 |
 |
New Articles
Uncomplicated Travels About Tasmania’s North East
By Greg Clarke
‘Uncomplicated’ is one of the most beautiful words in English. Works a treat for job interviews, relationships and car repairs. When it comes to travel, well an uncomplicated airport is a thing of increasingly rare beauty, not quite the twin of finding a Matisse at a market, but a treasure nevertheless.
Tasmania’s second largest city Launceston is serviced by the major Australian airlines and the soon-to-arrive Tiger Airways. The planes pull up barely a wingspan from the car parks. It’s a skip across the tarmac to the terminal where you pick your bags straight off the luggage cart. The hire car will be faithfully waiting about 20 metres away.
Launceston is the gateway to some of the best experiences in the north-east but before you take to the uncluttered highways make for Relbia and you can, without encountering a traffic light, be exchanging salutations with vintners within 10 minutes of leaving the airport.
Fine Wine
At the Relbia end of the Tamar Valley Wine Route many wineries are smaller family- run operations. Sharmans Fine Wines is one. The vineyard is set in a valley overlooking the North Esk River and autumn brings ideal ripening conditions where long days of sunshine hover over the vines. Besides tending the vines the enthusiastic and passionate owner Mike Sharman mans the cellar door. Other wineries to look out for include Jinglers Creek and the far larger Josef Chromy.
Sharmans Fine Wines, 175 Glenwood Road, Relbia: 6343 0773
Good Food
What’s fine wine without good food? Tassie specialises in food as fresh as the air that helps nurture the plump and juicy grapes. From seafood including oysters shucked just minutes before you buy them, to artisan breads made from stone-ground organic flour, wheels of cheeses, berries and natural ice creams, rock lobster patés and meats smoked to old family recipes.
In and around the east coast fishing village of St Helens, look out for:
Salty Seas – fresh full-flavoured oysters and whopping rock lobsters (6376 1252)
Leavenbank breads – handmade organic breads (6376 1575)
Findoc Farms – a one-stop shop for much of the region’s best produce, including smallgoods and fruits (6376 1990)
Eureka Farms – the ice creams, jams, sauces and chutneys are derived from what is grown on the farm; there’s plenty of fresh fruit too (6372 5500).
If you stay a while at St Helens you won’t just be eating. There are beaches and cruises around Georges Bay. St Helens is also the game-fishing capital of Tassie.
Salt Water
On a headland at Falmouth, on Tassie’s east coast, the new, stylish and modern villas of Saltwater can appear to take inspiration from the white washed homes of Santorini. There are self-catering facilities here, so load up on good food from the region’s providores. When you’ve finished eating, the spa room is a champagne-cork pop from the Tasman Sea.
www.saltwaterbnb.com
Eagle Eyes
With so much good food in Tassie, you’ve got to keep up some sort of exercise regime. Walk up Mount William and you’ll get the same view of the local eagles from the highest point on the east coast. A well-defined track leads to the 216-metre peak. In clear weather there are extensive views inland and beyond the coast, some of the Furneaux Group of islands in Bass Strait.
But it’s not like you have to slog to reach the summit. A walk of about 1.5 hours will get you there and back to your food-filled car. The park has thriving populations of Forester kangaroos, wallabies and wombats.
www.parks.tas.gov.au/natparks/mtwilliam
Fire Walking
The Bay of Fires is an extraordinary beach south of Mount William. The Bay of Fires Lodge, designed by architect and former owner Ken Latona, is the only building for miles. Visitors arrive via a two-day, fully escorted walk along the uncorrupted beaches. The attendant guides are trained by Daniel Alps, one of the state’s most celebrated chefs.
Walkers spend a night in a standing camp hidden in the sand dunes and two nights at the Bay of Fires Lodge. The lodge has a maximum of 10 visitors. Somehow this ensures that not only the house, but also the guests blend into the environment.
Rainwater is collected for use in the bathrooms and kitchens. Solar panels provide the power though most visitors will remember the lapping waters of the Tasman Sea and the wombats before the surreptitious highlights of sustainable accommodation.
Water Works
At 90 metres St Columba Falls is one of Tasmania’s highest waterfalls. It’s an easy walk from the car park to the falls under canopies of rainforest including sassafras, myrtle and man ferns. The water tumbles at a rate of around 200,000 litres a minute and the viewing platform gets you so close to the action you can almost shower in the spray.
Cheese Wheels
To get to St Columba Falls you have to drive right past this cheesery. In the fertile Pyengana Valley, the Healey family makes great wheels of cheeses to a recipe pioneered by 19th-century forebears. The milk for the curds and whey comes from their own herd of dairy cows, milked by the cheesery.
The cheese wheels sit in cloth wrapping and are turned by hand until maturity. Gloriously there is no plastic, which can dramatically affect taste, anywhere to be seen. The Healeys have been making cloth-bound cheddars since 1895. Pyengana cheese is regularly served on Qantas international flights, but is offered exclusively to first-class passengers.
St Columba Falls Road, Pyengana: 6373 6157
Astonishing Barnbougle
Even if you’re not a golfer you might want to play a round at Barnbougle. Soon after it opened in 2005 it was included in the world’s top 50 courses by North American Golf Digest magazine.
This links course weaves between dunes that rise from Bass Strait. The clubhouse perches on a dune between the 9th and 18th greens. Marram chivvies the length of all the fairways and carpets the dunes though Barnbougle, named for a Celtic word meaning ‘warning call’, might not be as tough as it looks. The fairways are as generously sized as a Rubenesque woman. Refreshingly, the course comes without the formality usually found at courses of this stature.
For Cellaring
If you’ve run out of the wine you bought at the start of your tour this is a chance to stock up on bottles for the cellar at home. This north-east Tasmanian vineyard produces some of Tassie’s most renowned cool-climate wines. Established in 1988 on the banks of Pipers Brook, Brook Eden is in a valley that makes artists pine for their brushes and oils. The wines are as alluring as the valley and have intense flavours with distinct regional characteristics. Riesling, pinot noir and a lively pinot rosé can all be sampled at the cellar door. One of the world’s largest single commercial lavender farms is nearby at Bridestowe. If you’re travelling this way in December or January when the plants are in flower don’t even consider driving past without calling in. The display of pervasive purple is extraordinary.
www.brookeden.com.au
www.bridestoweestates.com.au
Farewell Dinner
If you spend time in Launceston before your return flight make time for a visit to Stillwater River Café, one of Tasmania’s best restaurants. Housed in the converted Ritchies Mill, the dining area overlooks the Tamar River and is just 10 minutes’ walk from central Launceston.
The food is modern Australian where fresh, seasonal, local produce is infused with the flavours of the East. A stylish café by day, at night Stillwater is dressed for elegance and one of Tasmania’s finest food and wine experiences. Degustation dinners where Tassie produce is married to selected wines are also available.
www.stillwater.net.au
When your holiday is finished you virtually park your hire car right out front of the terminal. The whole procedure of returning the car and checking in for the flight takes, oh, about 15 minutes. It’s a beautifully uncomplicated way to finish.
www.discovertasmania.com is a comprehensive guide to Australia’s island state.