2013 Trip to Tasmania - Day 4 - Convict Station

When my wife told me she booked a room in Norfolk Bay Convict Station I expected to spend the night in a refurbished prison offering to experience the 19th century life of a British convict transported to Van Diemen's Land for the term of his natural life. In fact, it was built by convicts as a warehouse and the Australia's first railway station near the place where ships from Hobart unloaded. Later it was converted to a guesthouse where the owners tried to preserve the period atmosphere. Not being an expert on the convict era I can't tell how successful they were in their endeavour but the place did look anachronic. 

2013 Trip to Tasmania - Cruises

Not all cruises start with a stately

procession through Sydney Harbour on board of a towering white ship. The ones we booked in Tasmania began with donning a red waterproof jacket and strapping ourselves to the seats of a yellow speedboat. However, before we were allowed to lay our hands on those jackets we had to wait in a queue for another day. We came to Bruny Island innocently assuming that on a Tuesday, two weeks before school holidays we would be welcome guests at any tourist attraction. No way, José! The whole cruise, all 100 seats, was sold out and we were only offered tickets for the next day. Well, we didn't book the seats in advance because we wanted to keep our schedule flexible, so we got an opportunity to flex it. This is why I was talking about tasty place rather than sea adventures on Day 3.

2013 Trip to Tasmania - Day 3 - Bruny Island - Tasty Places

Smokehouse was the first place we visited on Bruny Island. Pretty much everything we tried there - smoked trout, salmon, sardines, sausages - was delicious. Unfortunately, most of their products had to be kept in a cool place so we couldn't take them with us. Just goes to show that there are places, like Cascade Brewery and that smokehouse, that you have to visit personally to fully enjoy their produce. They also had an impressive drinks bar to accompany their food - I wished there was a taxi service on the island, or at least my wife had a driver's licence.

The next destination was Bruny Island Cheese Company. Our first encounter with their cheeses was at Sydney Good Food and Wine Show earlier that year. Olga was so impressed by the taste that she made it a mandatory stop on our route (and, possibly, planned the whole trip to Tasmania as a pretext). At the tasting counter we weren't picky, tried whatever was offered and weren't disappointed - all cheeses were good - but if I had to choose the best one I would take soft Oen wrapped in vine leaves. It was so delicious that we ate a whole wheel for dinner. There was also a cafe where we bought and immediately devoured a pizza made with local cheese. Strangely, there wasn't quattro formaggi on the menu, a pizza which could be their signature dish.

Discovery: washed rind cheese is hand-washed with salty water daily during its maturation process. I guess, it explains the prices.

2013 Trip to Tasmania - Day 2 - Bruny Island - 43 Degrees

What with scones and towers we nearly missed the 5 pm ferry to Bruny Island. That ferry was the main reason why we chose Bargain Car Rentals - they were the only company that insured a ferry trip to Bruny. The crossing itself took just 15 min but with boarding and disembarking time it added up to half an hour.

The directions to the hotel were:

After disembarking from the ferry at Roberts Point, drive south for approx. 30 klms...

I wondered which road I should take, but I shouldn't have worried - there was just one starting at the ferry wharf. It was called Main Road. As we were going south we passed many places which we intended to visit later - a smokehouse, a cheese company, a chocolate factory and a berry farm. Finally we arrived at 43 Degrees Apartments in Adventure Bay.

2013 Trip to Tasmania - Day 2 - Shot Tower

We came there for scones. Olga read someone's review which held the scones served in the Shot Tower cafe in the highest regard. It took us a while to figure out how to order them as they were not on the menu. We were looking for scones but what we needed was Devonshire Tea. I am glad we sorted it out because missing those scones would be a tragedy. I could write another paragraph describing them, but this post is not intended for Google+ Food Porn community. Keeping it short and sweet, they were addictive. If that alone was not enough, the raspberry jam served with the scones was the best one I've ever bought. In retail it is known as Steph's Kitchen brand and I couldn't leave that place without a jar of it.

2013 Trip to Tasmania - Day 2 - MONA and Moorilla

That day our first destination was going to please my wife rather than me - we were going to MONA, Museum of Old and New Art. It was mostly known for N rather than for O, and I, being no fan of modern visual arts, expected to spend our time there with "Yes, darling" mask on my face. However, I was delighted to discover that the museum owner thoughtfully placed it in a vineyard. In a real vineyard with a real cellar door! I din't know if I would have stomach for wine after New Art so I set the priorities accordingly - first, the winery, then everything else.

The place was called Moorilla. A modern building, sleek design and wine bottles with stylish black-and-white labels lined up on the counter. At that time I didn't realise that they would, almost literally, give me a taste of what to expect in the museum. In cellar doors I usually try to buy either good or unusual wines - they had both. I'll tell you about the latter - it was 2011 Muse Cabernet Sauvignon with smoke and capsicum flavours. Capsicum was explained by early harvest (which later appeared to be a distinctive feature of southern Tasmanian vineyards.) I wondered where the smoke came from - if it wasn't a bushfire then they should be careful not to hire smokers to harvest grapes. When I mentioned it to the girl who conducted the tasting, that young rosy-cheeked lady said that the wine's smokiness reminded her of Laphroaig... I looked at her with new interest. My wife once told me that she became a centre of attention and almost gravitational attraction for all nearby males when she sauntered in a shopping centre carrying a bottle of Johnny Walker's Blue Label. Obviously, there is something about proximity of women and whisky, geographically or even in a sentence, that arouses men's interest. 

Having finished with cellar door business we headed to MONA.

2013 Trip to Tasmania - Day 1 - Lark Distillery

We left the car in the motel and walked to the city. It was a short stroll which took us from Battery Point to Salamanca, past several noisy pubs occupied by Hobart's finest, along the waterfront and, finally, to The Lark Distillery.

The place looked like a bar - the first thing that caught my attention was a collection of whisky bottles beyond the counter. Possibly there are bars with a richer choice of whisky (they say that in Scotland any bar has 20 sorts of whisky just on tap), but I still have to find one. However, there was no point in going all the way from Sydney to Hobart just to taste Glenfiddich, so I asked for local booze which should have been available for tasting as the joint was called a cellar door. Indeed it was available for a small fee that I found reasonable as some bottles reached the price of Johnny Walker's Blue Label. Where is a tasting there is a talk. The guy who lectured us on the subtleties of Tasmanian whisky was knowledgeable and obviously liked his own produce. When he started the tasting blurb by saying "This is what I call a breakfast whisky," I couldn't help exclaiming "I love Hobart!"

Good thing I wasn't driving - I would hate to spit their whiskies out. All of them were good but the cask-strength whisky (58% ABV) aged in port barrels was hands down outstanding. Before that tasting I knew the difference between old and new casks. Now I know the difference between old wine and old port casks - whisky matured in the latter had a brighter and richer taste. It possessed an almost dessert quality - vanilla flavour was followed by a smooth and sweet taste which would be a good match to some kind of Danish pastry.

I guess the price of that whisky was justified but at that time I was not prepared to invest a small fortune into a half-a-litre bottle so I limited myself to a 100 ml hip flask. Now I have to be on my best behaviour for the rest of the year as my next message starts like this:

Dear Santa,
You know that Lark Distillery in Hobart...