Hobart - Richmond - Coles Bay, Freycinet Peninsula

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Our run of outstandingly beautiful weather came to an end this morning! We packed our bags while looking out on a rather gloomy day from our room at the Fountainside Hotel. We packed the car in light drizzle and then headed off to the Frogmore Creek Winery at Cambridge. We have been enjoying a bottle (or two, or three!) of Storm Bay Merlot whilst eating out here in Tasmania. Frogmore Creek Winery sells its wines under the Frogmore Creek, Meadowbank, 42° South and Storm Bay labels. We tasted our way through most of their tasting list and left the winery with a Meadowbank sparkling, a Storm Bay Sauvignon Blanc, and a couple each of the Storm Bay Merlot and Cab/Merlot.

OK, we've done the wine tasting now let's do the cheese tasting ... as you do when the weather is no good for sightseeing! Just before we reached Richmond we stopped at Wicked Cheese. Wicked Cheese is a small boutique cheese factory making its range of cheeses from pure hormone-free and chemical-free milk from grass-fed cows. Not having to worry about increasing our blood alcohol level with cheese tasting we tasted our way through the entire range!! Brie, triple cream brie, camembert, cheddar, smoked cheddar, pepperberry chedar, whiskey cheddar, relatively wicked blue, chilli cheddar and chilli camembert!! And then we tasted three yoghurt cheeses from another local cheese maker. Since we are travelling with an Esky we were able to purchase a few cheeses to take home. Yum!

We continued on into Richmond and found our way to the Richmond Gaol Historic Site. The gaol consists of the original 1825 section that was successively added to over the years to create the courtyard arrangement that can be seen today. As with most of the convict sites it is pretty confronting to imagine the severe conditions in which the prisoners were kept let alone the extra punishments - lashings, solitary confinement - that they could be subjected to for fighting and insubordination.

From the gaol we drove down to the river to the Richmond Bridge. Built in 1823 it is purported to be the oldest bridge in Australia that is still in use. It was grey and overcast, but we still took a few shots of the bridge with St John's Catholic Church (dating to 1836) in the background. Next stop, the bakery for some lunch. With the weather a bit clearer after lunch we drove across the bridge and took a couple more photos from the other side of the Coal River.

With accommodation booked for tonight in Coal Bay it was time to make some headway towards the Freycinet Peninsula. We drove east to pick up the Tasman Highway between Sorel and Orielton and then headed north to Runnymede before turning more north-east towards Buckland where we took a photo of the historic St John the Baptist Church.

We hit the east coast at Orford which is a really pretty town on Prosser Bay that looks across the Mercury Passage to Maria Island. We both thought that the coast between Orford and Triabunna was really beautiful. The weather had cleared up this afternoon so we were able to take some more blue sky and sunshine photographs of the spectacular scenery!!!

As we drove further up the coast we were intrigued by the star on our map denoting a Spiky Bridge as a tourist feature. North of Mayfield Bay we first saw a sign for Spiky Beach so we were looking right and almost missed the sign for Spiky Bridge on the left! The bridge is indeed spiky with slates set vertically into the mortar on the top of the bridge. According to the information board there is speculation as to whether the vertically set slates that create the spiky appearance of the bridge was a structural decision or an artistic whim of the architect!?

With the weather closing in again as we reached Swansea where we stopped to buy some more water and ice and a couple of apples before making our final run into Coles Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula. We checked into our accommodation at the Edge of the Bay Resort and unloaded our gear into our ocean view suite for the next two nights. Beautiful accommodation with a view to die for straight across Coles Bay to the peaks of The Hazards and Mount Graham and Mount Freycinet. It wasn't raining yet so we ventured out with our cameras to photograph the amazing view.

The restaurants at quite a few of the places we have been booked into have been closed due to it being low season. The restaurant here is open this week, but then closed for a month, so finally we were able to 'eat in' tonight. In the restaurant we encountered a couple who took the Gordon River cruise with us last Wednesday. There are so few tourists around at this time of year that we have been noticing the same faces popping up as we make our way around the island.

Too much tasting, not enough walking! - steps for the day a paltry 7,607 (5.18km)

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Comments

[Judy Carthew]

Food Trail
Are you sure this holiday shouldn't be classified as a food and wine trail. I am jealous, the cheeses sounded delightful.Noting the bad weather on the ABC THIS MORNING CHEERS JUDY

[Wendy]

Hey Tracey & Bernie
Hi travelers, What a lovely photo of Hooded Plovers (or Dotterel) !! Love it.. And you did not tell me your were going to the old Kearney stomping ground, Richmond .. The Kearney's feature is some of the information at the Gaol, ( and no William and his brother Thomas were born free although their mum Catherine was a convict) and they are buried in the St Luke"s Cemetary, Richmond, but it looked way too cold for you guys to be exploring cemeteries!!! Take care in this extreme weather and say Hello to all my relatives over there :) wendy xxx (latin Name : Thinornis rubricollis not to be confused with the Charadrius dubius)

[Sandra]

memories
Bringing back beautiful memories of 2000 cycle ride in Tassie

[Stuart]

Wendy, I'm sorry but I'm confused, wasn't that Tracey in the blue hooded coat rather than a plover?