thefridgeraider.: tasmania...the north, hobart and yewin' in the huon!

just when people thought that blogging was all about writing and sharing about recent events in ones life, a new craze has emerged.. blogging about events that occurred many moons ago. here is a post about my trip to tasmania, which occurred late last year. i failed to actually finish the post and press the 'publish post' button. and so i shall do so now. here it is. prepare to go back in time...

'ahhh tassie...the place that has soil that looks good enough to eat, the place of rolling patchwork hills, and the place of many foodie delights! my sister, jess, and i have recently just spent eight days both staying with family and road-tripping around tassie. we had a delightful time and here are some happy snaps, and short anecdotes from the trip.

after flying into launceston airport, and being greeted by our loving grandparents, we drove down the bass highway for lunch at the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm. the grandparents, jess and i feasted on the delicious food at the cafe and i was especially impressed with the impeccable service at the cafe. i settled for a toasted lamb wrap, with roasted local vegies and ashgrove fetta, served with a yoghurt sauce. for dessert jess and i shared the most amazing raspberry sundae ever! -with raspberries, homemade raspberry ice cream, raspberry sauce and cream...mmmm, not bad at all ;) the tart raspberries perfectly complemented the sweet ice cream resulting in some happy taste buds.

we then ventured to Ashgrove Cheese to do some obligatory sampling and pick up some cheeses. jess and i got some of ashgroves signature flavoured cheeses including wild wasabi, chilli, lavender and bush pepper - all of which were munched upon during the duration of our trip.

on the second day of our adventure we hit cradle mountain. jess and i tackled dove lake and also walked the track to ronny creek, a total of 9.2km and a feat which my unathletic self shall be forever proud of. i thoroughly enjoyed walking around dove lake and ronny creek, the scenery was beautiful and i loved walking through the trees, listening to and seeing all the wildlife. during our walk we saw many wombats, an echidna, a few wallaby and a snake! i spotted the snake infront of me of the track, a black snake about 1.5metres long, it gave me quite a fright, but we just waited till it past and then hurried along our merry way! emphasis on the hurried. i just assumed it was a red belly, but upon our arrival home, my father informed me that there are in-fact no red bellies in tasmania, and that it would have been a tiger snake. i almost fainted.

jess, dove lake, and cradles cradle.

pretty.

the hills are alive...

the famous boat shed with my infamous sister ;)

me walking through the porcupine fields.

wombies! this one had a baby coming out of its pouch on its rear end, which if you have a microscope, may be able to be seen.

me at ronny creek at the conclusion of our trek.

the winding path.

after our lovely drive home, we sat about for a while, sipped some tea, and then were joined by my aunty christine, uncle phillip and aunty barb. we went out for dinner, and our cousin and her fiance met us at the restaurant. jess and i shared a scrumptious spicy mexican pizza and caught up with the family. we then went back to our grandparents house and delved into some of my nanna's delectable pavlova, talked some more, took some photos, and then we said our farewells and i took my exhausted self to bed.

the next day we set off on an adventure to stanley, being chauffeured by my aunty barbara, to see the nut. the day exceeded our every expectation as we also climbed a lighthouse, ate some of the best fish and chips i have had (at hurseys seafoods) and also discovered a new species...the paddymelon.

the discovery of the paddymelon, more so mine and jess' introduction to the paddymelon, is quite a humorous tale. as climbing the nut, we crossed paths with a couple who queried as to whether we had seen the baby paddymelons in the bush. jess and i had not the faintest idea as to what a paddymelon was ( ...'a melon?' i thought...'a small shrub?') and we said we hadnt seen then, and the couple told us to keep walking and we would see them. we walked for a good few minutes and then came across some small wallaby like creatures by the side of the path. 'paddymelons!' we kept walking and came across some more tourists, we decided to cause some havoc, having abundant knowledge on the paddymelon, and enquire as to whether they had seen any paddy melons... 'uh, i dont think so?' they replied.

'oh just keep walking and you will see them' replied jessica.

'uh ok' they said uncertainly, and as we walked further away i proceeded to burst into hysterical laughter.

the view from the lookout at table cape ain't half bad.

aunty barb, nanna, grandpa and myself at the lookout.

fields and table cape lighthouse.

fodder and my beloved tasmanian dirt.

myself on 'the nut' overlooking stanley.

beautiful jess and bright blue sea.

a nut on 'the nut'.

again.

and yet again.

me falling off 'the nut'.

the following day jess and i stole our grandparents car and went exploring solo. first up was the town of latrobe, where we ventured into the, lets say interesting shop, reliquaire. here i purchased some tea and browsed around. next on our list was the delectable cherry shed for freshly made cherry ice cream and also the tantalising house of anvers for ploughman-esque sandwiches and hot cocoa; and also for photo fun in anvers garden.

the cherry sheds delectable, made to order cherry ice cream.

the house of anvers.

jess and her honeypot (actually hot chocolate).

impressive flowers.

everybody loves a good sanga.

wishful lydia and pensive jessica @ the house of anvers.

18 i am.

we then had to farewell our grandparents the following morn and set off on our own journey, to hobart and the huon where we would be yewin'! after some confusion at the hire car shop, we set off in our trusty stead, 'mitsu' the mitsubishi. we whisked down to hobart taking in the beautiful countryside and we caught the end of the salamanca markets. we browsed the markets, purchasing fudge, chutney, apples , olives and strawberries; one kilo for $3! i would've fallen off my chair if i had been sitting on one! jess and i then experienced the most amazing indian ever at annapurna's, and this experience was repeated a further two times during our stay in hobart. so so good.

farewell nanna and grandpa!

the best indian ever. oh and so much of it!

we consumed many pastries and coffees during our time in hobart, at our favourite breaky hangout 'jackman and mcross.' and i also experienced 3minutes of fame, having a 'surprise' encounter with one of my foodie heros, the matthew evans. (actually stalked him down.) once i had sighted him at the hobart farmers markets, jess and i had to do three laps of the market in order for me to wind up the courage to talk to him and ask for a photo.

danishes and coffee = two happy chap's.

just a casual parisian in tasmania.

the gourmet farmer himself...matthew evans!

round two of the best indian ever.

more pastries, more coffee. and tea.

jess and i then took a very long route to the huon valley, courtesy of my notsoexcellent navigational skills, and spent two nights at the beautiful randalls bay at 'the lido on randalls.' amazing.

our freshly bought, freshly cooked produce.

just the view out our window. nothing special.

'the girls' munching on their gloriously green grass.

cloud appreciation.

reflections.

more pastries - almond croissants from yoyo's! recommended by mr. evans

not your average jetty.

floating, floating.

our secluded place of residence, randalls bay.

jess @ randalls.

looking out, analysing our kayaking route for later on.

hey mickey your so fine @ mickey beach.

deep sea kayaking adventures in sharky waters!

my humongous, glorious, fluffy bed; complete with waffle linen.

dinner delights. roast veggie and goats cheese pizza. yum.

the front of our apartment, and me in the kitchen of plenty.

randalls performs again.

and again.

glorious sunsets are what you get at randalls. we will miss you.

and so, fare-welling randalls, we drove back to hobart. it was much faster this time. even including our trip up mount wellington, which was very lord of the ringsish. minus smeogul.