Postcards from Tasmania 14

Day 14 Saturday 24/09/16

Time to head home!

This morning we farewell the Writers Cottage and our friendly hosts...

What a view!

This is Posie and Andrews secret - not many people know that their back yard is a whole valley of bushland and green fields. Its so beautiful!

The back deck of the cottage and the garden...

Posie Graeme-Evans is a renowned Australian writer with McLeod's Daughters being one of her triumphs, among many best selling novels. She was such a welcoming, friendly host - you can see how bubbly she is!  We were sad to leave but the whole middle of Tasmania was calling us as we had to go right up the guts back to Devonport to catch the boat home.

We made our way back to Hobart then headed north up to Bridgewater then across to Richmond - famous for its very English looking bridge.  The place was packed with Saturday market goers so we doubled back to Cambridge and went to Coal River Farm Winery and Chocolatier for lunch...

Beef cheek and orange empanadas on pea mash...

Briased brisket on brioche...

We have had a lot of Pinot Noir on our travels, all very good.

View out from the winery...

Then we travelled on up to Oatlands and stopped to see the Callington Flour Mill.  I bought 3 kilos of bread flour there.

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Then it was on up to Campbell Town, Evandale, Perth ...

...over to Westbury and Deloraine then up to Sassafrass...

Some weather brewing...

then Labrobe and finally into Devonport.

Our boat came into port at 5.40pm and we started queuing to get on at 6.30pm

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We left Devonport at 8.30pm ahead of time and arrived into Melbourne at about 5.30pm.  Half an hour later and we were rolling off the boat and heading to our friends place for an early breakfast with them.

We decided we'd drive home instead of having another night in Pearl and risking her getting wet.  Check out this bumper canola seed crop!

We stopped in Dunkeld at the Royal Mail Hotel for a spot of lunch, our last hurrah!

Confit duck and pumpkin lasagne - delicious!

This is a map showing our route around the Apple Isle.  We had such a great time, it really is a beautiful state and if you get a chance, get on over there and explore.  We were after a restful time so we really didn't get up to much but that is what we planned to do.  So much to see and do - a post card around every corner!

This is my bounty of goodies that I collected around Tasmania - a taste of Tasmania!
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I hope you've enjoyed our trip as much as we have!

Cheers - Julie & Gus xx

Postcards from Tasmania 13

The Day 13 Friday 23/09/16 To Fat Pig Farm - we are excited!

We've long been fans of the Gourmet Farmer, Matthew Evans and his SBS TV show so when I discovered he had opened a restaurant on his farm, I worked out that the last Friday of our trip worked in with being right there! I got online and booked 2 tickets.

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Posie, our gracious hostess drove us there as there are no taxis running in Cygnet at the moment.

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Rubber boots for farm walks - it gets muddy!

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The food pics follow through the menu ...

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Cider in an enamel cup...

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Time for a ramble around the farm...

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The huge, thriving market garden...

Matthew was very generous with his time and is a very funny man...

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Wessex saddleback pig - this Denise who is soon to give birth...

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Fat pigs on the farm...

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Elsie, very much awaiting her calf...

...who appeared the next day (from a lowline Angus) and is named Kevin. (Pic from Fat Pig Farm facebook page)...

~ we really fluked a perfect day for it!

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Back to the restaurant for dessert and coffee.  I bought Matthew's Winter book and a FPF teatowel.

The lady who sat across from us took this photo, so thank you Linda! 

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Such a great day and I think value for money at $130/head. A delicious lunch and wines, meeting Matthew (wife Sadie and son Hedley were in the US) and 4 hours entertainment and spent with nice people. Good deal! Posie's husband picked us up and took us back to the cottage when we were finished. 

Cheers - Joolz xx