Tasmania

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Tasmania is an ancient land, full of interesting and unique animals, plants and scenery. Our mission, on this journey, is to study one of the island's major, but more unknown industries - more soon.......

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Ever heard of a quoll, Sarah Island or a thylacine ? What and where are these… I can tell you they all exist (more or less) in Tassie. The Thylacine – well there are those, including my knowledgable daughter, who seriously believe the legendary Tasmanian tiger still roams the west coast rain forests. Reports, however say the last tiger died in captivity in 1936 at the Hobart zoo. For me the jury is still out, as you could wander for months through the thick, impenetrable west coast rain forests, be surrounded by Tassie tigers and never see them!

We don’t spot one during our recent 3200km Tassie adventure, but we do see a wild spotted quoll on Bruny Island – a rare event we are told by locals. Unique to Tasmania and about the size of an average cat with a medium length thinnish tail, the quoll with its pointed snout, looks rodent like, but is not related. We are told they are quite shy and retiring but if cornered have a very hard bite.

More about Sarah Island later.

Our journey starts from Melbourne boarding our small 50 seater Dash 8 aircraft, operated by Qantas and bound for Devonport on the mid-northern edge of the state of Tasmania. Departure is an hour or so late – can’t quite understand why as the flight originated in Melbourne and there are no explanations, just a half hearted apology for the disruption. A full flight – Linda and I are seated in crew seats facing to the back of the cabin – an unusual flying position if you're not used to it. Trying to extend my longish legs, I end up playing knees with a fellow facing passenger. An uneventful 1hour 20mins sees us into Devonport and a welcome drop in temperature from Melbourne’s mid 30s to mid 20s. Quite a relief for a Kiwi.

Gradually lowering to the Tassie tarmac, affords a magnificent view of the rich farmland surrounding Devonport with many fields of light lilac flowering poppies – spectacular, and the main reason for our December visit.

Devonport is a very small rural airport, a bit like Napier, on the east coast of New Zealand's north Island. Our bags appear quickly in the baggage area. Next stop Europcar to collect our rental car for the next 16 days. The young lady has only one set of keys and is obviously waiting for us. This is our first experience with Europcar and unfortunately probably the last. After a brusque hello, the vehicle contract is thrust under our noses and we are assailed with a tirade of do's and don'ts – mainly don'ts. The most ridiculous one is 'no insurance if we have an accident on a gravel road'. Well, there are a lot of gravel roads in Tassie with some sealed roads turning into gravel without warning. I give this a brief 10 seconds thought – sign the document and we are on our way, but not before checking all the previous damage that our Mitsi Lancer has sustained at the hands of previous drivers. This was considerable, but, all the various dings, dents, scratches and scrapes are noted on the contract and now we are truly on our way.

I had visited Devonport some years before and could remember the general road layout, getting us to our booked Sunrise motel without too many problems.

Devonport is where the 'Spirit of Tasmania' 1 and II docks, www.spiritoftasmania.com.au arriving after a day or night crossing Bass Strait from Melbourne. This is the only way to bring your car to Tassie. These are large vessels but Bass Strait can be a wild stretch of water.

As we motor through, the daytime arrival was loading for it's 7.30pm departure back to Melbourne. A short but picturesque drive along Formby Road and a sweeping left turn through the tranquil waterside park sees us at the Sunrise. A delightful, no fuss greeting from Barbara, who has our hopefully quiet upstairs, end room all ready. If you travel regularly, as we do, then I am sure you have become quite allergic to noise transferral through walls and ceilings. The plain looking Sunrise is solid concrete and doesn't suffer badly from this noise problem, unlike some shoddily constructed places where we have lain awake most of a night and are then unable to make the best of the next precious day.
Next most important on our agenda is a settling glass of red wine – delicious, then where to for dinner. We had spied a couple of likely spots on our drive through downtown Devonport from the airport, so about 7pm are driving back to Formby Rd to investigate. Looking for a carpark nearby, the beautiful and original Alexander Hotel beckons. The mid 19th C building, across the road from the Mersey River and with it's excellent, traditional public bar, looks like a relaxing spot to enjoy a pre-dinner glass of Tassie pinot. We are not disappointed with a glass each of Ninth Island '08 pinot noir. We watch Spirit 1 do it's U turn in the Mersey river and pick up speed heading out into Bass Strait bound for Melbourne.

Feeling a bit hungry, we walk the short distance to our chosen dinner venue, Dannebrog Café Bar and Grill. Not so good – we have left it too late and a queue is backed up to the doors. This place looks a little like an up-market McDonalds, so, on appearance, not our usual choice, but choice is what you don't have in Devonport. The Maitre D politely tells us there is at least a half hour wait. Ever practical, Linda asks if she can recommend anywhere. 'No worries' is the immediate answer – just up the road is the Elimatta Hotel which has an excellent bistro. A short walk and we are seated at the 2nd to last table at the bistro. This place is the most amazing value. A roast dinner – beef this night – including veggies, is just $10.70, and good quality. Where else could you get that. Some more 9th Island pinot and we are feeling very satisfied. A short drive back to the Sunrise and to bed about 10pm.

We wake to a beautiful clear day and have breakfast in the little restaurant attached to the Sunrise. Nothing startling but an adequate continental. We haven’t booked any accommodation for our last two mid December nights on the northern coast and decide to return to the Sunrise. After settling the bill for last night we speak with Barbara who promises to have our upstairs end room #27 available for our return. With no credit card or deposit required, it’s very nice and friendly.

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