Walking Weekend

Making the most of no rain this weekend, we went walking. Something we often do (not having a car and all), so thought we would do some more! This time we walked along through the reserve by the North Esk River. Its right on the edge of the town, but the way it follows the river and meaders through the trees you'd think you were out in the countryside.

We came back home through some of the suburbs that we hadn't walked through yet. And came across this very steep street. So steep it came with a warning....

Taking a look up the hill from the bottom, it didn't look that bad.....and the photo definately doesn't do it justice.

And from the top looking down it still doesn't look steep enough to warrent the warning.

But the view from the top was pretty good, and it was definately steep enough to have us toastie warm by the time we made it to the top. A good boost of oxygen to the lungs!

Tassie Tourists

We had our first visitors recently. My parents came to stay with us for 10days and explored a lot of Tasmania.

Having been travelling since the early hours, the first place we took them after picking the rental car up, was to get a pick-me-up from the chocolate cafe CocoBean.

The first weekend Mum and Dad were here, we went to our favourite, The Raspberry Farm cafe, and then headed up to the coast to look through Devonport, then drove through a bit of the countryside to the Batman Bridge which we drove across and walked across.

We then went and explored the lighthouse at Low Head. It was then time for a coffee stop, so we found this cute little cafe in George Town, Belle's B&B where Belle had made the covered in veranda into a cafe. The cakes and sweet treats were all displayed on old cake stands, and the tea and coffee all served in old tea cups - it was quite a frilly floral place, but very sweet with yummy cakes. And a lovely sunset as we were leaving!

The next day we went to Evandale for brunch and to look round the market there before going to explore the East Coast. Had more of a walk around Bicheno this time, Ollie and I saw a part of the little town we hadn't seen last time. And we then headed up the coast to St Helens (where we had one of the worst coffee's we had during their time here) before heading out to the Bay of Fires. We had a little walk along the beach but it was bitterly cold by this time, and getting dark so we headed back to Launceston - the road back was very windy and narrow...despite being classed as one of the main roads!

Tuesday we sent Dad and Mum off on their own, up to Stanley and back via Cradle Mountain - they didn't get lost, and obviously like The Raspberry Farm cafe a lot as they went there both days they were away!

Ollie happened to have Thursday and Friday off school, so I switched my shifts around to have them off also, and we all headed down to Hobart for a couple of nights. On the way down, we stopped for breakfast at Campbell town, then headed over to the coast and followed the East Coast southwards. Stopping at some of the little towns like Triabunna along the way.

We had enough time to drive out the Tasman Peninsular to Port Arthur - beautiful part of the country, would be great for summer holidays.

We then headed to  Hobart and navigated the one way system to find out hotel. We decided to spend Friday in Hobart itself rather than exploring more of the surrounding area. Ollie and I hadn't spent much time in Hobart before so were keen to see a bit more of it.

While wandering round the waterfront we found a harbour cruise that caught our fancy and was leaving quite soon so we signed up for that. The boat took us up the river Derwent, under the harbour bridge past the Incat Factory (shipbuilders) and the Zinc processing plant to the upper harbour bridge, bringing us back down the other side of the river to show us some caves and a sea eagle that we spotted. The skipper was great with lots of local knowledge to share with us about the history of the place.

After dinner on Friday night, Ollie and I left the parents to return to the hotel by them selfs and went for a drink on the water front - its very pretty at night with all the lights in the trees and reflections on the water.

Saturday morning we had brunch the Jam Packed cafe which is in the Atrium of the old Jam Factory - quite an interesting building.

After we were jam packed with food we went and explored the markets - Ollie and I adding more food by trying out the Strawberries & Cream, Ollie Bollen (dutch donuts) and local made fudge. We also managed to do our fresh fruit and vege shopping at the market which was a nice change.

Before starting the drive back to Launceston we drove up Mt Wellington - the tallest mountain near Hobart. Apparently from the top you can see almost 1/3 of Tasmania. Unfortunately there were clouds hanging round the top of the Mountain so we couldn't see anything. Was a bit spooky driving up there knowing there was a cliff edge next to you but not being able to see it with the clouds surrounding us. Was very very cold at the top of the mountain too so we didn't get out of the car for long!

Then we drove back to Launceston, up the central highway this time - getting to cross the river Derwent further up by going over the draw bridge.

Mum and Dad's last day with us was started off with brunch at The Raspberry Farm again. It was unfortunately pouring with rain so we didn't think we were going to get to walk up Cataract Gorge but by the time we had got back from brunch and done the grocery shopping (making the most of having a car and stocking up on all the heavy things!) the rain had eased. So we went for a walk up Cataract Gorge and around the basin at the top stopping at one of the cafes on the rivers edge for coffee and cake on the way back.

Was nice to have visitors and to get out and about exploring again.

Our Trip home

Seems our quick trip back to NZ disappeared into the past quicker than I thought, as after a reminder from a blog reader I realised I hadn't put an update of our trip home on here! So a bit belated but here it is!

Our flight back to Wellington went via Sydney so we got to have a quick catch up over lunch with Ollie's sister Katrina before hopping on our next flight.

Wellington was calm and dry when we arrived at midnight...gently welcoming us home! Ollie jokingly suggested we go for a quick sail on the harbour (he really misses the boat!) as it was by this stage 1am we decided to head to our beds after a quick look at the boat....unfortunately we should have taken that opportunity as the next couple of days were typical winter Wellington weather - wet and windy!

Our first day there was spent with Ollie's sister Yolene and her family - getting to know the new nephew, and playing with our niece Sylvia at Te Papa.

We of course had to have a brunch or 3 at one of our favourite cafes, Chocolate Days in Days Bay.

We took a day trip up to Napier to visit my friend Mel, and meet her new baby. On the way back we cam across snow as we were driving over the Rimutakas - was a bit of a novelty!

The rest of the days flew by, catching up with friends, visiting other new babies, dinner with family, lunches and coffees with friends, and hanging out with Yolene and the kids some more.

Our friends Fiona & Bill came down from Auckland for a couple of days, and we had fun catching up with them.

8 days home was gone before we knew it and next we were having brunch with Ollie's sister Yolene and her family before heading off to the airport and back to Launceston.

We're all back into School and Work as normal (and counting down a little til we go home again!)

Birthday Boy's Day

For Ollie's birthday, we had a food based adventure day. I enlisted our friend Ruth to help me out and provide us with her company for the day.

In a style typical to me, Ollie was given few details - just being told that he needed to be ready to leave the house by 10am and that he didn't need to have breakfast first. About 10ish Ruth arrived and whisked us away in her car.....to the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm....one of our favourite cafes. We got to sit in front of the open fire, while eating a very decadant brunch.

From here we headed out to Penguin - a cute little seaside village...full of penguins (not real ones though). We had a look round the town, and the village market.

Next up was time for more food.....off to the House of Anvers Chocolate Factory for some tasting.

And as if that wasn't enough food for the day....our next stop was the Cherry Shed, for a shared platter of nibbles (including Cherry Relish & Cherry/Chilli Jam) as well as sampling some Cherry Wine, Cherry Liquer and Cherry port...finished off by a Cherry Real Fruit Ice Cream.

But still there was more! A Birthday cake was waiting at home for Ollie - however I let my reputation slip a little and it wasn't even decorated (it was all about the taste this year!) and no photo of it either!

The day was going to be finished with dinner at a fancy restaurant, but being Sunday the place I had chosen wasn't open! So we just had takeaways....got to keep the food levels up!!!!

Thanks to Ruth for aiding and abetting me with my plans, and joining us for the day :)

Exams are over Expedition.

After a week of exams (one from 9-12 every morning) Ollie was ready for a break, and so was I! Luckily we still had Ruth's car, so we made a plan to get out of town. Starting off with brunch at Campbell town we headed over to the East coast. We'd had a week of mostly sunny weather in Launceston with only one day of rain, and had obviously been living in our own little world as we hadn't realised how much rain they had been having on the East coast. Turned out we were lucky to get through as the road had been closed for a while....we could see why!

We had a look round Coles Bay, and Bicheno. It was a pretty wet day, though despite the crashing waves on the beach it wasn't so windy.

From there we headed up to St Mary's where we braved getting out of the care - to run into a cafe for lunch! We then followed the coast up to St Helen's and then as far along the Bay of Fires as we could go - including Binalong Bay.

The East Coast is supposed to be one of the most stunning parts of Tasmania....shame about the torrential rain when we visited - I bet with the sun shining on the water it would have definitely had the Wow factor. Hopefully we will get a chance to explore this part of Tassie again - in the sunshine preferably so we can get out and walk along the beaches. Was just what we needed though - to get out of town, and have a change of scenery!!

Our next adventure is a trip to NZ to visit friends and family, and for Ollie to say hi to his Boat!