Up early for breakfast and browsing at Salamanca markets. Last time we were there it was midwinter and raining and scallop pies made a very suitable breakfast!
Bus to Wrest Point casino so I can show my beloved his first ever revolving restaurant. We will just have cocktails there, however.
Sunday January 16th : Hobart to New Norfolk, via Richmond Bakery!
Collect our hire car from Budget Car Hire . We had a little Getz on our previous Tas trip and we were very impressed - zippy, perfect for the windy Tasmanian and often narrow roads, and ridiculously economical - so we have booked another one for this trip.
Then a stop at this fantastic looking market! I signed up for their impressive weekly newsletter a few months ago and have been watching their ever changing produce with impatient delight! Raspberry Chilli beer, anyone? Smoked wallaby lasagne perhaps?
A trip to Richmond purely to have pies at the incomparable Richmond Bakery. Last time round I had a plain pie there on two occasions - best pie ever!! - and have been yearning for another one since.
On to our accomodation at the gorgeous Bush Inn . Last time through we had beers on the stunning deck overlooking the Derwent, had a quick peek at the lovely old rooms, scurried away from an extremely bitter argument we could not help but hear emanating from one of the rooms, and dreamt of staying here next time. Now it is next time!
In New Norfolk we shall check out the Derwent Valley community markets (3rd Sunday of the month), the numerous antiques shops and the view from Pulpit Rock . Last time here we saw and greatly admired the Bridgewater Jerry but this will be the wrong season for it.
Monday January 17th : New Norfolk to Devonport via Great Lakes
This will be our longest drive of the trip, an epic trek of 245km which Google maps tells me will take 3 hours and 4 minutes! In Queensland, our home state, it takes around 20 hours driving time to travel from where we live in the North to the southern border. I love the fact that everything in Tasmania is only a few hours apart. This drive through the Central Highlands will take us to an elevation of 1200 metres and skirts around The Great Lake . We hope for summer snow 😊 !! We are planning to stop for a picnic lunch at a lookout along the way, with provisions gathered from the Salamanca, Farmgate and Derwent valley markets, together with a thermos of hot soup that we will buy from a supermarket and heat up on a public barbeque that we have located in a park in New Norfolk! In Devonport, we will stay at the Abel Tasman Caravan Park . We will cook our first meal of the trip in our onsite caravan - we have stayed in a lot of onsites and have a lot of experience of and fondness for caravan cooking. The caravan park is very near to the ferry terminal for the Spirit of Tasmania ferry, which crosses Bass Strait to Melbourne so we will go sit on the beach and watch it depart. I do not like the open sea at the best of times and Bass Strait is one of the roughest passages on the planet, so I have no desire to get on the ferry, but I will enjoy seeing it maneouvre. I have read little but disparaging remarks about Devonport - comments to the effect that its only fit purpose is for ferry embarkation and that travellers should plan to escape it at the earliest opportunity - however the pictures I have seen so far show it to be a scenic waterside town. We shall explore and find out the truth!
Tuesday January 18th : Devonport to Smithton
This day's drive (131km) will take us through around 30 towns and along what promises to be a stunning seaside road. And look where we are resting our heads at the end of this scenic feast : Island View Spa Cottage .
Wednesday January 19th : Smithton to Crayfish Creek
My lovely hubby and I are in the process of planning a trip to Tasmania with a few days in Melbourne at the end. We live in Cairns, Queensland and have been to Tasmania only once before, in the winter of 2007. We took that trip to decide if we would like to live in Tassie, and the answer was an unconditional yes. Since then we have been working steadily through bringing out the best in our lovely old Queenslander house in preparation for selling it and making the move. I was born in Cairns and have lived here for 40 years and Eric ha... full info
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