We are back home & very happy to be here in Daylesford
after a wonderful 12 days in Tasmania, visiting places & seeing sights we
haven’t experienced before. Sadly, we had no Wi-Fi after Hobart, so I was
unable to send my usual Sunday morning Dispatch & I hope my regular early readers,
such as Jeff, Bronnie & Paul will forgive me.
When I left you on Sunday, 10th June, we were
heading out for a late breakfast in North Hobart & were lucky enough to
find Whisk & Co, a delightful café
serving such delights as Vietnamese omelette & corn fritters, with a wide variety
of teas & coffees as well.
Wes went off to find 200 ‘cousins’ who were being blessed
by a Bishop before sharing a lunch at the Brighton Hall. Here is what he put up
on Facebook about the 200-year reunion:
“Understanding who they were - from
about 10 convicts through 9 generations of a family tree that extended past the
edges of 3 walls of the Brighton Hall. Sheep stealers to Tassie
Premiers to. Acrobats & Jugglers, from the land to the coal barges to
writers, from all to a moment sharing the stories and the dreams of the next
generation. That was the McShane Clan Gathering today and I was so glad to be
there.”
Meanwhile, I walked from Glebe back into North Hobart to
see the film, The Bookshop, with
Emily Mortimer & Bill Nighy. I enjoyed & empathised with it very much
& found myself thinking back to our early days here in Daylesford, when not
everyone approved of Wes being our Mayor & weren’t afraid to say so.
The next morning, we were up bright & early to enjoy a
full day of eating & drinking on Bruny Island. We were picked up on Hobart
Pier by our guide, Michae,l & drove to Kettering where we boarded the ferry
to the Island. There were 15 of us on our little bus & that was just about
the perfect number.
We tasted far too much of everything – cheeses, oysters, muffins,
wine, local salmon lunch, chocolates & whisky/gin. It was a brilliant day
& we highly recommend this gourmet tour. Michael even dropped us off at Glebe Emporium, our accommodation,
afterwards.
Wes in front of the
beautiful rounds of cheese at our first stop & me eating a chocolate-coated
honeycomb for our Aunt, Jeff, who rejoices in the FB name of ‘Violet Crumble’.
As you know, I am not the chocoholic in our family – I am sure Wes would rather
it was me taking the photo & him eating the chocolate!
We left Hobart and headed to Strahan on Tuesday morning accompanied
by very heavy rain & even some snowfalls when we stopped at Cradle Mountain
for hot drinks. The roads were winding & slippery & we were very
pleased to finally arrive at our accommodation, The Stables. This was a quaint 2-storey place with insufficient lighting,
but a washing machine & dryer helped make up for that. Our hostess brought
us fresh scones shortly after we arrived & there was a small cheese platter
in the fridge.
Dinner that night was 5 minutes’ walk down the road at
Risby Cove, with a Sri Lankan chef. I tucked into her fish curry, which was
just as I remembered & Wes tackled lamb shanks. It was our 48th
Anniversary & we were delighted to add this celebration to the 47 that have
gone before.
The next morning was our 6-hour cruise on the Gordon River
into the Franklin, so we had an early night in preparation for a wet walk to
the pier in the morning. Unbeknown to us, this was the final cruise of the Lady
Jane Franklin II & all the staff & crew were very sad to farewell her.
Smiling faces as we
enjoy our Innocent Bystander Syrah & yummy meals
Wes had booked the best seats in the boat for our cruise
& as it was Winter & off-season, there were only 6 of us upstairs on
the Captain’s Deck, so we had excellent service & great views.
The commentary was fascinating & we learnt so much on
this trip. There were two stops – one to do a walk through the rainforest &
the other to visit Sarah Island &
hear about man’s inhumanity to man on this prison isle during the late 1800s.
Once again it was pouring rain in the morning, so we drove
to the nearby town of Zeehan & spent a couple of hours exploring their extremely
cold museum devoted to mining & all things pertaining to mines. We thought
our $20 entrance fee would have guaranteed the heaters would be turned on but
were out of luck. Here is my favourite exhibit.
The Railway Governor’s
Tiny Carriage for his exclusive use!
I’m going to stop writing now & finish the rest of our
trip in next Sunday’s Dispatch, as we still have a few more days to talk about
& some more good photos to share. Thanks to everyone who followed us on
Facebook with your encouraging comments & best wishes on our Anniversary.
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