As Time Goes By: Under The Tasman Sky ...

Tasmania! The land of cattle and sheep and mountains. We arrived at Launceston airport around 7:35 a.m. on Tuesday. After which, we proceeded to collect our vehicles and made our way to Chudleigh to visit the Honey Farm. There were free honey samples where there was honey with lime, honey with apple, even honey with chilli, and also saw a clip on the life of honey bees.

Chudleigh Honey Farm

We dropped by a Salmon Farm after our honey-tasting, although it was not in our itinerary, but since it was on the way, we decided to take a look. The salmon was really raw. The ones I ate at all the sushi bars tasted much better!

The Salmon Farm

We went to the Ashgrove Cheese Factory after that. There was a video on how cheese was being made. I finally know what curds and whey are now! Curds are the solid part of the cheese and whey is the liquid part, and both curds and whey would be thrown into a big boiler and churned into other types of cheese.

The Cheese Factory

Lots of cheese in stacks
(reminds me of the NYDC's Cheese cake)

Making curds and whey

After the cheese factory, we went to Sheffield (the Mural Town) for lunch. The town of Sheffield is called a mural town due to the wall paintings or murals. And the paintings are really nice! We drove on to Cradle Mountain after that.

Can you believe this is a wall painting?

Upon arriving at Cradle Mountain, we checked into Cosy Cabins, which was really a cabin house, like what those hunters of old used to stay in. We wanted to take a hike around Dove Lake, but unfortunately it was raining so heavily that we decided to go the following morning, which meant we had to sacrifice a few other places we planned to go.

We took the long hike around Dove Lake of Cradle mountain the next morning (Wednesday). I turned my ankle tripping over a stone, and my brother had to half-carry me back to the car where my dad helped massage my ankle. Now I know how Cradle Mountain got its name. It seems to be in the shape of a baby in a cradle! But it is a real beautiful and magnificent place. The walk was really worth it as we got to see lots of pretty nature sights.

Close-up view of Cradle Mountain
(notice the cradle and baby shape?)

Cradle Mountain, flanked by Dove Lake
(Beautiful sight, right?)

After the long hike, we went down to the village of Stanley en route to Burnie. Stanley has a big rock formation called "The Nut", second only to the Ayers Rock in Alice Springs in the Northern Territories of Australia. The Nut is so-called due to an Aborigine name "Mee-Nut-Ree-Ka" or something to that effect.

Stanley is really what an old British fishing village is like - quaint, cosy, quiet. The villages which I have often read in books really came true for me! We took a chairlift up to The Nut, before walking down. Since my ankle was still hurting, I was rather reluctant to walk down, but what to do? Anyway, I bathed my ankle in hot water the moment I reached the hotel, so it did not hurt that much after that.

Part of The Nut

View of the village of Stanley on top of The Nut

After arriving at Burnie (Tasmania's fourth largest town), we checked into Bayside Burnie and went to the Observatory to try to catch a glimpse of the fairy penguins. However, they were only out at night, so we managed to find a Chinese restaurant where we had dinner. After dinner, we went back to the Observatory, but it was raining so heavily that we gave up the idea and went back to the inn.

Since we could not get to see any real penguins the previous night, we dropped by Penguin Town en route to Launceston the next morning (Thursday). Penguin Town is so-called because of the penguin motifs on the walls of the houses, penguin designs on trash cans and penguin mascots.

The mascot of Pengin Town

A penguin trash bin

We went by a Raspberry farm after that, but since the raspberries were not ripe yet, we could not pick any. So we just sampled some raspberry ice-cream and bought some raspberry jam before going to Launceston.

Upon arriving in Launceston (Tasmania's second largest town), we checked into the Country Club Villa Resort, where there is a casino on the premises. After checking in, we went to the Bridestowe Lavendar Farm. Unfortunately, the lavendar flowers have not totally bloomed yet, so we could not see much, except for the green leaves. Once they have bloomed, the entire place will be light purple, and that will be a rather attractive sight!

Bridestowe Lavendar Farm

After leaving the lavendar farm, we went to McDonald's for dinner. The McDonald's in Australia still sells milkshakes, hooray! When we went back to the villa, my parents wanted to visit the casino, but I preferred to stay in the room, partly because I was tired, and partly because "Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King" was showing on television and I wanted to watch that and drool at Legolas at the same time!

In the morning (Friday), we checked out of the villa resort and went to Hillsdale Strawberry Farm. We could pick and sample the strawberries as long as they are ripe.

Strawberry Flowers
(Can't believe they are white right?)

Ripening Strawberries

After the visit to the strawberry farm, we went on to Hobart. We stopped at a quaint little tea house for lunch on the way, then went to Barilla Bay Oyster Farm for a lecture and sampling.

Feasting on oysters

We proceeded to Hobart (Tasmania's capital and largest town) after the oyster feast. A pity we were not able to book the tour for Cascade Brewery (reputedly Australia's best beer) and (horrors of horrors!) the Cadbury Chocolate Factory! So we drove straight to Hobart and checked into Grosvenor Court Apartments. We thought we would be staying in the apartment units, but the kind manager gave us the big cottage to cater to our whole family.

After that, we walked to Salamanca Square to the Ball and Chain Grill for a Western dinner of steaks - the best charbroiled steaks I have ever partaken!

Salamanca Market

The market was more bustling on Saturday, as that is the day where the flea market will be set up. There are many things like clothing, accessories, silk, fabrics, drinks, food, local produce, wine, souvenirs, all at very low prices. After shopping, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch before going back to our cottage. Since there was nothing else to do the rest of the day, I borrowed two DVDs from the reception counter - "Troy" and "The Incredibles" and we watched the movies after dinner. My mum and aunt cooked fish porridge for dinner.

On Sunday, we woke up in the morning and checked out of the cottage. En route to Port Arthur, we stopped by the Sorell Fruit Farm, where there were lots of fruit available. We could go in and pick our own fruit. There were fruit like cherries, peaches, tayberries (my friend S Tay will be thrilled!), silvanberries, loganberries, apples, apricots, etc. I have not figured out what is the difference between all the various berries since they all looked the same to me.

After the fruitful treat, we proceeded to Port Arthur, to the town of Carnarvon, where we checked into Fairway Resort. We arrived at Port Arthur around noon, where we proceeded to buy a group ticket consisting of a river cruise which would pass by Isle of the Dead and Point Puer, a day walking tour of Port Arthur's prison colony, and a night ghost tour.

Point Puer Boys' Prison - a separate island from Port Arthur

The Isle of the Dead - where Port Arthur's dead was buried

The ruins of the old Penitentiary

The interior of a cell
(How can anyone bear staying in there for years?!)

Close-up of the prison cells

The insides of the Separate Prison, where the most hard-core criminals were kept

Spooky looking right? Just imagine the place at night, where all else is dark and quiet, and you can hear a pin drop, or the shuffling of footsteps, and it is so dark that you cannot even see your hand in front of your face .....

The ruins of the old hospital

The beds of the old hospital

We went back to the resort after the afternoon tour, showered, and drove back to Port Arthur for dinner and the night ghost tour. The ghost tour is actually on a guide showing us around Port Arthur at night (trust me, it is a very dark and spooky place, especially since there are no lights and the guide only brought along three lanterns), bringing us into some of the supposedly "haunted" rooms and telling us ghost stories and "true" events of things that happened to some of the guides.

I mustered up all my courage to follow along, and for someone who already finds the place spooky during the day, it was an even worse ordeal at night. I had to keep clutching at my brother, my cousin and cousin-in-law. But I survived the ghost tour, still alive and kicking, sanity still intact, all my senses still with me, without seeing or hearing or smelling or feeling anything unusual. There is even a certificate given for those who bravely completed the entire ghost tour! Luckily I managed to have a good sleep that night.

The next morning, we did our final packing before going to Hobart city centre for some shopping and lunch. About 3:30 p.m., we went back to the Barilla Bay Oyster Farm to buy some fresh oysters to bring back along with us, before proceeding to Hobart Airport for the Jetstar flight back to Melbourne, after which we would take an Emirates flight back to Singapore.

Aerial view of Tasmania

Bye bye, Australia!
(taken from the Viewing Gallery while waiting to board the plane)

View of the sky at dusk
(taken when the plane was still on the runway)

It was dark as it was raining rather heavily. Normally the December sun does not set until about 9:30 p.m. at night as it is summer over there. Due to the rain, our flight was also delayed for about an hour.