Tassie It is

[henleybeach]

It’s been a while since my last TR, I think it was 2019 “Stans” holiday so I thought I’d get back on board for our 10 day holiday to Tassie.
Six months ago we booked 7 nights Port Douglas and 5 nights Cairns for July 2021, hoping to escape the winter for 2 weeks. We were looking forward to being able to walk around in shorts and t shirt, swim and get the nice queensland glow!
However a couple weeks before departure, the SA govt decided to close to whole of Australia except Tasmania.
We hanged on hoping borders will be lifted to Queensland, but the longer it went on the less likely it looked possible.
We started to come up with Plan B of somewhere else to go for some warmth, well we had no option, we couldn’t change and go to the NT or WA, the only option was to go further south and freeze!
We thought stuff staying home for 2 weeks and being cold, we might as well do that in Tasmania!

Our plan is -
3 nights in Launceston
3 nights in Strahan
3 Nights in Devonport
1 night back in Launceston before our return

We have booked the wilderness railway and the Gordon River cruise in Strahan, the rest of our activities we will see what happens.

Accommodation is -
Verge hotel Launceston
Risby Cove Strahan
The Cove Devonport
Verge hotel Launceston

Our jackets and beanies are packed and we are ready to go !

 

[henleybeach]

We arrived in Launceston as per normal operations. We flew ADL-MEL-LST with the Q
Uneventful flights, a nice chicken avo sandwich served on the first leg and cheese and crackers to LST.
We checked in to the verge hotel, industrial exposed concrete look. Room was a good size with a nice view.
A 5 minute walk away was a small wine bar called Bar Two. Our first priority was to drop the bags and head straight there, we are on holidays and it was after 5!
A cool little bar awaited us, we ordered a bottle of Josef Cromy Pinot noir some warm olives, a pizza & settled in. We finished off with a gin and called it a night, a great little wine bar and highly recommend if visiting Launceston.

HOTEL VERGE

 

[henleybeach]

Day 2 in Launceston
After coffee in bed, I caught a OLA to go and collect our hire car, pick up time was 11am.
I arrived at 1025am and completed the paperwork in 10 minutes with the attendant advising me the car is ready, but I’ll have to sit and wait for 25 minutes until 11am otherwise I would be charged $60 for early collection. I honestly thought the guy was having a joke, but he was serious. I couldn’t believe he made me sit in the waiting room for 25 minutes like a naughty boy until 11am, with our hire car ready to go sitting there. I had a quick look on phone for other car hire places but they were all Double what I had paid otherwise I would’ve told him to stick it and cancelled.

After waiting until 11am we headed off and went to Cataract Gorge for a walk, it was a beautiful day, sunny and no wind.
It was 1pm by this stage and that meant wine o’clock, so we headed off to Velo wines, the kitchen wasn’t open so we just had some tastings. The sparkling rose was nice, the pinots were very fruity and too light for our palette. We ain’t normally big Pinots fans anyway as we live on Barossa Shiraz and Coonawarra cabs.
We bought a bottle of the sparkling rose proceeded off to our next destination tamar ridge winery.
We had the full Wine tasting at Tamar Ridge,
Their Sparkling range was nice and their top shelf Pinot had a bit more spice, leather than their base range Pinot. Accompanying our wines was a delicious cheese platters.
Right next door is Turner Stillhouse Distillery which produces around 5 different Gins and provides tastings. Excellent customer service in the boutique arrangement and we bought a Pinot Gin.

 

[henleybeach]

Day 3 started off with some coffee and breakfast at Bread and Butter cafe. Excellent cafe and in a warehouse shed just behind hotel Verge.
After Breakfast we set off and headed to Clover Hill winery for some more sparkling tasting. The winery has a modern cellar door with some beautiful views over the vineyard.
They have an extensive range of sparkling, from
Memory 8 different types and we tasted all.
We bought a couples bottles and headed off, now we are starting to wonder how we are going to get our tassie haul home!
Next stop was piper brook, Mrs HB had a tasting and i passed, thinking I have to be the responsible driver.
The winery has cafe attached so we decided to have lunch, it was a basic menu and quite expensive but we ordered the duck pizza to share. It was nice but nothing memorable, I certainly wouldn’t recommend lunch there.
We headed back to Launceston and admired the scenery and all of the cattle and sheep along the way. Beautiful lush green paddocks out there !
A quiet night in tonight, next to our hotel is a Japanese restaurant, so we headed there for dinner which was quite nice and popular with the locals.

Tomorrow we head to Strahan

 

[henleybeach]

Today we made our way to Strahan for 3 nights.
We made our first stop at Sheffield for lunch, which I enjoyed a nice scallop pie and a coffee. We continued on through the Winding wet roads and enjoyed the scenario, before stopping at Tullah for a hot chocolate and a walk around the lake.
We eventually arrived Strahan and checked in to Risby Cove. The little “boat shed” units are nice and spacious and have uninterrupted views of the river. The weather was quite mild with no wind, so we enjoyed an afternoon drink on the balcony.
Tonight we are having dinner at the hotel and then tomorrow the Gordon river cruise.

 

[RooFlyer]

That second pic is gorgeous! How would the little 4-legged one react to the ducks?

 

[henleybeach]

That second pic is gorgeous! How would the little 4-legged one react to the ducks?

We live next to the Torrens river in Adelaide and I can tell you from experience he will chase them and even jump in the water after them! Only problem is, in the past I’ve had to jump in the river and swim out and rescue the little bugger.

 

[henleybeach]

Day 5 and we are off on the Gordon river cruise in Strahan.
We booked the premium class and it was well worth it, lovely seats, breakfast and coffee upon boarding, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and all alcoholic drinks included. We had our own viewing deck for Prem passengers only which was excellent as the deck didn’t get crowded. The vessel has dual power, with electric motors that engage whilst cruising the Gordon river, the Diesel engines are used to power through the harbour. Its the second biggest harbour behind Port Phillip and 5 times the size of Sydney harbour, quite impressive!
Cruising through the Gordon river was spectacular and obvious why its a UNESCO heritage site.
We stopped off at Sarah island for a hour & learnt about the convicts that lived there back in the early 1800s and walked around the island.
We headed back to Strahan harbour 6 hours after departing and we made our way across the road for a wine in front of the wood fire.
A fantastic day, cruising in comfort, beautiful scenery and we highly recommend it.

 

[RooFlyer]

I think I counted 7 different wines on offer in that cabin ... You really want your accommodation within walking distance of the wharf (or at least I needed it!).

 

[henleybeach]

I think I counted 7 different wines on offer in that cabin ... You really want your accommodation within walking distance of the wharf (or at least I needed it!).

Yes, they had an extensive range, and they weren’t shy on pouring.
I started off with the sparkling, then the PN and finished off with some Riesling during afternoon tea. After a couple beers at the pub,
We walks back to the accommodation and were
Both asleep by 730!

 

[henleybeach]

Yesterday, we headed to Queenstown to join the west coast wilderness rail trip. We departed Strahan at 8am and arrived at Queenstown railway station at 9-am with heavy fog present. A beautiful station and we settled inside in front of the fire with a coffee whilst we wait for boarding to begin.
We purchased tickets in the wilderness class, which m includes a wine when boarding, morning tea, a light lunch and afternoon tea. The seats were quite comfortable with a table in the middle, and the carriage was heated sufficiently.

We boarded the train and directed to our seat and offered sparkling or mulled wine. I choose the later and it was beautiful at 10am! The lovely lady gave everyone a refill and we sat back gazed out the window until our first stop at Lynchford.
The engine required to be full of water before ascending the grade up to Rinadeena. It was a 20 minute stop where we wondered around, and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine when it appeared!
We departed and headed for Rinadeena and ascending the steep grade, this is where the rack and pinion comes into effect to allow the train to climb the steep gradient. Scones, jam and coffee was served with everyone devouring them, we all sat back and admired the scenery with plenty of photos being taken.
After arriving it was another short stop and cafe was open for those travelling in the heritage class to purchase lunch, the engine topped up with water again and we departed headed for Dubbil Barril, again sensational scenery.
This was the terminus for this trip and the loco needed to run around the consist and use the turntable and couple at the other end of the consist. We walked through the short rainforest trail and headed back and watched the loco change ends.
We boarded the train and everyone in the carriage swapped sides to ensure fair viewing for all.
Hot vegetable soup with a bread roll was served and was welcomed as it was quite chilly outside now.
A couple beers later and some afternoon tea and we arrived back in Queenstown. A lovely journey and I highly recommend!

Once we returned to Srathan, we made our way to view 42 for sundowner drinks and admire the view of the harbour. Dinner at the pub and ready to head to Devonport the next day

 

[Julesmac]

Day 5 and we are off on the Gordon river cruise in Strahan.
We booked the premium class and it was well worth it, lovely seats, breakfast and coffee upon boarding, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and all alcoholic drinks included. We had our own viewing deck for Prem passengers only which was excellent as the deck didn’t get crowded. The vessel has dual power, with electric motors that engage whilst cruising the Gordon river, the Diesel engines are used to power through the harbour. Its the second biggest harbour behind Port Phillip and 5 times the size of Sydney harbour, quite impressive!
Cruising through the Gordon river was spectacular and obvious why its a UNESCO heritage site.
We stopped off at Sarah island for a hour & learnt about the convicts that lived there back in the early 1800s and walked around the island.
We headed back to Strahan harbour 6 hours after departing and we made our way across the road for a wine in front of the wood fire.
A fantastic day, cruising in comfort, beautiful scenery and we highly recommend it.
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Regardless of their crimes, you can't help feeling sorry for the convicts incarcerated on Sarah Island in the middle of a Tassie winter. No thermals windproofs or all weather boots. We had them all and were still cold!

 

[maia200]

What a wonderful travel journal and the most gorgeous photos to go with it. Thank you.

 

[RooFlyer]

Regardless of their crimes, you can't help feeling sorry for the convicts incarcerated on Sarah Island in the middle of a Tassie winter. No thermals windproofs or all weather boots. We had them all and were still cold!

Sarah Island - "Loooxury!" (as the saying goes ...) The women folk were initially put onto Grummet Island.

 

[henleybeach]

We departed Strahan and headed for Devonport for our next three nights.
Beautiful scenery along the way and we stopped at a town called Waratah for lunch. Not much open except the old pub so it was a National pie from service station, which went down beautifully in 5 degrees. I had never heard of Waratah, this was just a spare of the moment stop and the town had a lovely waterfall in the centre of town. I sat there eating my pie wondering what life would be like living in this little quiet town.

 

[RooFlyer]

I sat there eating my pie wondering what life would be like living in this little quiet town.

Waratah! First town in Australia with electric street lights. And you may not have noticed the old Mt Bischoff tin mine not far from where you were sitting. .

 

[henleybeach]

Waratah! First town in Australia with electric street lights. And you may not have noticed the old Mt Bischoff tin mine not far from where you were sitting. .

I knew you would have some information for me rooflyer

 

[RooFlyer]

I knew you would have some information for me rooflyer

Did I happen to mention that the lovely and scenic Macquarie Harbour is host to 100 million tonnes of sulphidic mine waste from the Mt Lyell mine? Ooops, but things seem to be going OK; stopped about 30 years or so ago. All of it was flushed down the Queen River out of Queenstown (still pretty obvious) , and also down the King River, which was flowing by Doubl Barrill when you visited.

 

[henleybeach]

We arrived at our accommodation, The Cove.
Absolute stunning, we were booked into cliffside chalet 1, and the views were beautiful. There is 3 chalets with ensuite and four that share a Common bathroom, but we are not talking caravan park showers and toilets, the shared amenities were excellent.
There is a huge common kitchen and lounge area for everyone to use and mingle if you please, with all the appliances you could want.
The owners are lovely, and this place Will go bonkers soon, we only paid $280 a night (20percent off for July) and it was sensational value. The chalets without ensuite are cheaper and still have uninterrupted views of the ocean.

 

[JohnM]

Could you put up a Google Maps route when you finish please HB?