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!