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We touched down in Hobart on a sunny Saturday morning and were excited to start our tour of Tassie but not before making like a typical tourist, turning the phone on, before entering arrivals and being told off by a steward, of course! I just wanted a pic of the big HOBART sign on top of the airport building! Doesn't everyone? lol
So after filling in the paperwork for our hired Hi-Ace camper we were on our way to catch the end of the Salamanca market, in the centre of Hobart. My first impression of the capital city was it's likeness to a small European town, narrow cobbled streets with houses sitting cosily next to each other, something I hadn't seen in Melbourne at all. I liked it. The market was a good introduction to Tasmanian craft and produce, we stocked up on the fresh fruit and veg on offer and soaked up sun, unsure of how long it would last.
The first leg of our tour really began as we headed south for Kettering, a small fishing village from where our ferry to Bruny Island was to depart. The wait in the que for the boat gave us enough time to try out our mini kitchen in the back and our first chance to feel clever about our self sufficiency. The sail over matched up pretty well to that of a trip in the Strangford ferry, dying to get out of the car to look about up on deck, only to get the head blown off you and a pretty bad hair do!
As with much of Tassie it's pretty sparsely populated and you can really feel that on Bruny, with only one pub to it's name and a population of 400. It really gives vistors the chance to totally chill out and discover the hidden gems in peace and quiet. Our first stop on Bruny was the lookout on the isthmus (a long thin spit linking the north and south parts of the island). It's home to Truganini's tribute, the last ever Aboriginal to be born on Bruny and also to some cute little Fairy penguins who nest on the beach at dusk but we couldn't wait around for them, we had to find a spot to nest ourselves that night. We settled on Captain James Cook caravan park as our first over night stop for the week. With a great view of the setting sun and sounds of the sea from our hard stand we felt we had stumbled upon something a bit special that first night.
The next morning we got up as early as early gets on holiday and headed across the road to the beautiful beach that is Adventure Bay and onto the Fluted Cape State Reserve for our mini hike in blessed weather. The climb up, a bit tiring to say the least for a pretty unfit person as myself but we were well rewarded by the views from the shear cliff at the top. The journey back, led us a by a more interesting route with more look outs and the remanents of an old whaling station at Grass Point from the early 19th century - they were hard workers but not exactly animal rights activists.
Hungry after the hike, we decided to fuel up at some of the island's gourmet hot spots, first off, Bruny Island Cheese Company, an artisan cheese maker who uses traditional techniques (a.k.a. cheese suitable for larder not fridge conditions). We arrived just in time for a delicious tasting. I liked '1972', a very French cheese, pungent, soft and so called due to the year the French first came to Tassie. Barry preferred 'Raw Milk C2' a 12 month matured cheese, sweet, nutty and hard. Boy did I wish I had just agreed with him, we ended up spending over $40 for what was probably a months supply and unfortunately not having a 'larder' on board our Hi-Ace, we felt the effects of '1972' from the back of our van, for the rest of the week. Really tasty cheese, don't get me wrong but next time I'll be sure to provide more suitable conditions for our atisan purchases.
For Lunch we ordered a dozen oysters between us at Get Shucked, a trendy little oyster bar with viewable processing shed. We were soon to discover the Kilpatrick oysters was as punchy as the place's name and could only be washed down with a nice cold beer. Previous patrons had had a go at shucking themselves but we decided to leave that to the experts.
As we headed back to the ferry, I thought how impressed I was at what a tiny island off the southeast coast of Tassie had to offer. I wondered what other interesting and unusual sights we would see on our trip as we passed a Christmas tree on a car roof on that lovely summer's afternoon.
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