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Out in the bush, the tarred road always ends just after the house of the local mayor ~ Australian Proverb
The cheeky quote was chosen because the Midlands region of Tasmania is predominantly rural, and this sentiment has been quite apt in the past. 😉
As the name suggests, the region is smack bang in the middle of Tasmania. It’s far enough away from the two big cities in the State (Hobart and Launceston) to be called country, but a maximum of about two hours’ drive to either.
I have lived in the Southern Midlands for over 16 years, and Andrew has lived here just under 30 years. It’s a very special part of the world. Even though it’s prone to drought, bushfires, flooded rivers, severe frosts, black ice and the fiercest of winters… there is something very appealing and alluring about this exceptional land. The light is dazzlingly clear and the air is exquisitely pure (even by Tassie standards). The wide-open spaces allow us to be engulfed by big skies and all-consuming weather (both good and bad). With such features, you can’t help but feel constantly connected to the land.
Road trips in the Midlands have a very special quality to them for the environmental reasons mentioned above, but also for the manmade influences. The
extensive farmland of cleared paddocks can stretch for miles, with lone trees or lonely farm houses casting haunting shapes against the horizon. There are pockets of bushland that sometimes encroach this typical farmland picture, but as a general rule, the native bush has been beaten into submission. We live in a hamlet on the side of a hill that happily seems to have managed to maintain a healthy balance between cleared pasture and forested areas.
While still predominantly a farming community, the old-world sheep farms and towns full of tumbling old sandstone buildings seem to be slowly but surely changing. Relatively recently, plans began for heritage buildings in towns to be renovated and repurposed into gourmet farm/village stays, artists hubs, and boutique breweries and distilleries. The Midlands is now an interesting mix of old-world streetscapes and old-school bakeries, juxtaposed against art galleries and studios showcasing local art, jewellery and textiles. Lace-curtained tea rooms sit alongside modern cafes and wine bars focussing on low-food-mile produce and the locally crafted alcohol. It’s certainly an interesting time to live in the Midlands.
The Midlands, in both landscape and social culture, is unapologetically blunt and candid about what it is. While this
‘what you see is absolutely what you get’ attitude can have both good and bad facets to it, we really enjoy calling it home. I’ve written up a few of our recent trips and outings, and I hope it captures the vibe of the region and adequately conveys its uniqueness. 😊
The Craigbourne Dam We live in the Coal River Valley, and the Craigbourne Dam sits at a junction of the Coal River. The dam is a pretty body of water that lies just down the road from us, and is popular with fishing and boating locals. We have a view of it from our bathroom window, and I often gather a feel for the day by looking at the colour of the dam first thing in the morning. Needless to say, its heavy grey face isn’t a welcome sight, but its vivid blue face fills me with joy.
While the dam is pretty enough, its existence is a bit controversial – I suppose that’s not an uncommon theme with dam construction. The dam provides water to the multitude of farms, vineyards and orchards in the valley, but has created ecological and environmental issues along the
way. The periodic flooding of the Coal River is the most obvious one to us, especially given our main road into Hobart runs along a fair part of the river.
One picture-perfect blue-sky day, we decided to have an impromptu picnic at the dam. The Midlands is a landlocked region, so when a much-loved Tasmanian lobster food truck set up at our town’s monthly market, it would have been rude not to show our appreciation. We visited the market to stock up on baked goodies and jams like we usually do; but we also bought some lobster and drove the few kilometres to the dam. A warm spring day, well-cooked fresh local lobster with hot chips, and a beautiful view – a perfect trinity of happiness. 😊
Oatlands We decided the beautiful warm and sunny days over the Easter break were perfect for some local walking adventures. We first explored Oatlands; one of the three towns closest to us. We started the day walking around Lake Dulverton which sits on the edge of the town. Even though in parts the setting felt semi-suburban because it skirts the newer part of Oatlands, the lake was full of
birdlife. Our main focus was to explore a few interesting sandstone caves and rocky overhangs which can be accessed via one of the two dam walls that cut across the lake.
We bought take away coffees and banana cookies from a local cafe and began our stroll. The coffee was ok but the curiously named banana cookies weren’t good. In hindsight, they tasted exactly as you’d expect them to – there are certain times in life when curiosity does not pay off. However, the stroll was excellent.
The ducks, geese, and black swans were out in force, and there were times we had to speak louder to be heard over their carryings-on! It was quite lovely observing them engaging in their normal routines, and absolutely not caring about the humans walking right next to them.
We had the whole area to ourselves, apart from a few local tourists who had parked their motorhomes along the lake’s shore. The ‘grey nomads’ were predominately congregated near the public toilets, and were either out walking their dogs or relaxing under their motorhome awnings. We chatted to a lovely couple walking their deaf Australian Cattle dog. The doggie couldn’t hear a
word we said but obviously understood our smiles and body language perfectly well! 😊
I think the grey nomad lifestyle is an excellent one. However, while observing the four or five motorhomes, I pondered the following slightly selfish but somewhat philosophical question: Is it ok to park your motorhome in a gorgeous location, but then spoil the view for others by erecting makeshift washing lines with your undies waving in the wind? 😄
Oatlands is probably best known for the Callington Mill, a tower mill that is apparently the only operating mill of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. The local council has poured a bit of money into the mill, even getting it a point of grinding local wheat to produce commercially available flour. We love this concept of heritage buildings and structures being used for purposes that contribute to our society in a practical way.
While the mill is a big feature, the town also boasts quaint streets with beautiful Georgian architecture. Walking down the main street is a real treat. While we know the town quite well, it was still extremely enjoyable being a ‘tourist’ and visiting the cafes, local craft workshops and antique
shops.
Ever since it opened a couple of years ago, our eatery of choice in Oatlands has been The Imbibers (a cute little bar that showcases food, wine and produce from the locality). After half-heartedly looking at menus at a couple of other cafes, we happily settled into the veranda at Imbibers with a smoky beer for Andrew and a sour cherry cocktail for me. It was late afternoon by this stage, and a perfect time to indulge in their toasties with salmon, local cheeses and relishes.
Tourism is booming in Oatlands, and I personally think the major north/south Midland Highway that now bypasses the town has helped make it a much more beautiful and attractive place to visit.
Campbell Town Speaking of the Midland Highway, we drive through Campbell Town whenever we travel north. It’s our ‘exactly one-hour’ marker to or from our gate. I’ve never looked at this town in the Northern Midlands as anything but a very convenient coffee and toilet stop, but we decided to visit with a more open mind and spend some time exploring it.
We started at the river and the well-known ‘red bridge’, then walked along
the main street to check out the rambling antique shops and tiny giftware stores. While it was interesting enough, and I gained a new appreciation for a few art deco buildings… it’s not a town we would rush back to spend time in.
Kempton Having spent Easter Sunday stuffing our faces, we decided that we needed to do more walking, so we continued to explore the Southern Midlands.
We drove to Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary (a 380-hectare private conservation area) and chose the short 2.5km Cave Loop bushwalk from the five walks on offer. Apart from one car in the carpark, we seemed to have the whole place to ourselves.
The walk started with a beautiful climb up stone steps, passing a variety of sandstone caves of all sizes along the way. The landscape ranged from light to dense bush, and because it was a lovely sunny day, we were on high snake alert. Thankfully we didn’t see any. The only small issue we encountered was totally my fault… I scampered up a steep sandstone wall into a large-ish cave, but then couldn’t find a safe foothold on the slippery sandstone to get back down!
I would have normally made a dash for it and leaped/run down, but the cave ended on a narrow path that plunged into a ravine below. Thankfully Andrew hadn’t climbed into the cave with me, and so was able to stand on tiptoe to reach up and guide me down the slipperiest bits. Lesson learnt – sandstone walls aren’t as grippy as they look, and climbing them requires appropriately sturdy footwear!
The view from the top of the hill was of beautiful dense bush in every direction we looked. Even though we knew there were highways and townships not far from where we stood, it was easy to trick the mind that we were in the middle of nowhere. This illusion was only possible because our soundscape was filled with creaking trees, rustling leaves, and irate cockatoos yelling at each other. We were very content to just stand and be immersed in nature. We heard a lot of bird calls, but only saw sulphur crested cockatoos and robin red breasts up close. It was a lovely sign that the normally skittish robins were totally unfazed by us and even stayed still long enough for a few photos. 😊
Soon after the ‘slippery sandstone incident’ at Browns Caves, the track started meandering downhill and returned to the carpark along the very pretty Browns Cave Rivulet. It was a thoroughly enjoyable short walk, and we were both reminded how lucky we are to have such lovely bushland tracks so close to us.
With plans to come back soon and do the couple of longer walks, we drove to the town of Kempton for lunch. In all the years I’ve lived in Tasmania I’ve only visited Kempton twice before, which is all the more amazing as it’s just over the hill from us (as the crow flies)!
We settled into the gorgeous courtyard of the imposing Dysart House (a 19th century Inn) which is now home to the Old Kempton Distillery. After a tasting of their single malt whisky, a couple of gins and a lavender malt liqueur, we very much needed their delicious sliders, pulled pork and apple cider pie and hot chips to counter the alcohol. I was pleasantly surprised at the high quality of the food. 😊
Our post-lunch exploration of Kempton town was less exciting than I thought it would be. While there are
plenty of beautiful heritage properties that line the long main street, there weren’t any notable shops or cafes to visit.
After a while, we gave up and doubled back to the Old Kempton Distillery. We enjoyed our coffees in the sunny courtyard before the short drive back home. By all accounts, it was a very lovely day out and one I would happily repeat.
Ross A few Sundays ago, the day dawned bright and sunny – so we took ourselves off to Ross in the Northern Midlands. Ross is probably best known for its convict-built sandstone bridge over the Macquarie River. I have heard Ross compared to Richmond (which also has a convict-built sandstone bridge). However, I think the comparison is nonsensical, as they are two very different towns.
Our aim for the day was twofold – to check out the autumn colours in the historic little village, and to sort out which of the two bakeries in town had the best scallop pies and vanilla slices. Scallop pies are a very Tasmanian thing, and the title of ‘best scallop pie’ is a much sort after accolade among the Island’s bakeries. It’s an ongoing discussion
in all the Tasmanian travel forums I’m part of, but seeing as both Ross’ bakeries seem to have their equally loyal followers, I had to take one for the team and do some ‘research’ of my own. 😊
Sadly, Andrew isn’t a fan of either scallop pies or vanilla slices. He doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, and he thinks it’s blasphemous to ruin a delicate Tasmanian scallop by cooking it in a pie! However, he was willing to indulge my quest for the ‘best’ of two things I love very much.
We decided to get a scallop pie and vanilla slice from each bakery and undertake a very scientific direct comparison. The scallop pies were ok, but I really couldn’t figure out what the fuss was about – I’ve had far better pies in many other bakeries in Hobart and around the State. It was difficult to compare and rate them though, as the Village Bakery had the better pastry, but Bakery 31 had a much better filling. I’m partial to the mornay sauce version of the pie over the curried sauce version… so even if the Village Bakery pie’s filling was tasty, the mountain of
Keen’s curry powder in it was never going to be a winner for me.
In the vanilla slice stakes, the Village Bakery was the absolute champion. They truly deserve their notoriety for their very delicious version – luscious custard, perfect puffy pastry without even a hint of a soggy bottom, and well-balanced sweetness with an icing sugar topping. The vanilla slice from Bakery 31 was the typical Australian corner shop ‘snot block’ variety with stodgy custard, blonde pastry and a thick slab of very sweet fondant. But even though it didn’t stack up against its competitor, I have to quietly admit that I still kinda enjoyed it. 😊
On a side note, it wasn’t until I posted about these vanilla slices on Facebook that I became aware that ‘snot block’ is apparently NOT a term used in Tasmania. SO I did some internet research and found out that it’s only a popular term of endearment in Victoria (where I’m from) and a few other States… but it’s definitely not a term used in these parts, and it was met with much laughter and disgust. 😄
When we planned the day trip to Ross, we had been looking
forward to a quiet walk around the main streets of the tranquil village – but unfortunately, we had visited on the day of the annual vintage and classic car show! The normally sedate town was packed to the rafters. We managed to make the best of the situation despite the noisy cars and multitude of people, but it really wasn’t the day we had hoped we’d have. Although I should note that even though the resulting long queues for everything was an annoyance to us, it was a day of significant and welcome trade for the local businesses.
Thankfully there were parts of the river and smaller side streets that were still lovely and quiet, and it was here that we found the local duck and human populations taking refuge from the mayhem. Away from the crowds, we enjoyed a serene riverside walk bathed in the glow of gorgeous autumn colours, and in the adorable company of the resident ducks. The ducks in this part of the Macquarie River are thankfully protected, and this has made them quite docile and friendly. One little duck swam along with us while we walked on the riverbank, even crossing the river and
swimming back with us on our walk back along the opposite bank. Unfortunately though, the ducks displayed behaviour that suggested the humans in the nearby caravan park have been feeding them. That really annoys me 😞
After the car show crowds dissipated in the afternoon, we managed to walk around the main street a bit more, and even browsed our favourite old antique shop. It’s a rambling multi-room affair where you take your life into your hands walking along shelves stacked to the ceiling; but it’s the sort of place I could spend hours looking for treasures. We decided to adopt a cute little salt glaze Bendigo Pottery pitcher to remember the lovely day we’d had.
It's a big call, but as far as beautiful old towns go, I’d say Ross is the most picturesque in the Midlands – especially when the town’s elm trees have their striking autumn coats on. 😊
See you on our next Tassie adventure!
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Chris L.
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Seasons
How marvellous to see a place in its different seasonal colours. Tasmania is the lucky island.