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Published: June 10th 2012
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Breakfast at Lost Farm
Looking down on the 15th We got to play the original Barnbougle course today – the Dunes. It opened in 2005, while Lost Farm opened in 2010, and they are, obviously, very similar, even though the owner used two different golf architects. Loved them both, they are a real destination, just a pity they are so expensive from NZ.
The dining room, lounge and rooms at Lost Farm are better than at the Dunes, due to being placed on top of the highest sandhill around.
On Thursday 7
th we left Barnbougle (Bridport) and came east, then south to Coles Bay where we had 2 nights at a lovely B&B. The countryside is much hillier than we have been used to, and the land is basically only cultivated in the valleys. The roads were quite narrow and winding, so progress was slow, and Don’s arms got tired from wheel-turning. The land doesn’t look that good and the farmhouses, though neat & tidy are mostly quite old and small. There wasn’t much in the way of towns in the inland sector, except Scottsdale where they dairy and grow potatoes.
There is a small settlement called Legerwood, formerly Ringarooma, which was well worth the (small) detour.
Lost Farm
Frost before we teed off. In 1918 the town planted nine memorial trees for the soldiers who died in WW1. In 2001 all the trees were condemned and in 2004 all the stumps were carved into likenesses of each soldier. (not a good description – see the photo). They are great and quite moving as each tree has a plaque with the life of each serviceman.
Further along is the town of Derby, where they found tin in 1874. They mined this successfully until 1929, when the dam used for water storage for the mining burst during heavy rain and flooded the mine and a lot of the town. They drained the mine and restarted, but finally closed five years later. The population peaked at 3,000 in the 1800’s, but is now less than 300.
Near the east coast, in another small valley we came to Pyegana, where they make very good cheese. They also run the Holy Cow Café, so we both had Cheese on Toast here! Pyegana is aboriginal for Two Rivers, or in Maori – Ruawai.
We arrived on the east coast at St Helens, which is about 250km by road from Hobart. The whole coast is a succession
Legerwood trees
Quite outstanding of lovely east facing beaches with small to medium settlements. Life seems slow, partly caused by the roads which dictate a reasonable pace.
Our B&B, Sheoaks run by Margaret and Alan, is next door to the Freycinet National Park, home of the famous Wineglass Bay, amongst other features. We took a flight over the park and surrounding islands which was wonderful. Later, to try and control our expanding waistlines we climbed a (high) saddle where we could look down on the bay. We didn’t fancy the extra 300 steps promised to get to the bay itself, as it’s too cold to go for a swim. Don had previously seen the Freycinet Peninsula from offshore during the Sydney-Hobart Race – in 1965. He couldn’t remember much of it!
On Friday we carried on our winding way and arrived in Hobart, where we did a deal with the Old Woolstore Hotel. This is near new hotel partly constructed within an old Woolstore. Its great because we are near the centre of town and the dock area.
The Salamanca Market was still on, so rushed over there. Signs of the climate – we bought a hat each and Don 3
Legerwood
One of the impressive carvings pairs of socks. We then went for a drive further to the south west to Woodbridge and Huonville. We had a coffee at Woodbridge in the new hotel built right on the water. The old one was burnt down in 2003. The new one is the 4
th on this site. This area is even hillier that the east coast, but appears much more fertile. Huonville used to be the apple capital of Tasmania, but basically shut down when UK joined the EEC as they lost all the markets for fruit and jams. However, they still grow some apples, so we didn’t mention we are from NZ.
On Sunday morning we tried to go to MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) but all the buses and ferries were booked out (!) so went on a harbour cruise instead. On this we learned: Tasmania has about 500,000 people, of which 200,000 live in Hobart. Launceston has over 100,000, so 3 out of every 5 live in these two towns. The State Government is a coalition of Labor and the Greens, same as the Federal Parliament. The Greens are against everything, so the state is stagnating. All the young are leaving
and the only growth industry is retirement homes, but they can’t staff them. The Greens have shut down the timber milling and processing almost entirely, so the State gets no revenue from timber. There is a zinc plant, but it now buys its power from Victoria via a Bass Strait cable, so Tasmania is now trying to sell its (clean green) hydro power to Victoria via the same cable. Understand that – no – neither did we. Anyway tourism is down 40% on last year, so no wonder the boat’s commentator was depressed.
On our harbour trip we went under the Tasman Bridge which spans the Derwent River. The bridge was built in 1964, and in 1975 a bulk carrier ship carrying 10,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate ore hit two of the piers, which caused 120m of the bridge to collapse taking four cars and 5 people with it. 7 of the crew on the ship were also killed and the ship sank. It took 2½ years to rebuild and they put it back almost exactly as before. As the ship missed the main spans entirely, they have left it there, with bits of the bridge on top of
Freycinet
Flying up sun it, 10m underwater. Now, because the experts believe there is a 30% chance of another strike, all traffic on the bridge is stopped as any large ship goes underneath!
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P+D
10 June 2012
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George Marquis
non-member comment
Love tassie
Hey d&p You have seen some of tassies awesome views. I want to go back and see it again. Also love the detail that you research for each destination. Hope to catch you again as you head to gippsland the flooding should have receded by then. Looking forward to your blog from gippsland.