End of Tassie

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Well here we are in the lovely city of Hobart with its many old historical buildings and a great waterfront with Constitution Dock where all the yachts complete the grueling Sydney to Hobart race each year and situated on the Derwent River. The Salamanca Markets were a must so we caught the bus into the City as it is always such trouble finding a place to park our big truck. We both had a quick look and then I left Trevor with a paper and a mug of coffee at a café while I looked at the market properly and he was very happy with that as it was very crowded and of course like most men he is not that interested in that type of market.



We visited the Mona Museum which stands for Museum of Old and New Art and boy was it an eye opener as there are some very weird sexually explicit exhibits and there is even a real man there whose body is covered in tattoos. That would be a great job just sitting on a pedestal all day being ever so still as I had to go up close to see if he was real or not. Luckily he had his back to me and he did have pants on. There were also some ancient exhibits from Egyptian days and such a diverse number of items, some weird and some interesting. The whole museum is built on the side of a hill and the walls are strewn out of the rock with the rest of the walls of metal and timber, very well built, and that alone is worth the visit. It is over 3 or 4 levels with a circular staircase and the elevator goes down the middle of the stairs, spectacular. Tasmanians get in for free which is great for them but it is well worth the entrance fee for us foreigners. There is no description on each exhibit but when you enter you are given a hand held device the size of a phone which allows you to find out exactly where you are in the museum and it gives you a photo and the name of the item you are looking at so it is really good. There are people posted in each room for you to ask questions as well which is handy at times and they are most likely there to make sure you don’t run off with any of the exhibits. Mona is in the grounds of the Moorilla Estate Winery and boutique brewery so it is very picturesque and markets are held there each Saturday afternoon.



The Cascade Brewery tour was a must even though I am not a beer drinker and Trevor drinks it occasionally but we do like our Stout and they make a very nice one and it is the oldest brewery in Australia. The workers had it good in the early days as they could drink as much as they liked during their morning and lunch breaks as there was a bar set up on the ground floor where they would go and drink. Can you imagine Workplace Health and Safety these days and that is why now these days they are given a carton each month and absolutely no drinking on the job.



We did a tour of the Cadbury factory which was a bit of a fizzle as you don’t get to see any of the workings of the making of the chocolate, just a video and a talk. They do give you a block of Cadbury’s milk chocolate when you go in and a couple of Freddo Frogs – WOW!! - after the video and then you are let loose in their shop where all sorts of chocolates are on offer at a reduced rate so of course I went mad with all the dark chocolate I could find. Now I have enough dark chocolate to last some time so I was very happy.



We had been to Hobart previously and saw the historical homes, Mt Wellington and the Penitentiary Chapel and Criminal Courts which were all great to see. Two weeks were spent in Hobart and we had many bike rides as there is a great bikeway system and we didn’t have to put up with cars and trucks on the road.



It was back to our friends at Richmond for a week and a couple of our friends who are also touring Tasmania at present were also invited to spend some time there so we all had a great time meeting for drinks each afternoon and also having dinner altogether on a couple of occasions.



It was sad to leave Richmond as we had such a great time there, but it was time to move so next with the historical town of Ross. Ross was founded as a garrison in 1812 and is a picturesque Georgian village with a wealth of convict associations and a rich pastoral and military history. The bridge was built by convicts with intricate and intriguing carvings and the Ross Female Factory gives a fascinating insight into life as a female convict jail. Ross sits on the Macquarie River and the caravan park was just beside it, a great spot. We had been told the Ross Bakery was really good so with my love of bakeries it was off to see how great this bakery was. To my surprise and delight there was a sign on the door to say “The best vanilla slices in the world” (my favourite) so I just had to try one. Well it was delicious, a 10 out of 10 and I thought I had tasted the best when we were in Bamaga in Cape York, but these were as good so on our departure from Ross I had to purchase a few to last me out for a couple of days. The only thing wrong was I had to share them with Trevor as he likes them also what a shame.



We had a couple of weeks to go until our house sitting job in Latrobe so we decided to travel to Green’s Beach which is a small seaside village up the top of the West Tamar north of Launceston. The beach is really nice and the caravan park has the golf course directly behind it and the beach just across the road so it is in a lovely spot. We played a game of golf one day (just 9 holes) and it is a good course although our scores were not the best we still had a good game as we haven’t played for so long. We spent a lot of time trying to side step all the droppings of the wallabies up the fairway, it was just incredible the amount but we never saw one wallaby. We visited four wineries one day and had a lovely wild game platter for lunch while sitting out on the balcony overlooking the vineyard. It was very pleasant and so relaxing. Pinot Noir, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are the main wines and we even came across a Merlot Cabernet which was quite nice to our surprise.



The bikes came in handy again as we took some rides along the beach which was very pleasant as the weather was great and it is so quiet although Christmas and Easter does become very busy they say with heaps of families enjoying this nice spot. We stayed there for 10 days before heading to Devonport on the 31^st March to meet up with a couple we know from Lake Macquarie (Dave and Debbie) who were catching the ferry back to the mainland on the 2^nd April. We had pizzas on the Webber one evening and fish the next night along with a couple of nice wines and beer.



On the 4^th April we went to Latrobe to start our house and dog sitting job for 3-1/2 weeks and the 5^th wheeler was left at the caravan park in Devonport which was only 10 minutes away just in case we forgot anything. Andrew and Lilly took us out to dinner that evening as they were leaving the next morning at 4.30 am as they had to catch a flight to Sydney at 6.00 am from Devonport as they were leaving on a cruise from there to Hawaii. We had a great time with Scampi their dog, taking him for a walk each day and having fun chasing him around the house playing games which I think we both enjoyed. Latrobe is a nice little township and the house was within walking distance down to the shops. There is one shop in particular called Reliquaire housed in a lovely old 2 storey building and they sell just about anything you would want for a gift or just for yourself. They give you a plan to follow and they have antiques, dolls, teddies, jewellery, costumes, tea and coffee, books, toys and science stuff and heaps more. You could spend many hours there just browsing and I went there a couple of times as you miss things each time you go. A great place for women and men even enjoy it as it is quite unique. We caught up with Colin and Agi (the couple who purchased our caravan) and one day we all went to Sheffield the home of Murals and they were having their annual Mural Festival where people from all parts of Australia participate in painting up murals which takes them a week to complete. The Tastes of the North West is held on the final day and it was a lovely warm sunny day so we participated in some local drinks and food while watching a performance, a great day.



We have been looking for a block of land whilst travelling around Tasmania and to date had not found one with the WOW factor so we were resigned to waiting until we came back in the summer to look again. Just 2-1/2 weeks prior to us leaving we found this great block in Sheffield which we both liked so we put in an offer and it was accepted a few days later so we are now Tasmanians and we will be back in November to start proceedings on erecting an American Style barn. It is 2-1/2 acres with a small creek running along the back and part of the side boundaries with a great view of the mountains from the front of the block. We were kept busy in the past couple of weeks seeing the Council, signing documents and organizing quotes for the barn and other personnel for the project so we can be reasonably organized on our return.



After our house sitting we stayed at the Devonport Caravan Park where the 5^th wheeler had been stored until our trip back to the mainland on the 6^th May. On the first weekend of May each year they have a festival called Agfest which is a big show mostly for farmers with everything you would need on a farm together with car and caravan sales, a big arts and crafts division, water tanks, a steam engine display and many, many more items on show. We were there for 5 hours and still missed some parts of it, but it was a great show with about 60,000 – 70,000 people attending over the 3 day period which is a lot for Tasmania.



The weather was lovely for the time spent in Tasmania with only about 7-10 days of rain during our 5 month stay and we also met some wonderful people we will be looking forward to catching up with on our return. We caught the ferry back on the night of the 6^th, had a smooth crossing and landed in Melbourne around 6.30 am to cold and overcast conditions although it has today the 8^th May.



Our next Blog will be the rest of our time here in Melbourne and our trip back to Brisbane where we are spending the winter months before returning to Tasmania for the summer.

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Photos

Cascade
Cascade crewery

Constitution
Constitution Dock

91 metre
a 91 metre high Eucalipt

Mural
Mural from Sheffield

Sheffield
Festival at Sheffield

Block 3
Left bounday of out block which is 2.5 acres in size.

Block 2
View from our block with Mt Roland in the back ground.

Block 1
Creek on rear boudary of our block

Comments

[Lynne and Chris]

Did you find a place with no flies?
Good to hear about your latest adventures. Congratulations on finding a lovely block in Tassie, hope it all works out for you. We liked that area too. Our property is 3 acres, so similiar size to yours, plenty of room to park our motorhome, and Chris loves his big shed. We have a lake with an island, so our old dinghy is getting some use too. At present we are enjoying the autumn colours as we have popular trees on 3 boundaries, and some liquid amber and swamp cyprus trees that are really beautiful. Our land has been well planted with lots of fruit trees too. We're loving living in the country, only 2 1/2 km to Matakana Village where we can get most things. It has a farmers market each Saturday, and even a cute picture theatre. Enjoy your trip up to Brisbane. Regards Chris and Lynne

[Peter Cave]

sheffield block
looks like you will be in the market for a lawnmower or a couple of sheep next summer.