Launceston and Surrounds 19/04/2010

The night before KT and I made plans. I was keen on visiting the lavender farm in Nabowla as it was mentioned in the discovertasmania website. The best time to visit the farm is during the harvesting period of December to January when the fields are at full glory.

We woke up early, excited to the start the day. By 8am, we were out of the hotel. It would take about 40 minutes to get to Nabowla, so we had plenty of time to explore. The map showed that we had to head north-west towards Lilydale, as the GPS could not find the address, and the farm only opens at 9am. It was a leisurely drive, it seemed as if we were the only ones on the road.

Leaving for Bridestowe Lavender Farm.

Truly a road less travelled.

Our first stop was purely coincidental. When I saw the town called Lilydale, I joked to KT perhaps that is where we get the Lilydale free-range chickens from. Then I spotted this shop:

Was attracted by the gourmet fried chicken banner.

Lollydale Shoppe? Gourmet Fried Chicken? Australia's No. 1 Fried Chicken? That banner screamed "Eat me!" outright, and we WERE hungry by then, having only snacked on Cheezels.

We didn't see a medical centre / hospital, but the pharmacy was in plain sight.

The town of Lilydale

Lilydale post office

I wonder if they have sweet and sour pork on the menu.

Small town indeed - birthdays are remembered

Town bulletin board

Probably the hangout place of the entire town.

After a bit of sight-seeing, it was down to the business of taming our stomachs. Alas, the chickens had yet to be fried. There were pies and sausage rolls, but after having our expectations quashed, nothing sounded quite as appetising as fried chicken. Australia's No. 1 fried chicken nonetheless.

Before heading off, we were stopped for a chat by this very friendly elderly gentleman sitting in the cafe, who seemed interested in everything about us, from why we were there, where we came from, did we really study at Yale and Stanford (as per the sweaters we wore). The lady at the counter had to shout across at him to let us be on our way, before he toned down his enthusiasm at seeing two strangers in town. It was through this conversation we found out the history of the lavender farm.

Lebrina Market - not one person in sight on a Monday morning.

We missed the turning to the Lavender farm, made a three-point turn, and I spotted these fat Tassie chooks roaming around!

After missing the turn-off into the farm, we arrived at the farm after 10am. For a lavender estate of that size (according to the website, one of the world's largest lavender farms), it was pretty inconspicuous. As we turned into the parking lot, we realised that there were very few visitors. As soon as we got out of the car, we were greeted with the sight of this:

Lavender bushes

Lavender fields in full bloom between months of December and January.




128 acres of this!




Bees hard at work!

We then went into the store. It felt as if we were in La-la-lavender land - lavender merchandise of all things imaginable - from culinary lavender, lavender skin care, lavender potpourri, to lavender / wheat pack bears! I was not a fan of lavender oil; but once I smelt the French Lavender essential oil, I was converted. French lavender oil has this vanilla-like smell, that's the best I can describe it. Even KT was hooked on the smell, so much so he bought a bottle of the essential oil, and has been dabbing some on this nose before he goes to bed each night!

How I pestered KT to get me one of these wheat pack lavender-scented bears - I named him Bear-bear Adventure.

Ended up buying lavender oil, lavender potpourri, culinary lavender, lavender honey!

After retail therapy, we went into the cafe to try the lavender-scented ice-cream. It turned out to be lavender-coloured as well! While sitting and looking out into the lavender fields, we licked at the creamy, aromatic ice-cream, and wondered out loud how beautiful the fields would look come December.

I even grabbed all the free recipe cards using culinary lavender, thinking perhaps I could make good use of some of them. Taking one last look at the store, I spotted boxes of culinary lavender for sale. That was my last purchase from the shop, before KT dragged me out of the store. Our next destination awaited us.

Lavender-scented ice-cream.


Very yummy.

About one week before the trip, I purchased the Australian Traveller magazine. It featured a restaurant in the Top 100 Greatest Australian Gourmet Experiences. Daniel Alps at Strathlynn, Rosevears. I made a booking for lunch at 1pm on the 19th.

The GPS took us on a shortcut through the wine route to Daniel Alps', also situated in a vineyard. The drive could not have been more pleasant, as we travelled through vineyards and farms on that sunny, slightly cool, day. A leisurely 20 minutes' trip took us to Rosevears. This is where I will leave a gap, as Daniel Alps at Strathlynn deserves a special mention.

On the road towards our lunch appointment.




This is one of my favourite photos of the Launceston landscape.

Lunch destination - Daniel Alps at Strathlynn


The Ninth Island vineyard.

Daniel Alps at Strathlynn

I love the play of light in this photo.

The camera battery lasted long enough for me to take photos of our meal at Daniel Alps before it ran out. Thereafter I relied on the Sony Ericsson 2MP phone camera.

After lunch, we tasted the Ninth Island and sister vineyard Pipers Brooke wines, and KT bought a few bottles. I on the other hand, bought a bottle of Lentara extra-virgin olive oil, which was very fruity (we had house bread plainly served with this lovely olive oil).

The friendly staff then pointed out a few famous vineyards along the Tamar Valley wine route, and specially mentioned Holm Oak vineyard, also famous for its resident vineyard pig. My ears perked up upon hearing I could feed the pig whilst we tasted wine. I then pestered KT to include Holm Oak to the list of vineyards to visit.

KT mentioned that Tasmania is famous for its whites and Pinot Noir. At the next vineyard, Tamar Ridge, KT tasted and bought more wine, whereas I only had eyes for dessert wines. We also found out about the offer to ship 6 or more bottles of wine back to NSW at just the cost of freight, at any vineyard.

At the next vineyard, Goaty Hill, I decided to wait in the car, since I don't have much appreciation for wine. After that, we drove to Holm Oak, our last vineyard of the day.

Pinot the resident pig at Holm Oak Vineyard.

A description of Pinot.

Holm Oak was a different kettle of fish. Pinot the resident pig was a distraction from wine-tasting, one that I gladly indulged in. Pinot was also of the same opinion. I read its description, and I found out, after a few apples, Pinot would sit when I asked it to!

I would have fed it the whole big container of apples if I was left to my devices, but KT kept calling me into the cellar to taste wines, and I reluctantly left Pinot as it grunted its objection. Inside the cellar, I asked the lady whether Pinot was a female or a male. I thought Pinot was a female since I spotted teats on its belly, but the lady hesitated for a moment before saying that Pinot was an "it". Eh???

In disbelieve, I ran back outside, fed Pinot more apples, before glimpsing what I thought could be a slight bulge in the hind area. Eh??? A hermaphrodite of a pig??? After much pondering and feeding, KT came out, and it was time to go. After a few more apples, and showing KT Pinot's sitting trick, we left, driving back to Launceston.

The last stop was at another lavender farm we passed by on our way back to Launceston, where I bought a bar of soap (KT may be a hoarder of wines, I am the hoarder of all things fragrant). This farm was much much smaller than Bridestowe's, and at close to 5pm (closing time for most shops in Tasmania), we were the only visitors. Still, the lady at the counter served us with cheer and a smile.

We reached the hotel at close to 6pm, rested a while before freshening up for an 8pm dinner appointment at Stillwater Restaurant and River Cafe. Stillwater, like Daniel Alps', was such an unforgettable experience that it deserves an entry on its own. Until the next blogging session. :)

Even photos taken with my crappy 2.0MP Sony-Ericsson phone camera look good - a testament to the beauty of Launceston.

Launceston and Surrounds 19/04/2010

Launceston 18/04/2010

To not include photos of our trip to Tasmania would do great injustice to this beautiful island.

I will post up our Tasmania experience as day-by-day accounts. I hope that our photos can inspire you to visit Tasmania for yourself.

We took the Jetstar flight to Launceston at 10:30am. It took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes by air.

All set to fly! Thanks, Jetstar!

One of KT's colleagues warned us that Launceston airport was not as advanced as we would expect; we would need to take out our check-in baggage from the airplane itself. I was a bit sceptical about that. The colleague must have been to Launceston ages ago; our check-in luggage were on the carousel not long after we touched down.

What we did find was Launceston airport was not busy at all, given the time of the day. Our conclusion was not many people travel to or out of Launceston; hence, Jetstar has only one flight a day to and from Launceston.

The next thing we did was to rent a car. After asking the available companies, we realised the rates were pretty similar. We ended up with Avis and rented a Hyundai Getz, with $300 excess, sat nav, and a full tank of petrol at 99 cents a litre. When we return the car in Hobart, we wouldn't need to refuel the car. So far, so good.

Having just got my Australian licence not too long ago, I was keen to have some practice. Launceston roads were a breeze to drive on, and other drivers seemed to not be in a rush at all. The other thing we noticed on signposts were some roads were not named, but coded, e.g. C615. To make sure, we rang the hotel to ask for directions. The man who picked up the phone curtly told me that he didn't know what I meant by C324... and told me to follow the sat nav, it would be the correct route. So, with the help of Garmin, we got to the Country Comfort Coach House in about 15 minutes' time.

How did we find the Coach House? Well, we started looking for accomodation about one week before the trip. Most hotels had already been booked on the days we would be there for, it was down to Mercure and the Coach House. After reading the reviews on Trip Advisor, the Coach House seemed to have more decent reviews. That was how we found the Coach House.

Moral of the story: plan well-ahead if you want more options.

The entrance to the hotel was a steep declining driveway. The parking lot was also at an angle. Not good.

The same man who talked with me over the phone greeted us, or more like acknowledged our presence. Room rate was $130 a night not including breakfast (I was under the impression that breakfast included when made the booking), which was more expensive than the Hobart booking. Oh, well...

Ye old Coach House - looked nothing like the promotional photos

Fake flowers in keeping with the old west theme

Our room on the top floor - no lifts, so poor KT had to lug all the heavy luggage up four flights of stairs.

Rose / some fragrance perfumed the air of the room.

The redeeming features of Coach House is the location - minutes' away by car from the CBD, walkable if you are up for a 15-minute stroll, it's clean and well-kept, and it provides free Broadband. There is cable TV, only if you're into nostalgia - movies at least 10 years post-release, Steve Irwin on the documentary channel. At $130 a night base price, it was decently priced.

We were excited to tour Launceston as soon as we offloaded our luggage, and we were hungry, too. The receptionist gave us directions to Racecourse Crescent, where the Centro Launceston was located...

Home to Kmart...

and Coles...

We had lunch at the Centro, chicken and mushroom pie, seafood pie, and Mexican salami "pizza" from a pie shop. The pies were more expensive than the average pies in Sydney, but the filling was chunky and plentiful. KT declared the pies to be better than Harry's Cafe de Wheels'. I agreed.

We did a bit of shopping at Coles, stocked up on tit bits and bottled water, and drove to the Cataract Gorge Reserve, Launceston attraction #1.

The Gorge was literally minutes away from the CBD, and according to Tourism Tasmania, truly a "wilderness in the city".

Posing with our chariot.

Entrance to the Gorge.

Pumped.

The First Basin chairlift, purportedly the longest single chairlift in the world, located on the southern side of the reserve.

The ticket to the chairlift - single way to the northern side, then we would walk our way back to the entrance.

The chairlift - since opening in 1972, there has not been a single accident. Amazing.

The aerial view of the First Basin swimming pool and its surrounds - far left is the Alexandra suspension bridge.

Spectacular view of the reserve.

The suspension bridge.

The cliffs - people hike and jog around the bush paths.

Picturesque

Cafe next to the Victorian gardens, on the Cliff Grounds, the northern side of the Gorge.

Our feet touching the tree tops.

Peacocks roaming the Gorge.

Wallabies out to play.

View from the Cataract Lookout.

The hauntingly beautiful cliffs.

Notice the sign.

About to do some serious damage.

Taken from the other side of the bridge - the way to the Duck Reach Power Station.

Not sure which bird this is.

Ice-cool water. Cold day. People still swam in the pool???

True to the website - peacocks roaming the reserve.

We worked up an appetite by 5pm, made a booking at the Mud Bar and Restaurant at the Seaport Boulevarde, set up the GPS, and headed off in the sunset.

Launceston perched on hills. Get ready for a rollercoaster car ride!

Launceston at sunset.

The Seaport Boulevarde.

Mud Bar and Restaurant at the Seaport Boulevarde.

On a Sunday night, the Mud Bar and Restaurant was quiet. We chatted with the attending waitress, and she told us Sunday nights were usually quiet. What did the good people of Launceston do on a Sunday night then?

The atmosphere at Mud Bar and Restaurant was a cosy one, I even kicked off my shoes and sat cross-legged, tired after a good walk around the Gorge. We were advised of a 30-35 minute-wait for our dinner, since grilled meals took longer to prepare. Lulled by the ambience, we were contented to wait and talk about the day just passed.

Waiting for our meal.

The waitress mentioned to KT his pork chop would be large. When it arrived, we could not believe the size of the pork chop. The sides were plentiful. We could have shared it! The crackling on the pork was crunchy, and the meat moist and tender.

I loved the horseradish cream on my steak. The meat was also moist and tender. The highlight was the steamed asparagus with the chardonnay vinaigrette, freshened up with mint leaves and dill.

I struggled to get through my meal, but was reluctant to leave it as it was delicious. KT ordered the chocolate tart, knowing that I loved my chocolate. It was delicious, but very very rich, so rich that I wished it was smaller portion. Launceston people must love their food in generous portions, more so than Sydney-siders.

KT's dinner - local pork chops with house-made relish, garlic rosemary baked potatoes, and dressed leaves.

Mine was a scotch fillet with horseradish cream. Sides were the same as KT's.

Steamed asparagus with a chardonnay vinaigrette, topped with herbs. Refreshing.

Chocolate tart, jaffa mousse, hazelnut praline. Sinfully delicious!

Night cap - a trip to the 24-hour public toilets.

We didn't want to end our night so soon, as it was still early at 8:40pm. We drove around the city, to find very little shops opened, a pharmacy opened until 9pm, and surprisingly, Sportgirls was still opened! Or had it been an illusion?

Launceston 18/04/2010