Thank God for safe and very smooth flight on Emirates to Melbourne (7hrs flight time). The plane was spacious and had a larger screen and food was above average. 7hrs flight time
Arrived past midnight , fairly cool and windy, checked in hotel walking distance from airport
Room was spacious and warm
2 nights here.
Day 1 22/11 Friday
Called ‘di da che ‘ took us to Melbourne museum (first stop) spent about 2hrs here, looking at Dino bones, Bugs, stuffed preserved animals - endangered and extinct
Had lunch at museum cafe, walked to park to rent bikes
Got 4 bikes, cycled along Yara river, some river acty going on - students rowing training
Sunny and windy, but quite hot with irritating flies that flew right into my mouth, eyes and nostrils.
Botanical gardens was close due to strong winds the day before, so we couldn’t enter, made cycling adventure a little less interesting
Chanced upon world war 2 memorial site
Did a little shopping in town centre , discovered Big W, bought girl headphones, some gifts for friends
Had snacks at Ding tai Fung along streets of town centre with several offers of Asian cuisine , still feeling jet lag and tired, dinner at a mall foodcourt, ramen and udon
Day 3 23/11 Saturday
Took jet star to Tasmania , 40mins flight time
Bumpy ride due to strong winds
Arrived at Launceston airport. Car rental Toyota Raf 4, big and spacious car, drove to our first bnb in Tas.
Lovely view of the mountains , modern house with crickety floor, best part of the house - 7 large unique gentle bunnies and 2 chickens in the backyard which the kids love to feed and pat every day.
Drove to a nearby Gorge with rapid moving stream, pretty forests, crossed a suspension bridge , walked one round
Returned home for our first home cooked pasta bolo meal
Day 4 24/11 Sunday
Headed straight to Tasmanzia- most interesting maze, spent 2 hours here, walked about, spotted many wallabies, quite a fun day, weather was perfect, cool and clear
Had lunch at Sheffield , Nathan liked the lasagna , he kept saying it was yummy
Then horse riding for girl and dad for 2 hrs while boy and I waited in the stable kitchen , played a few rounds of poker cards, book bugs, read our books. I even got to make a cup of Milo here, host was generous and friendly.
It was another lovely day but very strong winds
Home cooked dinner
Day 5 25/11 Monday
First stop mole creek caves, in the cave was 9 degrees, cold but not windy. Dark and mysterious stalagmites, guide was informative and interesting , an hr tour, easy walk
Lunch at shelffield, same baked store, and another 2 lasagna for boy and girl
Drove to Cradle mountain, bus to enter national park, drove on another 15mins to Dove lake, beautiful view of the mountain . Took a slow hike up and around the lake, spotted echidna burrowing in the ground for ants. Quite a tourist spot, many hikers and school kids too, but walk was still very pleasant, the final leap of the hike was a wide open expanse of grassland where families of wild wombats live, spotted one having an afternoon snooze, a few munching on grass, and some just sitting around. The closest relative to koalas, its features and a hard back spine. But it certainly is much faster than koalas moving on the ground
Long drive back to launceston town , tried dining at high rating Italian restaurant but they were fully booked so we went a little further and ate at Jailhouse steak, not great .
Day 6 26/11 Tuesday
Drove to ATV adventure with all our luggage bags. The track was dry and not that difficult, smooth, clean and easy was what I liked most , and the nice cool winds were welcomed. Next , a drive to strawberry farm, kids picked some juicy strawberries, I had the yummiest softest scones ever with a cup of tea. Cafe was alittle small, but the fields were large. Had lunch at Campbell cafe , forgettable , nice and rich mocha, boy disliked the gnocchi pomodora pasta we paid $18 for. Checked in to second bnb, old vintage house, cold and no internet .
Day 7 27/11 Wednesday
The area was freycinet , but the town we were living was Swansea , drove to 9mile beach, and had a stroll.picked up some oyster shells, drove for lunch at pondering frog, boy’favourite lunch pasta bolo. Drove on to scenic look out of the Hazzards mountain, rocky beach then up to lighthouse, cliffs view. Finally, a wine glass Bay hike for 1.5 hrs return .
To end the day, we booked a last min penguin tour cos we cancelled the kayaking trip due to cold winds and Choppy waters. It was the lastest night we were out, there weren’t many penguins, about 30-40 in total, saw them interacting with one another , returning to their homes, and even a young one fighting with its parent.
Day 8 28/11 Thursday
Packed Up and made our way to Hobart. But first a zoo experience - Zoodo safari. The experience was exhilarating, especially the open truck adventure when we got to feed hungry and frantic emus using cups with their token treats in it, fascinating to see them run and chase after us in our truck knowing that there was where the treats would be. Then, the patting of camels and zebras. The bird encounter in their enclosure was fun too, one bird especially liked chewing on the daddy’s hat tag, good grief not his ears , these birds were Friendly but highly unpredictable. Were they expected to understand and behave as instructed? Of which I wasn’t sure.
After the zoo safari, we headed to our third and final bnb, the best and cheapest. Spectacular view of Mt Wellington, the ocean and other mountains and houses across from the sea. Where we stayed, Howrah, a suburb area of Hobart, we could see the town centre. A more local and residential area rather than busy town centre. A short drive away from the largest shopping cenrte tin Hobart, Eastland, where Kmart, Big W, Coles and Woolsworth supermarket are located plus a few other cool shops like sports girl and dusk, and my favourite, W-lane, seems very local to me, bought a necklace there. That wk end happened to be Black Friday wk end sales, many things went for 40percent disc, it was fab, bought some pouches and accessories for girl from Colette , pretty girlie shop.
Day 9 29/11 Friday
Hobart day 2 was an early rise and shine day - booked a fishing expedition for $800 for 4 hrs fishing with rods and lines out at sea. Girl was the first to catch a fish, then the rest of us caught a few more. All flatheads, apparently they swim on sand bed and wait for passing crabs and fishes to eat. A memorable experience. Cloudy, with pockets of sunshine, and very strong winds, so the water was very choppy, good thing our stomachs were mostly empty, so no one had anything to throw out . We were fairly exhausted by the fishing trip, headed for quick lunch then back to take a cat nap. We caught about 15 flatheads in total that made up one meal for our dinner that day.
Day 10 30/11 Saturday
A very rainy day, quite heavy downpour from the afternoon. Morning, we took a drive up Mt Wellington , the temperature was 3 degrees , I wore the most I could, but was still too cold to stay out longer. Kids and dad explored the rocky grounds a little more before we drove back down.
Visited the famous Salamanca sat market , many imteresting shops selling all kinds of food drinks and stuff like scent, clothes, tea leaves, accessories, wooden artefact, just didn’t have enough time to explore the entire stretch cos the parking was difficult and the weather was lousy and kids non stop complaining that they wanted to walk in the shopping mall instead, how typical of city kids, can’t appreciate local markets at all. I enjoyed my beef pie a lot . Reminds me of my favourite puff pastry when living in Cambridge.
Day 11 1/12 Sunday
A couple of sight seeing and look out spots of beaches and cliffs. Visited one stretch of beach where it seemed popular for young folks to go surfing , we saw quite a few nice waves. Caught more sights of mt Wellington from different angles and shades, silhouette view too when the sun was behind it.
Lunch place was pretty, I had a healthy vegan burger with beetroot, potatoes , peas and corn patties and veg. After lunch, we went to Bonorong wildlife sanctuary , all the animals were rescued for some reason , like road accidents or abandoned joeys by dead mums. There were many kangaroos, 3 koalas, 2 echidnas, limping with 3 workings paws, some beautiful colourful birds, and of course, the devils. Up closed with the echidnas was interesting where the kids hand fed them with food and stroked their dangerous spiky backs. They are quiet creatures and mild, not very fast, Long strong tongues to help them burrow into the ground.
Dinner was nice at the nearby Italian restaurant, I finally had local seafood, prawns pasta, daddy had salmon which he thought too salty, and boy had the best spaghetti bolo ever. Girl had the usual margarita pizza.
Every night we ended with card games , we just learnt bridge, so it was much fun playing that before lights out.