Tamar Trippin'

Beaconsfield and Beauty point were today's points of call

Our first stop was the Beaconsfield Mine and Heritage Centre, infamous for the mine collapse killing one miner and holding 2 others prisoner for 14 days.
This was a very interesting place and I thought it would be all about the mine collapse but it did provide much other important information regarding the mine itself and history of the area.

We were also some of the first guests to see the newly finished area providing access to the top of the mine shaft and surrounding area.  As this was the first day this area was opened, there was also an outside broadcast by LAFM the local station and one of the presenters was even broadcasting from the top of the mine tower!

After a a little souvenir shopping and then a barbecue lunch in the park we took the short drive to Seahorse World in Beauty Point. This is a working farm and is the first Seahorse farm in the world. Our tour was 45 minutes and very informative, but we also saw much more than seahorses, there were tanks containing local fish including sharks and cuttle fish.

Katie and I also had the opportunity to hold a sea horse, not expected at all.  The guide assured us the sea horses were not in danger or stressed by this.  To hold they were actually quite hard, bony, and stiff.

On the same jetty as the Seahorse world was the Platypus and Echidna viewing, such a strange place to breed platypus and echidnas on a jetty, in sheds.  It was a true highlight to do this tour, also 45 minutes and very informative. The platypus were cute, however no matter how spiky the little Echidnas were, they won the cute factor!

Tomorrow, Hobart town!

Lovely Launceston

After a very shaky and tiring journey,we started the morning with the waiting to get off the Spirit of Tasmania 1.  It was a relief to get off and it wasn't long before Katie regained some of her colour and was back to her self.

Rather than doing a foodie discovery tour a change of plans was needed
for the unsettled ones and we went to Tasmania Zoo about 30 km from Launceston.


Many animal was to be seen and two highlight's were the Little Penguin feeding and also Tasmanian Devil feeding.

We also has the pleasure of seeing baby wombat and mother, and in Katie's own words, 'Soooo, cute'.

The Zoo staff were very professional and knowledgeable.

We then checked into our accommodation and were very impressed, this is definantly one of the times it has paid off to research and book ahead.

The afternoon was spent in Launceston at Cataract Gorge and taking a ride on the chair lift.

The evening was finished with a spanish dinner tapas style at Toros Launceston

No sea legs

After a lovely dinner and watching some television, we retired around 11PM into our Ocean Recliners.  For us it made sense, no reason booking a room when we could have the equivalent comfort of airline business class seats.

Well that is where the theory started and ended. Admittedly, the seats were comfortable, but the constant vibrations in the room and therefore through the seat,s was like sitting on a Gym Vibromax.

This in turn caused Katie to become nauseous and vomit the remainder of the journey till Devonport.

This vibration through the cabin and banging noise of loose pipes was totally untolerable and myself was only able to get around 2 hours sleep,

Katie on the other hand spent the night watching TV and looking into paper bags.

Spirit Of Tasmania 1

After a leisurely afternoon in Port Melbourne watching the world go by we got in line to board.

Boarding started at 6pm, and we were in line ready to go. We passed through security check, in which the officer had great interest in the Thumper battery.



It was then a matter of more waiting passing our booking details over, receiving our cards to access our room and then more waiting. In all we didn't get to drive onto the ship until 7:45 PM. It was a long wait.

Next time we will bring some snacks and even games to pass the time.

Dinner was had at The Leatherwood, Spirit of Tasmania's full table service restaurant. The entrée and main was delicious, however the dessert was a little of a let down.

I had the entrée of "Woodbridge port infused oak cold smoked salmon with shaved radish and cucumber salad finished with lemon citronette"followed by a main of "Tasmanian tenderloin of beef, chive mash, sauté mushrooms and beef jus".

Katie had entrée of "Tasmanian tasting plate of chicken terrine, smoked beef pastrami, five spice quail and Kings Feast pork pie" with a main course of "Pancetta wrapped Nichols chicken breast, charred asparagus and tarragon cream".

Our desserts were "Citrus cheesecake filled with rhubarb compote with candied lemon and crème fraiche" and "Sticky toffee pudding with salted caramel sauce" both ok but really could have come from the cold dairy case at Woolworths.

After dinner we explored from top to bottom of the ship and have found a nice little place to watch some TV and blog.

The loop

29th March 2015 - 10 April 2015