14^th April 2018.

Stanley to Launceston to Brisbane

  My hair was blowing in the wind – can’t you tell ?

View from our balcony this morning. It was blowing a gale!

Lex writes: Stanley weather certainly entertained us overnight. It came in waves of wind and rain. The rain blew in as far as the back of the verandah outside our room. The wind went one better and, after rattling the century-old French doors right beside our bed, crept in underneath. I solved the rattling problem by shoving folded up pieces of paper between the doors.

The morning dawned cold and windy, but dry. Just down the main street is a breakfast café – Moby Dick’s. It opened at 7:30, and we went in a few minutes later. The coffee was hot, the food was good, the service friendly, and the serves generous.

After braving the wind, again, we made it back to the hotel and packed. I managed to get two heavy bags down the steep steps and into the car without injury. The first leg of the journey was to Burnie, via a rainy grey, windy coastline. It was lovely to see it from the car with the heater suitably adjusted. Outside temperature varied between 11 and 14 degrees.

At Burnie, we did a quick lap of the town, stopping for a picture of the port. The main attraction at Burnie, however is the Hellier’s Road Whisky Distillery. It is located on the outskirts of town, overlooking green fields and the local railway line. In the modern building, it was warm; we had tea (not whisky), and admired the paper sculpture of the man and his dog (featured on the label of their bottles). We bought gifts for various people. I gave myself a small bottle of peated whisky as a parting gift from Tasmania; appropriate I think.

 Hellyers Road Distillery for a cosy, warm cup of tea!

 

Through the rain squalls we drove until we reached a penguin in Penguin (the town). Robyn took a picture of it.

The next stop was to be Devonport. Getting to the town centre took us through several suburbs strung out along the coastline. Everyone here builds for a view of the water, and today the water was performing. The wind drove the waves crashing onto rocks, retaining walls, cliffs and beaches. Curiously, there was a railway line running along beside the road, on the beach side! At times it was not far above the high-water mark, and only several metres from the water. We never saw a train though, so we still don’t know what type of trains run along it.

At Devonport, we found the Drift Café which supplied us with lunch. Nothing special today, just burgers and (sweet potato) chips. The view of the sea was grand though. The wind again whipped up the waves, and caused the girl who went for a dip to retreat after about 2 minutes. With the temperature at 12 degrees, she ran back to the change shed with the cold wind chasing her.

Impressive sea views from the Drift Cafe at Devonport



To use up some time, we had a look at the nearby Bass Straight Maritime Museum. As usual for these places, it was very interesting and informative. The place also had five ships bells, and perhaps forty models. They ranged in size from about 30cm to about four metres. All were professionally made and very detailed. There were models of three of the four boats that brought passengers across Bass Straight to Devonport. Among them was the Spirit of Tasmania

 

As time was moving on, we left Devonport, headed in the direction of Launceston. By the side of the road was a chocolate shop…..  Well, we just couldn’t go past. The product was delicious and we bought just a few samples.

 So much cheese - the Dairy factory

 

Thirty kilometres past this little haven of sweetness was a cheese shop; Ashgrove Farm. It too displayed some stuff we just couldn’t resist. I finally got some Tasmanian blue cheese. Robyn gave in to temptation and bought herself a beautiful teacup – with Tasmanian animals and scenes on it. We also got to see racks and racks of cheeses in the maturing room. There were Havartis, Red Rubicons, Mild Cheddars, Vintage Cheddars, Edams, Blues and more. A pleasant stop, if a short one. We drove on through downpours and wind.

Back on the road, I pointed the car towards Launceston once more. On the way into town, we diverted to the small town of Carrick for a look. There was a ruin at the top of a hill. Not a romantic ruin, but an art studio which was burnt out in the 1970s. However, before that, it was a family mansion owned by the Archer family (John Archer) and originally built in 1847. Apparently there are no plans to restore it but it is National Trust listed.

 

Again, there was spare time to play with, so as the rain had actually stopped, our next stop was the city park in the middle of Launceston. This was actually the ground of the first governor’s residence. Hence, it was planted with English and European trees. They are now giants; and beautiful specimens. The park also features a colony of Japanese Macaques. There would be about thirty of these monkeys in the enclosure, and they are never still. They were good entertainment for ten minutes.

200 year old pear tree

After a relaxing stroll through the park, we finally headed for the airport. The second last stop was for petrol to fill the tank of the rental car. Even though the tank was dangerously close to empty, I could only squeeze 45 litres into it. Still, I’m not complaining, because $1.48 per litre is more than enough. Only 200 metres up the road is the East Coast Car Rentals depot. We drove in, and took ten minutes to put all the loose stuff into our bags. Then the nice man drove us the 1 kilometre to the airport in his minibus. So here we are.

Our flight leaves at 8.10, and doesn’t get into Brisbane until quarter to 11, so poor Cait and Mikeal will be waiting up for us…..we are having a rather indifferent meal in the ‘James Boag’ restaurant here. At least there is alcohol, though! A ‘Wizard Smith’s’ beer for me and a 42 Degrees South Pinot Grigio for Robyn, both local and both excellent.

Postscript:  Robyn writes:  Finally, around 8 o'clock, we were loaded onto the plane through a last chilly Tasmanian evening (at least the rain held off!) It seemed to take forever to take off, but three interminably long hours later, we arrived in Brisbane to a warm evening. Lex managed to doze a bit, but I can never sleep on planes, so we were sooo grateful to finally get off. Cait and Mikeal were at the pick up point to meet us, so we were soon home at their Nundah flat and finally fell into bed around midnight. A long day!