Huon Valley
Trip Start
May 01, 2008
1
23
43
Trip End
Jun 24, 2009
Hobart,
Tasmania,
Australia
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sarah was thrilled to try a number of different pinot noirs which this winery is famous for. (I was driving, so only had a couple of sips and sniffs!) Apparently this restaurant has won "Best Restaurant at the Tas. tourism awards a number of times. We also loved the Hartz View winery which you have to access by a dirt road. The view to the Hartz Mountains once you get there is worth it
Dancing at Rosny Park
! They also have accommodation here and I think this would be a great place to stay.Tassie has really become a gourmet foodies paradise and this time of year is the best if you like berries and cherries and apples! I have never tasted such plump delicious cherries, and the berries come in all varieties, many I have never heard of before like Loughton berries and Sylvan berries. Apparently Tasmania produces wasabi for Japan; truffles for France; ginseng for Asia; tulips for Holland and smoked Atlantic salmon for everyone! We discovered a fabulous new cheese place called Wicked Cheese where the lady gave us a taste of every variety they make and we had no trouble justifying a big spend up. They make a wonderful yoghurt cheese which comes in small round balls (ping pong size) floating in a jar of olive oil and different flavours. I bought the lemon, cracked pepper, kaffir lime leaves and garlic one. You may think us mad but this was an alternative to the Chocolate Factory tours which we were told no longer operate and are just a video and not worth going to. They are close to each other and if you really need the chocolate fix can do both on the same day.
Friday was H's birthday so we stayed close so we could have lunch with him. Sarah was keen to see the yachts at Sandy Bay and Bellerive marinas
Floral lady Bird
. She and the kids have all fallen in love with Hobart as it seems about half the houses have water views, and the population of 250,000 must almost all have access to their own or a friend's yacht. We were also interested to see "The Steve Irwin' the Greenpeace boat, tied up to the dock and had a chat with some of the crew who had been out trying to stop the Japanese whalers. Over at the botanical Gardens, nestled below Mt Wellington, we just missed the beginning of a play of Alice in Wonderland being performed amongst the flowers, but had a wander over to "Pete's veggie patch" and through the marvelous conservatory and cactus house. The trees in this garden are amazingly varied and huge. This is one of Australia's oldest Botanical Gardens and has many trees over 100 years old.We also checked out the oldest operating bridge in Australia at Richmond, but more importantly, the best lolly shop we have ever seen. They had jar upon jar of different sweets lined up and you can just go "I'll have one of those and one of those......" They even had huge freckles in the shape of letters, so you can spell your name out in chocolate freckles.
That evening while Sarah was preparing H's birthday dinner (his choice) of Lancashire Hotpot, Jade and I drove over to Ferntree at the base of Mt Wellington, where my niece Linda had come to live. She only arrived last week from London and didn't have a car yet. We met her partner Christopher who was not feeling well as he was recovering from the flu, and Linda showed us over the wonderful old house he has bought on 8 acres at the foot of Mt Wellington, with fantastic views down the valley, and lots of little wallabies (Pademelons and Potoroos I think) and BIG rabbits running around, and a few pet sheep! This place was once the Strawberry Hills Tea Rooms where people stopped on their way up the mountain, and has the bones of some wonderful gardens, and a convict built shed in the back. Linda came back with us for dinner and we all had a dance and chat and shivered on the outdoor balcony enjoying the view too much to go inside!
