Tassie Time

When the Victorian government declared a public holiday for the Footy Grand Final Parade last month, we very quickly booked tickets back to Tasmania for the long weekend.  We had been wanting to explore the North East region of the state and figured that was the perfect opportunity to do so.

We flew in to Launceston on Friday morning and headed straight to some wineries along the Tamar Valley Wine Route.  Some were new to us, some we had been to before, and we excitedly stocked up to ship some back home.  It was a rare warm(ish) October day - two of our previous trips to Tassie had also been during the month of October and we were snowed on during both of those adventures.

Josef Cromy Winery

The adorable dog at Moors Hill Wines

The resident pot belly pig at Holm Oak Winery

After lunch we started the drive over to the East Coast, taking crazy country dirt roads along the way. It wasn't exactly intentional, but we seem to always end up on dirt roads somehow so it wasn't really that surprising.  We did solve the mystery of what's in the North East corner of Tassie - not much!  

Pretty sure it's my genetics that always leads me to dirt roads.  Thanks dad!

We stayed at the Ironhouse Brewery right on the coast.  We had stopped there for beers with my parents a few years back and had thought it looked like a nice, quiet place to stay.  It was, except that 100+km/hour winds rolled in and that had everything blowing around for the duration of our trip.  Luckily we brought earplugs.

Ironhouse Point

Saturday morning we drove a bit North to Bay of Fires National Park.  We stopped first at Binalong Bay and were in awe of the beautiful rocks covered in bright orange moss.  If it weren't for that darn wind we would have stayed for hours just climbing around on the rocks.

Binalong Bay

Binalong Bay

We then drove north to check out more of Bay of Fires.  Unfortunately we soon discovered that the main road was closed due to repairs.  That didn't stop us though, and we found a dirt road that looked like it eventually met back up with the main road.  The road was in decent shape, and we drove right along until it quickly dipped down into a creek.  A this point we figured we better have a look around before we kept driving - and good thing, because the creek was quite deep and the only way to get out the other side was a very steep incline.  There was no way our little rental car was going to make it.

The end of the road for us

We went back to the main road and found a nice quiet bay to stop at for lunch.  Luckily it was sheltered from the wind.  We just sat there for awhile, soaking in the sun and the beautiful scenery.

Lunch spot

Time for a nap

With the road closed, we realised that was probably just about all we were going to see of the Bay of Fires.  We decided to head inland a bit to check out St Columba Falls.  It was a short walk to the bottom, and when we looked up, we saw...  the sun.  It was probably the worst time of day to see the falls because the sun was right at the top, and the mist from the falls was reflecting the light so we couldn't see it very well.  It was pretty regardless, and a pleasant little walk after the drive out.  We stopped at the very bogan Pub in the Paddock on the way back to grab a drink and watch the bogans watching the Grand Final Footy match.  

St Columba Falls

Along the way to St Columba Falls

 Sunday morning we got up and headed back to Launceston, stopping first for pancakes at this bizarre little place out in the middle of nowhere.  With full bellies and full boxes of wine, we headed back home to Melbourne.

The deck at our accommodation 

Farewell Tassie, until next time!