrel Beach (google shows a western one as well).

 

[bPeteb]

another couple from St Helens Conservation Area




spotted this in the main street. Stay classy Sue



I did the scallop pie ‘thing’ from the bakery in St Helens. It had spent an hour or two to long in the hot box



before going back to the Bayside Hotel Bayside Hotel | Best Accommodation & Family Bistro in St Helens to check in. Only we didn’t. We didn’t have a reservation. Did I book through a booking site or direct. Direct I said, and here’s the email. With a smile the receptionist said yes you do, but it’s in 2023. Uh oh. And they were full. Asked for recommendations and the Panorama just up the road, and after unsuccessfully trying to book online we drove up there.

Fate is sometimes on your side and in this instance it was. For nearly $40 less we ended up with a beautiful room with the most excellent view. It’s called Panorama St Helens Nature Resort Accommodation for an Unforgettable Stay | St.Helens and the nature is right outside your room.



It is a super odd but quite lovely place. It reminds of the Hyatt at Sanctuary Cove when it first opened. Extravagant spaces - guest lounges with fireplaces



and running spring water



Lobby the size of a ballroom. A porte cochere that two full size buses could pull into. Really high quality furniture and fittings everywhere. Possibly it started being built at the height of the Japanese tourism boom but missed it by a smidge? It was called something else before Panorma but I can’t remember the name I found. Clearly a dream gone sour. Now they can’t get staff. It’s main restaurant is closed and just three people seemed to be looking after the food and bev side of things, plus a whole lot more.

Our room was gigantic




The bathroom was as big as some hotel rooms. It was $166 per night.

 

[bPeteb]

But some strange things like our verandah that was raw concrete sheet waiting for some tiles to be laid on it.



We opened one of our bottles of Saltwater Creek Pinot to celebrate our good luck



bottoms up



and then wandered down to the Schnitzel Bar for some German beers







and of course a pork knuckle of which we shared just the one.

 

[bPeteb]

Again the seagulls were waiting to pounce the moment you left anything on your table






we might also have decided to have the strussel

 

[VPS]

Some excellent photos there - are they with phone or camera?

 

[RooFlyer]

All baked and cooked by Noel, Neil’s partner. You even get a doggie bag to take away what you don’t eat, and away those pastries went with us.

As I mentioned, Noel is Treasurer of our local history society - so every time we have a meeting, with morning tea afterwards, Noel brings a cake or two, plus pastries etc. A real girth hazzard!!

First winery stop at Craigie Knowe Craigie Knowe Vineyard, Tasmanian Wine, East Coast Tasmania.

Really pleased you went there (and even paid!!). They've gone out on a limb to do the patissarie etc and they deserve to be rewarded.

 

[kookaburra75]

Fate is sometimes on your side and in this instance it was. For nearly $40 less we ended up with a beautiful room with the most excellent view. It’s called Panorama St Helens Nature Resort Accommodation for an Unforgettable Stay | St.Helens and the nature is right outside your room.

Lobby the size of a ballroom. A porte cochere that two full size buses could pull into. Really high quality furniture and fittings everywhere. Possibly it started being built at the height of the Japanese tourism boom but missed it by a smidge? It was called something else before Panorma but I can’t remember the name I found. Clearly a dream gone sour. Now they can’t get staff. It’s main restaurant is closed and just three people seemed to be looking after the food and bev side of things, plus a whole lot more.

It used to be called the Tidal Waters Resort - at least it was in 2014 when MrsK and I stayed there, when we went down to the Top End of Tassie for a few days. You're right about the way it looks. There was a tour bus there, when we stayed, which I think explains the layout.

A nice part of the world. If you can, have a beer at the Weldborough Hotel, which is on the way to Lonnie.

 

[bPeteb]

It used to be called the Tidal Waters Resort - at least it was in 2014 when MrsK and I stayed there, when we went down to the Top End of Tassie for a few days. You're right about the way it looks. There was a tour bus there, when we stayed, which I think explains the layout.

A nice part of the world. If you can, have a beer at the Weldborough Hotel, which is on the way to Lonnie.

A few days behind Kooka. Just arrived in Richmond for one night. Stumbled across this amazing gem, right next to the historic bridge, but more about this place when I catch up

 

[bPeteb]

Some excellent photos there - are they with phone or camera?

Hi VPS
DCS (or DSC) is Sony RX10 IV (sadly hardly being used)
IMG is my iPhone 12 Pro Max
Photos with time stamp and numbers is bAl’s Samsung S21 Ultra 5G

 

[bPeteb]

Day 6 St Helens - The Gardens - Binalong Bay - St Helens

We drove up to The Gardens and then headed up the beach towards Break Yoke Creek.



The beach just below the lookout/viewpoint at The Gardens




The sand was pretty ordinary to walk on, just too soft, so we tried a path above the beach along the edge of the cattle property but it was full of an awful weed that covered our shoes in giant bindies that broke into a gazillion little spikes. We walked for an hour before turning back. It was two hours that felt like four!

 

[bPeteb]

Some more from the walk










On the way back to Binalong we stopped at the beach on Gardens Road. We wish we’d had our swimmers and towels with us. It was just so beautiful.



We drove into Binalong Bar and it’s nice but apart from the one restaurant there’s nothing there. Maybe that’s the point? I’d try to book one of the places at The Gardens if it’s about being somewhere amazing.

 

[bPeteb]

After a walk around St Helens to make sure we didn't miss anything

Panorama in the centre of the picture




we called in to the IGA and bought some delicious Coal River cheese


and some Tassie made crackers. Then we settled down on our verandah with another bottle of Saltwater River wine, this time a very nice Pinot Gris. Note the classy cheese ‘knife’.

 

[bPeteb]

Dinner was at a very cool little bar/restaurant called The Social. So cool they don’t even have a website, just social media pages! the SOCIAL tasmania in Saint Helens - Restaurant reviews










It was excellent. Great food and terrific boutique beers and local Tassie gins. My favourite was the Sunshine Super Ale made by local St Helens brewer manchild brewing. I liked it so much I bought a t-shirt.



We finished off the night back at the hotel with the stouts we’d bought at Port Arthur markets. Nice but nothing compared to the peanut butter stout!

 

[bPeteb]

Day 7 St Helens - George Town



Ater breakfast



it was time to head west.



what's with the gideons down here? I find it so offensive to find these anyhere in a hotel room



our growing beach rubbish collection



We drove via Anson’s Bay. We could have given it a miss but I’ve just looked at the map and could see Bay of Fires Lodge is there and the three day walk either starts or finishes there.



Excellent smooth and little trafficked gravel roads up and around to Gladstone. We continued towards George Town stopping at Tomahawk (another not really worth it detour) before stopping briefly in Bridport, a really nice little town. For the golfers Bridport is home to the two Barnbougle golf courses.