Cataract Gorge ~ Launceston

One of my favoutite places, we spent a lot of time here when we were teenagers.

My faves...

Zadok and I were married just near here and had photos just here.

Winter wollies warm freezing statues.

I loved this snap that I found in the Tasmanian newspaper, the Mercury. Apparently the winter festival has just started, and it coincided with 'Knit in public day'. Some thoughtful person had adorned all the 'Heading South' statues with their own winter warmers. Hand knitted and then stitched on to the statues. Reminds me of a time underwear was strung across the Gorge right before the duck race, however this is probably a lot more tasteful! You can read the story here.



Just 5 school days to go!

Peppermint Bay Cruise

Whilst I was reaquainting myself with my blogger account I found this post, photos uploaded but no words, so I thought I'd fix it up for you all.

When I was in Hobart over Summer (winter) Rach and I headed off on the Peppermint Bay Cruise, a half day boat trip down the Derwent to the lovely Peppermint Bay Restaurant. We had driven 'the coast road' down through the little known but booming metropolis of Tinderbox a few weeks before, so it was interesting to see it all from the water.

Here is our vessel... We had lunch on board, Rach wasn't sure about the Tasmanian Salmon or oyster.

And here is Rach at Pepperment Bay, where we sampled their bubbly... Although sampled is probably not an appropriate word!

We saw Eagles, a fur seal and a sea lion chomping on a stingray (photos not so good sorry). The cruise was well worth the time.

When we were back on dry land we took this photo op, the Aurora Australis travels to Antarctica each year from Tasmania. It's winter when I go home so it's always docked down at the waterfront, but it will return to sea once enough of the ice had melted.

And here is our Knight in shining orange fluro, come to save us from ourselves!

Coles Bay and Freycinet National Park

A bit further down the East Coast of Tasmania is Coles Bay, a cute little holiday town famous for it's location near the Freycinet National Park and it's stunning water views.

We stayed inside the park at Freycinet Lodge, which is where we spent our honeymoon. You can just see the lodge near Zadok's head, and the cabins are spread out to the left an right, but they are meant to blend in with the natural environment, there are heaps of them!

We stayed to the left in the posh cabins, we had a huge spa bath in our room which was really nice! Zadok went a bit overboard on the bubbles....

We did a local wine and food tasting and generally had a fab time. We didn't walk into Wineglass Bay as the weather was a bit crap, but we drove over to the other side of the penninsula which I cant remembar doing before (but i am sure I have).

The whole area is stunning with dramatic coastline and white sandy beaches. Not really swimming weather though!

Time in Tassie

I've been looking through the blogs I usually stay in touch with this morning and feeling guilty for not posting, so here it is!

My summer/winter holiday has now been over for about a month would you believe, the time has flown by as we've been really busy with all sorts of things going on. I've got some nice pics of Tasmania to post for your enjoyment!

Here I am at the edge of the Lake St Claire Pass (correct me if I am wrong please.) At the Oyster Bay Lookout. The water you can see is the Moulting Bay Lagoon. The Mountains in the background are called The Hazards and are the gateway to Wineglass Bay, the gorgeous beach that you see on nearly all ads for Tassie, including the Emirates ad here in Dubai! More of That area next post though.

We drove on to Bicheno which is a lovely beachside town on the East Coast. We stayed at the SIlversands resort which looks right out over the bay. Here we are on our litle deck enjoying an afternoon drink and the sound of the waves crashing just down below us.

You've got to remember it's the middle of winter, look at that blue sky!

Just before the sun set we were treated to a display of 3 dolphins swimming in the bay, magic!

And I cant end without a picture of the Bicheno Blowhole.... It was quite rough so we saw some good sprays but they are hard to catch with our little camera!

Next stop, Coles Bay and the Freycinet National Park, Bliss!