FINALLY we get to discover the much hyped “island off the island” Tasmania. From the beautiful backdrops seen in movies like “Lion” to all the food and travel blog hype, Tassie seems to be THE place to be in 2019/2020. Thierry and I originally had planned to go there in Jan 2006 when we were backpacking down here, but so many people told us that it was really not very exciting, essentially just farmland and nothing much else. Well, things have changed, and now it seems that EVERYONE wants to be there. It doesn’t help that we are going smack in the highest of seasons, right after Xmas, a bit earlier than originally planned to escape the soaring fires around Sydney. Many others shared that thought it seems, Hobart is literally 100% booked, whichever booking platform we try. Instead we shuffle up our program a bit – leave Hobart for the end, and start off with Port Arthur. I manage to clinch a cute little beach house on “The Neck”, a strip of land connecting Port Arthur with the mainland. The names are inviting: « The Weedy Sea Dragon » sits on top of a beautiful dune overlooking a deserted beach, Pirates Bay, no less, just minutes walk to the Devil’s Kitchen and the blowhole (these are beautiful geological formations following decades of giant waves and currents eating at the sandstone, making the water squirt through a tight space creating an enormous fountain). Once the tide table double checked so as not to caught out for most of the night on a cliff top, we kick off our exploration with a full scramble around the peninsula, climbing, jumping, scraping not entirely sure whether we actually CAN get around the peninsula as the cliffs get steeper and the waves more violent. The landscape is truly breathtaking, wild and untouched. We reward ourselves after that little adventure with a fresh berry sundae from the local institution: the « DooDooTruck » which is not just yummy but extra lucky, because, stuck on the truck’s door, Anjali finds a leaflet of the Tasman Nature Reserve Discovery Ranger activities: ateliers proposed by park rangers for children and adults alike to discover the unique flora and fauna of the Tasmanian ecosystem. Sounds cool! Tomorrow’s program, on the way to Port Arthur: a 10am session on the Tasmanian mascot, the Tasmanian Devil.
Thanks to the lovely park ranger Fiona, the kids learn tons about this much beloved and, sadly, endangered carnivorous marsupial. What they eat, how they sleep, their rather curious family planning which can rival that of a Praying Mantis in its violence, how to help them survive, and making your own masks and – these rangers clearly know their audience – Tassie Devil poo. How amazing to have people so enthusiastic and capable such as Fiona and how lucky that we get to meet her! She raves about another activity coming up in a few days, that of exploring the coastal waters around another geological Tasmanian curiosity, that of Eagle Hawk Neck’s Tesselated Pavement (I’m feeling ever so grateful that Hobart was fully booked, who knows if we would have otherwise spent enough time in this amazing area?!) The kids are already all excited for Saturday morning. But first we go off to explore Port Arthur, the site of the famous prison settlement. The place is very well organised and well marketed. The stories of the prisoners and the harsh conditions under which they lived, leave an impression. There is even a little island especially for kids, which, mine quickly realise, is not the old times equivalent of a kids club. Children as young as 6 (no-one really knew their birth date those days, at least not those, unfortunate enough to be born in squalor in England in the early 19th century), convicted of theft or other petty crimes were shipped off all the way down here. The excitement of visiting a giant penal colony takes on a bitter taste…
Following another yummy granola filled breakfast (seriously: the granola aisles in Tasmanian shops must be their most popular ones, I have never ever seen such an assortment. On the other hand, we were expecting a lovely selection of yogurts from happy sheep and that, sadly, was nowhere to be found…..), the children and Thierry are off for a long stroll along the beach to meet up with Fiona for another instructive nature session. This is supposed to last an hour, but 2 and half hours later, our kids are still going strong. Equipped with picture charts of creatures small and big and magnifying glasses to go find them in the nooks and crannies of the rocks, with crawling, jumping and squishy creatures galore, how could this morning not be a massive success? (see Anjali’s separate post for details) Thanking Fiona for sharing her passion in such a fun and educational and – most importantly – contagious way, we need to say goodbye to drive up to Launceston, Tassie’s second city and popular for many things, but mostly so for its Tamar valley wines and gastronomy. Needless to say that we were not going miss this!
I can keep this next part short: Launceston does not live up to our expectations. We do not find the town particularly interesting or charming and the restaurants (with one notable exception) below par. There is a beautiful gorge just outside town, but that, too, is so developed that it takes away some of its charm. That said, we are happy to have come here nonetheless, be it only for two fabulous museums up North and the spectacular dinner at Stillwater restaurant, as well as its truly remarkable playground. The two museums sit side by side, one dedicated to the elusive platypus (the only egg laying mammal in the world), and the other to seahorse breeding (yep, that’s a pretty big business in turns out). As with most things here in Tassie as we have come to realise, these museums are, too, supremely well organised. We get an introduction about the platypus allowing us to marvel, yet again, how ingenious nature is and then get to observe a few in person. They are smaller than I expected, only about the length of my lower arm, and incredibly cute. Amongst its many curious characteristics (its bill is its main hunting tool, thanks to finely tuned electrolocation; the females nurse without having nipples, instead the milk comes out of mammary glands on the abdomen; their tail is primarily a fat reserve….), we learn that the males have a venomous spur on their hind leg. The museum also recuperates hurt echidnas which are another amazing Australian species, spiny, pretty much blind and with funny tongue that darts out of its flute-like snout. The seahorse museum is equally entertaining, as we get to witness how the females deposit their eggs in the male’s pouch who then carries them to birth. We also get to see the truly beautiful Weedy Seadragon which lives off the coast here, an ethereal (and surprisingly large!) fluorescent green creature with scarlet red “antennas”. Once again we wonder what inspired nature to design a creature that looks as if it jumped straight out of a artistic fairy tale.
Our before last night Thierry and I treat ourselves to a dinner at Stillwater, often referred to as “the best restaurant in Tasmania”. While the service is, sadly, not up the standard of such a table, we don’t let it ruin what turns out to be, without question, the best meal of our stay in Australia. Following a few delicious Pacific oysters from Lease 65 (which I don’t know yet, but will discover as the top reference of oysters in the Bay of Fires, up on the north east coast), we try the Kingfish tartare with bonito jelly, citrus shoyu and shiso and the Calamari with green tea soba noodles, pickled bok choy and togarashi. Delicious. For the main course we try the Tasmanian wallaby with academia and green wheat, nasturtium, lemon myrtle, pear & ginger and the Lamb rump with almond cream and caper berries. The meat is melt-in-your-mouth, the flavours perfectly balanced with a hint of surprise without being overly dominant (lemon myrtle – my new favorite!) For dessert, the rhubarb elderflower tart calls our name which is lovely, if a tad on the sweet side for our taste. This meal alone made the trip up here worth it. Satisfied, we can pack up our bags (yet again) to head East to the world famous Freycinet peninsula with its legendary Wineglass Bay beach.
