Foodie Paradise

Tasmania's best hot chocolate

Tulips by the roadside

First Anvers chocolate - on Spirit of Tasmania last night

Well, we survived "the crossing" last night, despite 6.5 metre waves in the Tasman.  The Spirit of Tasmania takes a couple of hours to clear Port Phillip Bay, so by the time the Roosters had beaten the Knights, we were heading for our cabin.  Just as Ray climbed into his bunk the ship hit the first waves, but none of the rocking and rolling kept us from sleep.  In fact, it was probably the best sleep of the trip so far, perhaps aided by the fact that there was someone else in charge of the ship, the bunks were clean and comfortable, and there was little we could do, even if there did happen to be an emergency!  At least we were pretty sure that the captain of the Spirit of Tasmania was a few rungs above the captain of the Costa Concordia!

The ship arrived at Devonport around 6.45am and we were fortunate to be almost at the head of the queue to drive off.  That still entailed being inspected yet again by Quarantine to make sure we weren't harbouring any hidden fruit or vegetables, all of which must be ditched on the Victoria side of the Tasman to save bringing in any "foreign" germs or diseases.  On complaining to the young quarantine worker who inspected our van, that we were bereft of food, and that there were no markets open locally, she offered the information that House of Anvers was open for breakfast, and only 6km down the road!  Anvers Chocolates being our very favourite of favourites, we headed down the highway in light rain and fog, to be first to arrive in the car park, and have our pick of the tables - next to the fire of course - and we feasted on Eggs Benedict and Hot Chocolate (see picture above).  Two delicious breakfasts consumed and a box of Anvers Truffles to take with us, and we headed west towards Stanley.  Thought bubble - how on earth could I have imagined that 1 box of truffles would last until we get back to Anvers again???

Anyway, we continued west to Burnie, which has a wonderful Makers Market within its Information office, so we browsed a while, bought Favourite Daughter's Second Daughter's birthday present, then continued on to Boat Harbour Beach, where we are now parked, watching the tide coming into the small back bay, and contemplating the evening's entertainment at the local Surf Club.  I shouldn't admit it, after such a sumptuous breakfast, but we lunched at the Surf Club as well, with wonderful chowder for Monsieur and salt and pepper squid (with salad?) for me.  Prettiest Daughter commented privately that she thought the picture of The Fat Seagull restaurant in Cowes should actually be changed to The Fat Nomads, and if things don't change soon, she could well be right!

To show some solidarity with the local community, and to ensure that no-one asks us to leave, Ray bought raffle tickets at the Surf Club before lunch.  We're really hoping that we don't win though - the prize is a wheelbarrow full of gardening items, hose, plants, and a HUGE pumpkin!  We're heading over there again later this afternoon for a quiet drink as there will be a local band playing (solidarity again) - Ray did ask whether the band played music suitable for old people, expecting it perhaps to be Heavy Metal - but they told us that it's more Hillbilly - the Deadwood band!  Stay tuned!

We're delighted to be back in Tassie once again, even if the weather is yet to turn its head towards summer.  We'll probably stay here another day or so, then head for Stanley.  "Head for" just means that we'll end up there eventually - who knows what might happen along the way.

It's tulip season down here, but we bypassed the Wynyard Tulip Farm this morning due to pouring rain.    It was recommended that we also take the coast road from Cape Tabletop, but again, you could hardly see a car's length in front of the car, so we gave that one a miss.  The tulips will still be out in a month's time so we may have better weather to view them on the way back.  However, as you will see from one of the pictures, the tulips are also out in other places, so Ray took a photo on his iPhone of the lovely red ones.  The field next door was all salmon coloured, but not quite out.  Hopefully we'll see lots more along the way.

This was going to be a short report on 24 hours, but as usual it "just grew".  Hope you are all having wonderful weather wherever you are.

Sally and Ray

And btw Favourite Daughter, although we haven't yet seen wombats, wabbits or penguins, I just saw a pademelon hop across the children's park opposite!

Wabbits not Wombats

Our cosy spot right on the beach at Cowes

View from our kitchen sink

Cowes jetty from the Esplanade

Monday's lunch

Tuesday's Ice cream

Tuesday's fish and chips

 

Wednesday's lamb shanks

Text by Sally
Photos and captions by Ray

Wabbits abound in this campsite, set on the edge of a long beach just west of Cowes, looking north to the Victorian mainland.  No wombats, sadly, and we haven't yet been able to pat a wabbit, though I'm sure if Favourite Daughter were here, she would have caught one by now!  The owners of the Park spend a goodly amount of their time filling in wabbit holes, of which there are hundreds.  Fill them in and a hundred more appear overnight.

We've had 3 glorious sunshiny days in our week here, where we've been able to go biking to Ventnor and Rhyll, and have discovered that the walk from our campsite to Cowes via the beach is a lot faster than the uninteresting road trip.  It's about a 15 minute walk by road, a few minutes only by bike, but we're back to overcast skies and intermittent rain so the bikes remain on the back of the van, under cover.

The photos above should have included several more local restaurants, especially The Foreshore Restaurant at Rhyll, and Mad Cowes excellent coffee.  Sadly though, Harry's Crayfish Restaurant is off our list because there won't be any fresh crays until November.  Just another example of bad planning/timing!  However, Tassie is known for its crayfish so by the time we reach the centre of crayfishing at Stanley, we should be right in the season.

I wanted to show you a photo of the beach as it is today, to compare it with Photo No. 2, but the camera just didn't capture the overall grey-ness of the scene, with white caps rolling down the bay, spray shooting off the top of small waves, and all the trees around us bent double with the force of the wind.  We took down our outside awnings yesterday, luckily, as it rained hard all night and we are now rocking and rolling in almost gale force winds.  However, with four seasons in one day, we still expect to be able to walk to Cowes about lunchtime to further pursue our quest to eat in every one of the local establishments!

Victorians are a hardy bunch; there are several dozen families camped here in tents and caravans, all with at least 4 children and 40 bikes and not only do the children run and play outside in the wind and the rain, they even go swimming!  I haven't yet seen anyone in the water today but give it time!

We're due to leave here Saturday morning for the Spirit of Tasmania Saturday evening crossing to Devenport.  It's about a 3 hour trip to the ferry terminal, so we may first investigate the rest of the island which we haven't been able to see by bike, early Saturday morning.  We did stop off at the Chocolate Factory at Newhaven on our way here last week, but it didn't quite come up to the standard of the Anvers Chocolate House in Tassie, so we'll save our chocolate stomachs until we get there.  The chocolate factory is also on the list of "things to do" by the incoming buses full of tourists, so I didn't feel that they missed out on our dollars.  (Sorry Hannah, it wasn't there when you and I visited Phillip Island).

The Phillip Island circuit which hosts the motorcycle races every year (soon I think) is not far away, as the crow flies, so last weekend we heard faint noises of a Grand Prix motor race in the distance.  You'd have to be very careful buying a house on Phillip Island - heaven forbid that you could hear any of the motor racing.  Buying close to the Penguin Parade at Nobbies wouldn't be so bad, but the tourist buses which come from Melbourne every day have grown exponentially and the roads home at night must be a nightmare.

It's been an interesting and relaxing week here, but we won't be sorry to be on the road again on Saturday.  Keep your fingers, and toes as well, crossed for an easy crossing of the Tasman Saturday night.

Tasmania forbids importation of all fruit and vegetables, along with a long list of "others" so our first task Sunday morning will be to find a supermarket in Devenport so that we can eat again.  Heaven forbid that we should go without food for a few hours!!!

Sally and Ray xx

Cowes not Cows

Panorama of Picnic Bay and Whisky Bay, Wilson's Prom

Squeaky Beach, Wilson's Prom

Today's view from our back window - Cowes Beach

The antidote to picture No. 3  - note the open fire!

Right, we've had our fill of wombats, but so far haven't sighted the wished-for Gang-Gang Cockatoo.  The fauna at Wilson's Promontory was unbelievably tame, with the beautiful red and blue rosellas and Little Wattle birds hopping around us, even without the inducement of food.  The wombats were so tame that, not only did I get nibbled by one, but I managed to pat one, and it didn't even lift its head from eating the grass!

Our next couple of overnights, once we left Wilson's Prom, were spent in a beautiful, deserted campsite (deserted at this time of year, but no doubt overfull at Christmas) on the edge of Wilson's Prom National Park, at a place called Shallow Inlet, near Yanackie.  We were right by a beach walkway, and surrounded by Superb Blue Wrens and more wombat holes than you could count - but nary a wombat did we see there.  There was a sign asking campers to contact the Ranger to pay the $10/night, but it turned out that charges are only incurred between November and April, so we had free run of an extensive camp, surrounded by bush, complete with water and toilets, all for nothing!  Our last night we  were a little concerned to hear a car nearby, long after dark, but as we had already pulled up the drawbridge and lowered the blinds, we didn't trouble to look.  The next morning, after a night of rain, we discovered an old Ford Falcon station wagon with 2 bedraggled young backpackers who had slept in the back of the car.  I guess they saw our van, thought that there was safety in numbers, and camped nearby.  Shades of our time on the boat when you could always count on the second boat in the bay deciding that where you were anchored must be perfect, and anchoring on top of you!!!

The countryside in this area of the eastern Gippsland is really beautiful, with rolling emerald-green hills as far as the eye can see, dotted with black and white cows, and some of the most beautiful gardens we've seen, in the various towns we've passed through on our way to Phillip Island.  Leongatha, in particular, is awash with tulips of all colours, even down the centre of the main street.

Now here we are, at Cowes Caravan Park, Phillip Island, just 15 minutes walk to the centre of Cowes, with a plethora of restaurants and coffee shops, and here we stay until 28th September.  The weather is slated to be mostly showery for the next week, so we decided that we would indulge once again in a little R&R (sorry H!), and with a beach at our back doorstep for morning walks, and bike paths all over the island, we should be able to recharge the batteries before tackling Tassie.

I think Ray has his eye on one of the restaurants in town which is offering fresh-caught Lobster on the menu.  We'll possibly need more than one walk to counteract the effects of that lunch!

Another kind of Tory - Wilson's Promontory

Cheeky Blue-cheeked rosellas everywhere.

Wombat in broad daylight

Pacific Gull

Norman Beach

Twenty six days to go till we board the Spirit of Tasmania, so here we are meandering around Victoria, filling in time.  We arrived at Tidal River, Wilson's Promontory today and have a lovely secluded campsite just over the sandhill from Norman's Beach, which will provide us with lots of good walking over the next few days.  The birds here are wonderful; rosellas, cockatoos, corellas, Pacific Gulls (much bigger than a normal gull), wrens and, if we're lucky, Gang Gang cockatoos.  We've also seen at least 4 wombats this afternoon, ambling around the bush and over the roads.  It's no wonder they are skittled so easily; they're very slow!  We were lucky enough to see a couple of emus on the way in, and I have no doubt that there will be kangaroos around the campsite tonight.

Wilson's Promontory National Park consists of 50,460 hectares, which includes pristine beaches, rain forests. mountains and rugged offshore islands.  The Prom is the southernmost tip of the Australian mainland.

We spent the last few days in Melbourne, having some new air springs fitted to the van.  We were recommended to Airride in Bayswater and couldn't have been happier with the work they did for us.  They certainly went the extra mile to make sure that their work was done to a high standard, and we're now on our way, a little higher than before, and very happy.

We took the train in to Melbourne one day and then a tram out to St Kilda (Acland Street) to sample the wonderful European bakeries there.  Each time we indulge, we stay "It's the last" but it never is!  The cakes have to be seen to be believed - I don't think I've ever seen so many beautiful cake shops in one street before (though come to think of it, there were some in Paris I could name...)

After 6 weeks away, crunch time had arrived.  It's boat time all over again - the eternal quest for a good hairdresser!  Ray is fortunate to have hair clippers which he can use any time, any where, but I was starting to look like a shaggy dog!  While in the past I may have also resorted to a No. 3 all over, I could also hide away on the boat until my hair grew longer.  Being more than a little desperate, I let Ray walk back to the van after our Melbourne visit while I trawled the Bayswater shopping strip.  Luck was with me - directly opposite the station was a training salon, and the proprietor offered to cut my hair because all the apprentices were on tea break!  I don't know whether this was good or bad, but I came away looking less like an Old English Sheepdog and more like a Corgi (and all for the pensioner price of $8.50!)

We thought that we'd put away the winter clothes for good and all, but Wilson's Prom is cold and windy, even if the sun is out.  There are lots of lovely walks, which we're looking forward to trying over the next few days.  School holidays start in Victoria in 2 weeks, so we've arrived at the right time.  There's no-one within coo-ee of our campsite; good for peace and quiet but not so good socially!

That's all for now folks - more when we've done all our walks here.  Keep your fingers crossed that we see a Gang Gang; oh and Ray says this place isn't perfect - there's no TV reception.  Rummykub here we come!

Canberra Addendum

How could I have forgotten one of the most interesting visits of the day?  I think I was feeling guilty about the amount of time between blogs, so I hastily wrote the Canberra blog this afternoon, and posted it without proper editing.

I left out our fantastically interesting visit to the High Court today.  We kept getting tantalising glimpses of the High Court building on our bus rides, but never a complete view, so on our bike ride today, we cycled around the building, ending up riding up a gentle slope to the entrance, beside a gently bubbling WA speckled granite water feature which runs the full length of the entry ramp.  You may remember the film "The Castle" in which the family ended up at the High Court defending their home against a land grab (if you haven't, then get it on DVD as soon as possible).

It's such an imposing building; 40 metres tall and constructed mainly of concrete and glass, with the Great Hall 7 stories high. Construction began in 1975 and was completed in 1980, at a total cost of $46.5 million.   The imposing courtrooms are lined with different Australian woods, grooved to improve the acoustics.  It's so hard to convey the beauty of the building, especially inside, with its warm woods, beautiful tapestries and etchings.  Some of the timbers used in the 3 courtrooms are red tulip oak, jarrah, blackwood and coachwood.  The flooring is either Aurisina marble, concrete or carpet.  The public hall features a mural by Jan Senbergs, doors designed by Les Kossatz and George Baldessin and a wax mural by B. Maddock, all worth the visit.

We cycled to the entrance, but with no bike locks, Ray opted to stay outside while I went in and had a look.  There was a Court Guide inside who was keen to show me around, but when I explained about the bike situation he arranged for the security guard at the entrance to keep an eye on them, so Ray joined me for a personal and very interesting talk about the High Court, the Constitution and our judicial system.  Our Guide, Cedric, a gentle and intelligent man, made the whole system come alive for us both, and when I dropped back to thank him, after having also visited the upstairs courts, he presented me with his personal (pocket) copy of the Constitution.  It was a generous and thoughtful gesture and really made our visit memorable.

xx

Six days in Canberra, in one short blog!

Australia's newest Speaker

Acacia pycnantha - Australia's floral emblem

Riding beside Lake Burley Griffin

On the right side of the High Court benches

Actually, the title sounds a bit disparaging, and it shouldn’t, as we’ve had a great time here over the past 6 days.  There are only 2 caravan parks around Canberra, and we chose the one at Fyshwick simply because it has public transport to the city past the door every 15 minutes.  It is possible to buy an all-day ticket on the buses for $4, so $8 for the two of us to travel around Canberra all day.  There’s also a free bus, the Centenary Loop, which travels every 30 minutes from the City around to the major tourist sites, dropping off at the War Memorial, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Questacon (Science Museum), National Library, Museum of Australian Democracy (in old Parliament House), Parliament House, National Museum of Australia, and the National Film and Sound Archive. 

We started on our first day with the National War Memorial, stopping first (of course) for coffee in the excellent café beside the Memorial.   I hate to admit it but it’s over 40 years since we last came to Canberra, and that was for the Flying Fifteen sailing championships in the 70s “when we were young”.  The Memorial is a marvellous and moving tribute to all of Australia’s soldiers, sailors and airmen and encompasses every theatre of war in which Australia has been involved.  As always, it’s impossible to see everything in one day, but being Canberra’s centenary year, there are lots of volunteers giving talks and showing visitors around.  We had a lovely young girl from the War Memorial discussing the history of Legacy, and it turned out that we were the only ones taking her up on her talk so we had a personal tour.

Day 2 saw us once again on the buses, this time stopping off at Parliament House.  We weren't there at the right time for a tour, but as we expected, the only people there were visitors like ourselves, the politicians having all repaired to their electorates for the last week's campaigning.  Much as I love the old Parliament House, the new one is truly magnificent.  We were able to see both the Senate and the House of Reps, the Great Hall, the beautiful courtyards, plus take a lift to the roof and walk around the grassy areas for what we were told is the best view of Canberra.  The marble entrance to Parliament House is really beautiful, and it's possible to understand, after a tour of the small, cramped, old Parliament House, why it was necessary to build the new one.  We walked down the hill to Old Parliament House and once again were treated to an (almost) personal tour of the building by a very knowledgeable guide.  It houses the Museum of Australian Democracy, which, very undemocratically, is not free.  However, this being election week, and also the 100th anniversary of Canberra, it was!  

Day 3 we elected to see the Botanic Gardens at Acton, just a short(ish) walk from the city, through the grounds of ANU.  We missed out, yet again, by one day.  September 1st was Wattle Day and of course we visited on the 2nd!  However, that made no difference and we joined a volunteer who showed a group of us around the gardens, specifically concentrating on the different types of wattle, of which there are over 760.  The wattle in Ray's picture is the official Australian wattle, and a symbol of unity.  Wattle was unofficially accepted as the national floral emblem to mark Federation in 1901.  Wattle Day (1st September) was introduced in 1913 by an association called the Wattle Day League, and in 1912 the Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher, suggested that the wattle be included as a decoration surrounding the Commonwealth Coat of Arms.  

Those of you who suffer from hay fever may also know that wattle is a powerful irritant, and I have suffered mightily since coming to Canberra.  However, I was assured at the Gardens that it wasn't wattle at all, but the local grasses, causing the hay fever.  I'll reserve judgement on that, and have a pharmacopoeia of drugs and sprays in the fridge to help me through.

Day 4 took us to the National Museum, a spectacular building on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.  Again, one day just doesn't cut it, as it houses a huge collection of Australiana and history.  It's good to see lots of schools taking their children (generally around the ages of 7-10) around the various Museums and Galleries here in Canberra.  I don't know how much they actually get out of their short visits but even if it inspires just a few from each group, that's a good thing.

Today we took bikes along the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, and to some of the other places not visited by the buses.  As you can see by the photo, all the flowering trees in Canberra are bursting forth, with white, delicate and bright pinks.  It's Floriade here in less than 2 weeks, but unfortunately the designated site is off limits at the moment so we just had to peer through the barricades to see what we could see.  One of the workmen directed us to a nearby hill where he said we could see most of the site, but it was a bit steep for the bikes (no, probably us) so we decided to make another visit here in the future at the right time of year; next time neither too early nor too late!

There's still 2 days to go before we leave, and Sunday there are good markets at the Old Bus Depot on the way into the city, so we shall pay a visit there before heading south.  Fyshwick Markets are open from Wednesday to Sunday, and they're on our bus route, so we've been able to buy wonderful fresh vegetables and fruit, plus lots of delish deli items there on our way home. 

I'm SO disappointed that we pre-polled in Dubbo.  We didn't know that we would be here in Canberra for the coming election, and voting at old Parliament House would have been a buzz.  We saw all the cardboard boxes and booths being taken in there a few days ago, ready for the hordes on Saturday.  I guess at least we'll be here for Election Night, but probably not anywhere interesting, just watching on the TV as we would if we were at home in Brisbane! 

Ciao.