Adina Place City View Launceston

Having done so much the day before, we compensated for it by sleeping in this morning. Launceston was up and enjoying the sunlight before we emerged.<br><br>We cruised on our bikes through the streets intending to head into the city and follow the heritage trail, but noticed a sign for the Launceston farmers market. It was quite small (I think its newly established) but it had a nice mix of fresh vegies from Scottsdale, preserves, organic walnuts from the Tamar valley and some ...

... Pepkin Pinot Noir &#8211; again simple fruit driven early drinker, cherry all the way<br><br>2007 Pinot Noir &#8211; More intense cherry nose, 12 months French Oak, good balance, good acidity, more cherry on palette and a little sage, not long<br><br>2005 Zadar Pinot Noir &#8211; 12 months French Oak and bottle aging, savoury nose, rich rounded integrated, raspberry fruit, some length<br><br>2006 Cabernet Sauvignon &#8211; Green Pepper ...

... before they closed, back to the Waratah for beers, cheese and wine before out again to dinner. We ate at the Clarion Hotel down beside Boags Brewery, one of the only restaurants (apart from pubs) that weren&#8217;t booked out for dinner. We ate well, the food was very good and very well priced, great service and polite staff, plus the venue was also historic, which made for more discussion about how difficult life was for the early settlers.

... all $20..haha). It was a gorgeous day and lovely to get dressed up for a change as i rarely have an excuse to do that. It's tough to be a fancy lady though...there's alot going on. It was ever-so-windy, so there was a constant holding of the hat, holding of the drink of course, holding of the wee, fancy purse that constantly popped open...luckily i wasn't wearing ...

Continuing along with the epiphanies we have been having, Paul and I have come to another conclusion: American beer is really bad. I mean, Americans have no idea how good beer is outside of the United States. Content to grit our teeth, close our eyes and choke down watery Bud and Miller products, we just don't realize that one can actually like the taste of beer. Since coming to Australia, Paul and I have taken to sampling ...

... flash to see the wildlife. We ended up seeing kangaroos, quolls (kind of a cross between a cat and a squirrel) and wombats. It rained the whole time and it was chilly but none of us minded because we were having so much fun. I also surprised myself by swinging between the trees with Hollybank Treetops Adventures. Yes, I and most of the other team members were crazy enough to strap on harness equipment ...

... view of Maingon Bay and Remarkable Cave. The afternoon was spent at the Port Arthur penal colony. This was a place that was intended to reform convicts who were repeat offenders of crimes such as theft of clothing or food. The tried to reform them with hard work and religion. Convicts were punished with public floggings and when they realized that wasn't working they thought isolation would be the next logical strategy. Needless to say, the ...

... find your number on a mailbox door which you opened up to read about your convict. This was an interactive way to understand convict skills and why they were sentenced to Port Arthur (the most serious and strictest prison in Australia). I had #9 who was William White. I was sent to Port Arthur for attempting the crime of buggery with my good ole pal John Norris. And I would like you to note that I went on Wikipedia to look up "buggery" and it said it was very closely ...

... with some trepidation since it swings when you walk on it, but it was lots of fun and we got some good pics (again, will try to upload some soon!). We also spotted some yellow tailed black cockatoos feeding in a tree. My Mum, being the twitcher that she is, had her binoculars with her so we were able to get some really good views of them. On the way back into town we stopped at the Queen Victoria Museum &amp; Art Gallery where we learnt more about the ...

... we made visiting them a compulsory activity during our weekend here. After the capital, it was back to nature, with some hiking and kayaking around the beautiful west of Tasmania. There is some interesting scenery, with many virgin forests which contain the world's tallest flowering plants (the Swamp Gum), which grow to over 100 metres, and the world's tallest hardwood trees (the eucalyptus regnans). Later, we travel to towards the coast, and ...