Tasmania
After two cancellations over two years (and no airline refunds) we finally touched down at Hobart
Day 1 December 6 .
We had long ago preordered a small Avis hire car, but as they’d ignored my request I was only offered a humongous RAV 4 ‘upgrade’ . Very kind but frighteningly unsuitable for narrow steep roads and we had to return the next day to get the Corolla we had ordered. Annoying.
We stayed at a downtown Georgian era private hotel, The Astor. Excellent in every way except car parking. It did however, have some very strange photos in the lounge room, of guests arriving !!!
We explored the docks area and ate at a foreshore Italian restaurant.
A cruise ship ,The Pacific Explorer was in dock.
Day 2
We drove up Mount Wellington for an extraordinary view over well, everything as far as you can see. The atmosphere and vegetation is alpine and like the Snowies, which surprised me, but was reassuringly familiar.
In the afternoon we visited the museum and art gallery and saw a very engaging display of the Sub Antarctic region and in particular Macquarie Island which is a fascinating Australian research base . The museum displays were very well presented.
In the evening we explored the illuminated streets of Hobart and really liked it.It's a very 'homely' city and the second oldest in Australia, I'm told.
No familiar store names, no McDonalds that we could see and many old interesting buildings.There are, however, huge traffic problems in the day, with congestion.
We ate at a very classy restaurant in the hotel building , the Astor Grill.
Day 3
A long drive to Queenstown via windy steep roads and great scenery.
Road surfaces everywhere generally modern and in excellent condition, quite a surprise. On the way we crossed Derwent Bridge and further on saw a spectacular waterfall, the Nelson Falls .
Queenstown is utterly different with large open bare hillsides of white/pinkish rock (chalcopyrites) rich in copper and exploited for export via port of Strahan.
Accomodation at the NT property of Penghana. was ‘unreal’ .
Originally the official home for the GM’s of the Lyell mining company, it is Stately and the current B & B lessees provide truly Stately service. It has to be experienced, it almost defies description. A great view from our window
Day 4
We had pre-booked seats on the historic Mountain Wilderness Railway running just the red and yellow map sections, towards Strahan- originally constructed for the mine products.
It includes a rack and pinion stretch for the inclines (shown yellow). We were served very nice meals. Mary on the footplate!
In the afternoon we ventured into Strahan and were lucky to get seats for the long running outdoor performance of ‘The Ship that Never was’, including much audience participation.
It retells the true story of piracy of an unfinished ship by deported criminals from England, who sailed it to Chile before returning to Australia to be arrested again. They got out of a heavy prison sentence by some ingenious reasoning that was accepted by the judge.
It finished at 7.40pm, far too late for restaurants, so we got pizza bits from a general store! A great day
Day 5
After a sumptuous cooked breakfast
we set off for a cabin at Cradle Mountain Inn in the town of Moina. We had been recommended to stop at Tullah for coffee where we found a garden by the river and a human sized chess set--so we had a game.
Realising the weather the next day might be wet, we immediately set off for Cradle Mountain NP and bought 2 day tickets and started the Lake Dove walk. It is now fully boarded, so that even long-laquered, fingernailed young ladies wearing inappropriate footwear and designer puffer coats shaped like big fly wings and carrying Gucci handbags , were on the trail!
Our evening meal; consisted of a small bought lasagne that we microwaved, there being no eateries open or nearby.
Day 5
We returned to CM, in the promised rain, and took the shuttle to a lower station and did a couple of shorter walks in rainforest and other habitats, which were all interesting and several unique to the area.
That evening we drove to a small town of Sheffield . The town is decorated with many good murals depicting country life in the early days of farming development.
There was unreliable 4G and no internet coverage at all and we could only complete the day Wordle puzzle next to a Telstra phone box, which all have cabled internet.
The Chinese restaurant was very ordinary so we were astonished to see that table service was provided by a robot -Bella! A lady serving said Bella gave her more time for her to deal with take-away orders.
Day 6
We drove via a back route to Ross (avoiding the highway) and managed to find the narcotic plant that I used to run in Kurnell and which was transferred to John and Johnson in Tasmania,at Westbury, where the source poppies are grown. It is called Tasmanian Alkaloids. For security reasons no visitors are allowed (as was the case when at Kurnell) but the MD met me in the foyer and we had a an interesting chat.
He apologised that there wasn't much he could give me as a souvenir but gave me their 2023 calendar!
At Ross we checked into one of a group of neatly arranged brickbuilt units and explored a little.
There were no open eateries at all but a local cafe was just preparing the last of some takeaway meals (at 4.30pm!) so we bought one and took it back.
Ross is enchanting . Claiming to be the best original town in Tasmania it has mostly sandstone buildings and houses and is very well maintained. The residents are clearly proud of their town. Mary took a lovely evening riverside pic.
Day 7
We drove to Hobart but again eschewed the highway and drove to the coast road for a scenic drive back the Astor Hotel. We passed through the coastal town of Tribunna where we ate lunch.
We visited the Royal Botanic gardens , which is not as large as we expected but was still very interesting and included a sub antarctic building as well a section for French Explorers and a large pond fountain sculpture symbolising the naming of the Huon Pine after a French explorer who used that wood to repair their ship.
It was raining heavily in the evening so we again ate in the (very classy and expensive ) Astor Grill.
We had booked the hotel for the two stays by phone.They had not asked for any prepayment or card details or address and when we left after the first two nights, said that it wasn't worth paying yet as we were coming back. The husband explained that they had 100% success with people coming back who had promised to! Remarkable.
So we never provided any personal information at all and just paid by ApplePay on leaving. They were very charming just like the Penghana people, who also did not want any personal info or prepayment at all. Very trusting and it creates a really good 'vibe' with guests.
Day 8
To airport, car return and a delayed flight. There were only two flight cancellations on the departure board--both Qantas.
