We found a lovely self contained apartment on airbnb which just a walk away from Salamanca and Battery Point. The place was newly renovated, comfortably furnished and boasted a spectacular view of the water and their garden. Our hosts were great and helpfully pointed us in the direction of nearby spots of interest, particularly those of the culinary kind.
On our first day out with the car (which I thankfully didn't crash this trip) we drove down to Bruny Island to embark on a boat cruise south to see the magnificent rock formations and local wild life. Some of the sea caves that we saw on the tour were amazing though I think the trademark moment that the guides prepare for is a "thread the needle" manoeuvre between Monument Rock and the cliff side. Kinda impressive what you can do with four jet motors on a small boat.
Aside from interesting geology we were also treated to a close up view of a seal colony. The stench downwind was eye watering though we were told to consider ourselves fortunate that we weren't facing a group during mating season. Apparently that bouquet can be smelled for miles and miles, which is apparently also an attraction for sharks.
The other highlight of the tour was when the guides dropped a submarine mounted camera into the water to show us some of the fish under the boat. It was one of the calmest days of the year so the water was pristine and clear. We were expecting Tasmania to be fairly cold but the day we were on Bruny was actually the hottest of our stay at 30 degrees, so I think more than a few people were tempted to dive in and swim in the sea.
Our second day of driving had us heading north towards the little town of Ross, which is just south of Launceston. It was a great road to drive on with large dry plains on either side, which was quite different landscape to what we saw on Bruny Island the previous day. On the way we stopped in at Oatlands and checked out the Callington Mill, which if I remember the brochure correctly is one of the oldest working stone mills in the southern hemisphere. Not being a baker myself I can't speak for the flour that is produced but the sourdough loaf we bought from the bakery next to it was certainly yummy.
I must confess that our drive up to Ross wasn't entirely for the scenery. I can't quite remember where I heard about it initially, but I've been fascinated by the Tasmanian scallop pie for many years. Assuming that my love for baked crust and mollusks would be an easy and delicious match, I was quite insistent that we find a specimen of this seafood pastry during our holiday. Ross just happened to be the home of the Tasmanian Scallop Pie Company, so we thought it would be a fairly safe place to find a decent representation of the dish.
In fact, through the course of one week I ended up eating no less than five scallop pies from various bakeries and restaurants. This included both curried as well as creamy varieties and while I enjoyed all of them, there was only one venue where I had to go back for seconds. Let's just say that the drive to Ross was worth it.
Which is great news, because ironically it's now that I'm back in Brisbane doing research for this blog post that I've discovered that the Tasmanian Scallop Pie Company has retail outlets across the country. In fact the city with the most retail outlets is... Brisbane. Go figure.
The other exciting discovery we made was buying two wheels from the Bruny Island Cheese Company. We ended up eating them both for dinner at the apartment one night, along with Tasmanian smoked salmon, salami, apples from a farm that we passed and that sourdough we bought at the bakery in Oatland. Both cheeses were fantastic washed rinds and I thought they were quite different from what we usually pick up at cheeseries. The vine leaf wrapped Oen on the right is quite popular and had a lot of flavour, while the smaller wheel on the left was a sheep and cow milk blend that had a slightly more subtle body to it. Absolutely delicious and horrendously smelly.
Third day on the road was a long and windy drive through the Huon valley, south west of Hobart. Didn't see as many interesting stops to eat at early in the morning but that was alright as we were rushing to get to the Tahune air walk. It would have been hard to come back from Tasmania without at least doing one hike through the wonderful nature trails on offer. This wasn't exactly a rugged trek by any means but we did have fun walking below and above the giant trees in the forest.
The drive and trek didn't actually take as long as we thought it would so we ended up exploring a little more of the Huon area by heading south to the charming town of Cygnet. Lots of art galleries but we were most impressed by the Red Velvet Lounge where we stopped for lunch. By far the best food we had seen that day and very friendly waiters.
After stuffing ourselves silly on the hand cut fries and ox tongue sandwiches we drove along the coast to Peppermint Bay, stopping to pick some wild blackberries from the side of the road. Seems like we came to Tasmania at the wrong season for fruit picking and all of the cherry farms were closed so it was nice to have a chance to experience a little foraging.
We couldn't dally long however as we were in a rush to get back to Hobart and try our luck on a Friday night at Garagistes, a small and popular restaurant that doesn't take bookings. Due to us arriving minutes after the doors were opened we managed to score a table and had a fantastic meal there. We knew that the food would be special and we both noted with approval that they had a collection of Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine on their book shelf. The dishes certainly didn't disappoint.
In fact we had quite a few nice dinners out in Hobart, most of which were selected through Urbanspoon recommendations. The other standout that we would heartily recommend that people try is Ethos. Excellent food that has been sourced from local producers and cooked in a simple and honest manner. A great contrast to Garagistes with their more modernist slant.
The next day of driving involved heading east towards Port Arthur and the Tasman peninsula. On the way we dropped into Barilla Bay to get a platter of oysters. Sure do like seafood in Tasmania.
The drive down to Port Arthur was a little gloomier than the previous days on account of the rain. It was drizzling fairly heavily by the time we got to the Port Arthur entrance and it was a little later in the afternoon than we thought so we decided to forgo the convict trail for a few more stops along the coast line. Glad we did as there were some gorgeous rock formations that we could see from lookouts. This was the "Devil's Kithen", a large sea cave where the ceiling had collapsed to reveal an archway to the sea.
On our final day of driving we set out to the north west up the Derwent river to see how far we could get. Maybe it was just fatigue from driving or a lack of interesting things to see around that side but we stopped at the Salmon Ponds to have a quick look around before driving back towards the city.
We weren't sure if we would make it into MONA (the museum of old and new art) but since we didn't have much else on our itinerary for the afternoon we decided to pay the entrance fee and check it out. I wasn't sure what I'd think of the material given that some of the exhibits were quite alternative, though in the end I had a really good time. Shame that the layout of the building is deliberately disorienting which didn't sit well with Alison and the iPhone handouts they distributed didn't work half the time. I found quite a few of the collections to be very interesting if somewhat confrontational, though I must admit that the number of orifices was actually lower than what I expected.
After MONA we opted for one last driving adventure and took the rental car up to the lookout on Mount Wellington. Due to the cloud there wasn't a lot that we could see (understatement of the year) but at least we can say that we've been there.
So after all that we're back here in Brisbane again. Alison is up in Toowoomba tonight and will be bringing Eleanor home tomorrow so that I can be a Daddy again. It was nice to have a week as a couple but nothing quite beats having our little family back together.
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