Launceston and Traveling to the Barossa Wine Valley

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Launceston and Traveling to the Barossa Wine Valley

Exploring the Second Largest City in Tasmania

After the usual breakfast in the B&B, we set out for the north of Tasmania to see what Launceston had to offer. As the second largest city in Tasmania, we were certain that there would be some cool stuff to do around the city that would fill our final day in Tasmania.

Our first stop was Cataract Gorge located just south-west of the city center. This rock strewn valley cut by the Tamar River was touted as one of the more scenic things to do in Tasmania. More importantly for Kel, there was a chair lift that took you over the gorge. Any chance for a chair lift ride makes a site much higher in Kel’s list of things to do.

The first item on the Cataract Gorge list of things to do was, of course, the chair lift. While scenic, the chair lift is far from exciting due to its incredibly slow speed which is set slow to allow you to “enjoy the vista.” After dangling my feet 50 feet off the ground I was less than excited and ready to do some hiking. As an analytical type, I always think of the ways these chair lifts and other cable car type rides could go wrong which makes me more than a little bit nervous.

Once safely back on the ground we took a quick hike around the grounds and decided to take one of the more challenging hikes up to the top of the cliffs overlooking the gorge. Mark this one up as another time when I forced Kel and me to hike up tons of stairs. We are getting quite good at this up-hill hiking thing, but rarely do we enjoy it. Actually, I may go so far as saying we never enjoy it, but we do enjoy the fruits of our labors. In this case the fruit was a beautiful view of the whole Tamar River Valley and the city of Launceston.

Once back on the ground we decided to head off to get lunch in the city center. We found a restaurant that was in some material Kel had read about the town. The food was amazing and the view of the boats docked in the Tamar was gorgeous. We could not have picked a better restaurant to eat at before heading out again.

Kel was getting a little tired of the outdoorsy stuff and more than a little lethargic so I figured we’d check out some of the Tamar Valley vineyards and possibly get a bottle of wine, find some shade, and relax a while. This whole plan changed when Kel saw a road sign for a “challenging” 18 hole mini-golf place set off the road.

After a quick U-turn we were on our way to an hour’s worth of mini-golf fun. The course was set in a small resort/shopping area which was named after the town of Grindelwald in Switzerland. Having been there earlier on this journey I was a bit dismayed by the attempt to create a Swiss village in the middle of Tasmania but decided to hold my tongue until we’d seen the course.

The min-gold course turned out to be one of the most challenging courses we’ve every attempted, second only to a course located in Disney World in Florida. The water traps were actually rivers, the sand traps made you take penalties, the greens were incredibly fast and the design of the course above average in its complexity. For those who don’t know, Kel and I have a huge feud going over mini-golf. Over the years we have played many courses and 9 times out of 10 Kel destroys me. This is by far the top Kel-Kel sport as far as finesse and general skill are concerned. Thus, I was more than a little worried about my chances of coming out of this game with a win.

Boy, was I worried for nothing. Thanks to the challenging roughs and water traps, Kel continued to hit into the water & sand and had to take penalties which gave me a huge lead from the beginning. My approach to mini-golf is slow steady putts that in some cases put me well away from the hole while Kel’s impeccable accuracy and power often put her immediately at an advantage. Due to the speed of this course though, Kel kept over-hitting the ball which worked to my advantage. Final score: 61 to 72!! That’s right, I kicked her rear…I have to gloat since the chance comes up so seldom at this sport/game. (Kel Note - He schooled me seriously on this one, I admit it. Usually I’m a hard competitor but he had me by hole 2 or 3. With months to go, there’s still time for me to regain my honor . . . stay tuned!)

After mini-golf we headed back to Ross and rested the remained of the afternoon. We finally managed to get dinner at the Man O’ Ross which was average at best but was filling and then returned to the B&B for a night’s sleep.

Traveling and Wine

The following day we got an early start due to the fact that we had to catch a flight in Hobart which was close to 100 miles away. After breakfast (often referred to as brekky here) we packed up and proceeded to drive the long stretch of road back to the airport. We arrived with time to spare and had no problems checking in or boarding our 20th flight in less than 5 months. Unfortunately the flight to Adelaide turned out to be one of the rockier ones we’ve taken due to low lying clouds and wind but we arrived safely and were happy to be back on terra firma. (Kel Note - I’m usually a no fear airline passenger but this flight had me shaken. Too many unexpected dips and rockiness made us both sit a little closer to each other and look anxiously out the window. I was very glad to hit the tarmac again!)

Since we would be driving for the next three weeks we had decided to step up our rental car choice to a car with an automatic transmission in case Kel needed to drive. This time I got my way and we got a Holden Commodore. I was interested in this particular automobile because Holden is the only GM brand which has been turning out award winning cars in the last few years. After driving it for the last day, I can tell you it’s a pretty sturdy car that should find its way to the American market, definitely a step up from most of GM’s offerings in the past decade.

We immediately left Adelaide for the Barossa Wine region north of the city. Unfortunately we got a pretty late start and didn’t actually get close to a vineyard until about 3pm (they all close at 5pm). We stopped in Tanunda (makes Kel giggle because it sounds like famunda…a punch line from a risqué cheesy joke, pun intended. If you don’t know the joke don’t ask, I won’t tell you) for a light lunch and then checked into our hotel called the Jacob’s Creek Retreat.

While a little on the pricey side, we felt that a splurge every now and then never hurt anyone. The hotel was essentially rooms within a couple of small cottages surrounded by gardens in the middle of vineyards - grapes in every direction as far as you can see. How often would we be able to say we stayed in one of the most famous wine producing regions in the world?

After checking in we set out for Jacob’s Creek Vineyard which was just around the corner. Jacob’s Creek creates wine that we have bought before in the US so I was excited to get a chance to see the visitor center and taste some wine. Since it was late in the afternoon, Jacob’s Creek was the only vineyard we would visit so we decided to take our time and enjoy.

We got a chance to taste about half the wines that Jacob’s Creek makes including a few that aren’t for sale outside Australia. As big Shiraz fans we really enjoyed the various Shiraz and Shiraz mixes including a Shiraz Rosé which we had never heard of before. The lady behind the counter was incredibly nice as she talked us through the wines and even gave us a few hints on how to taste the wine appropriately.

When all was said and done we decided to buy a few bottles to carry with us on our next three weeks drive through Australia. The prices for the Reserve quality wines were less than the prices for regular Jacob’s Creek in the US. How can you go wrong getting US $40 wines for about $12?

After an afternoon rest in our gorgeous hotel room at the retreat we set off to an equally fabulous dinner in the nearby town of Nuriootpa (we have some crazy American Indian names so I guess we shouldn’t make fun of Aussies Aboriginal names.) Kel had an amazing dish of local cheese and pumpkin ravioli while I settled for a veal rib dish. This was easily one of the best meals we’ve had in a month or two, very good.

Hope you are all great back home!

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