After arriving at about 8 pm last night at the Penguin Seaside Motel, and soon learning that the train we heard pass by the rear of the motel was a freight train and the only one for the night, we could relax. The room was huge with a large queen bed, a table with 6 chairs, a sitting area and a bedroom with another Queen and two single beds plus an ample kitchenette and roomy wheelchair friendly bathroom. As I still don't have a working keyboard - we guess the batteries are flat, we abandon the blog for tonight and watch a bit of Ambulance!
This morning we have arranged to meet a friend from my teen years - Bruce Harpley - for breakfast in Ulverstone, about 9 kms away. Driving in to town last night we saw the very Australian BIG PENGUIN. We will come back for a look-see after Ulverstone. But for now, we turn on Maps on my phone and set of to find a cafe called Daltons in Ulverstone. On KI (King Island as it will be abbreviated from here on) we blamed the poor maps for difficulties in finding places. Bruce had given us the address of the Dalton Cafe, but still we drive down Victoria Street and cannot see it. I turn on Street View and we see that the address displays a physiotherapist business. Am I going bonkers or what? I'm about to contact Bruce again when Gen spies it! Daltons is down the lane, behind the physiotherapist.
At least we know how where to go, now to get parking. Yippee - right ouside the door. As we get out of the car, Bruce is walking across the carpark. OMG, apart from the fact that we are both carrying many years, I would recognise him anywhere - well, I must admit I wasn't expecting a red beard, but otherwise he looks just like I remember him. We are shown to our table and order breakfast, the waiter asks Bruce about colouring his budgies by feeding them cochineal, (which goes right over my head - obviously not the brightest early in the morning). Yes, I get it know that he was having a go at the beard!!
Our breakfasts - Coffee and poached eggs for Bruce and Coffee and Eggs Benedict for Gen and I - mine with salmon, Gen's with Ham and Avocado - are served with a smile. There are quite a few other diners and heaps of people getting a coffee on their way to work. The food is good and a lovely change from pies and egg and bacon rolls! Time flies when you are reminiscing and catching up with 40 years of life events. We were telling him of our recent trip to KI and he said that the golfing industry on the island is huge. However, most of the players are flown over in chartered planes on a Saturday morning from Melbourne and play 18 holes before returning by charter flight to Melbourne that night and then fly back on Sunday for a second 18 holes before returning home via the charter flight, again. You have got to be kidding me?!!
Turns out its a 45 - 55 minutes flight from Melbourne, so I guess it's feasible. Sure as sh*t means that the opportunity for re-developing that motel is definitely a goer. Anyone got a spare $2.5M they want to invest with me? Reckon we could double our money in 6-8 years! Think, golf packages, partner spa packages, REAL foodie experiences? Talk with me if you are interested! A conversation we overheard at lunch at the golf club before we left KI now makes perfect sense. The women said that they were going to stay in Melbourne shopping when the men came back the next day!
But again, I digress (that is unless someone is interested in investing with me!)
We finished our breakfast and said our goodbyes for probably the next 40 years, although we did issue an invite should he ever be up to see friends he has in Bargara - yep, its a small world! Bruce has given us a list of a few must-sees before we leave the area and has generously given us bottle of Ryan and Pop's Honey - Bruce's bees output that he filters with the help of one of his grandsons. How lovely.
Back out in today's warm sun, we head west again, slightly back-tracking to visit Fern Glade. Gen visited here when she was in Tasmania 5 years ago and Bruce has suggested a couple of spots in particular to check. We are looking for Platypus! Its still and quiet, with few cars and just as few people. We park at the far car-park and walk along the edge of the Emu River. The path is lined with Tree Ferns that tower over both Gen and I. We walk quietly, very quietly but all we see are birds, a duck nibbling away at the water's edge and then "Mum, mum" Gen urgently whispers "Look" and there it is a platypus swimming just under the surface. A little further on, we get within 2 feet of two pademelons. Right on the edge of a major urban area!! Our morning's walk ended 500m later at the carpark area where Bruce suggested we might see platypus. But despite standing there, noiselessly for about 20 minutes, we are not rewarded with any more platypus sightings.
Now, we have collected just a few things we need to get home on this trip and have decided that we will post most home. We could just book for and pay for more luggage, but it was enough of a struggle for Gen with the luggage we bought with us without adding to it lol . We have some post bags and went through un-needed clothing and other 'stuff' this morning. So elated that we saw a platypus, we drove back into Penguin with the first three bags plus a few other parcels going direct.
The town of Penguin is home to the Big? PENGUIN! As we park the car opposite the Post Office, the Big Penguin is behind us, and along the kerbside next to us are penguin bollards - might mention that to some of our local Councillors - I'm sure Mary Poppins bollard could look cutely kitsch! We look at some of the other Penguin themed street infrastructure - bins, sets, signs while we wait our turn for a photo. There is a lady taking of photo of two other ladies and Gen asks if she would like to have a photo with them. Turns out she was a local who had just volunteered to take their photo, and offers to do the same for us. Very friendly she was - a local ambassador who had stepped out from the local VIC to give directions to other tourists. How lovely.
There are what seems like hundreds of hot-rods in Penguin today. The same volunteer tells us that there a Show and Shine on here this weekend. Would not have thought there could be so many hot rods in Tasmania - but then again, perhaps some of them came over from Melbourne! We had a milkshake, and shared a Penguin biscuit and a currant square at the Penguin Country Bakehouse.
Leaving Burnie, we headed down the Bass Highway towards the Christmas Hill Raspberry Farm. OMG - hang on - down that way is the Spreyton Factory! The Spreyton Cider Company makes amazing ciders, ginger beers and non-alcoholic versions. You can do a tasting - 5 ciders and their ginger beer on a paddle, so we share one. I have always liked cider and Gen likes the sweeter ones too. The winner today is the Apple Raspberry Cider - it has depth in apple and the sweet, slight tang of raspberry. You can certainly taste the raspberry - and it is a taste that we have grown very fond of over this last month! Hmm (gently looking skywards) might be another box coming home.
Its not sold anywhere outside Tasmania and although Uncle Dans will list the basic Spreyton Cider on their wesite, it is always unavailable as explained by their bartender Markus, who now lives in Australia after leaving Italy - in the north, in the Dolomites (another truly beautiful place on this earth!) Turns out that Spreytons use a courier to deliver their goods, so we add a few jams, brandy, relish etc - there is no limit to the weight, so long as it will fit in the box - and there is a bigger box I can use!!
In order to soak up the alcohol - it was only equivalent to one standard drink - we ordered a bowl of hot chips. They were so good! And now, we are soooo full!
The afternoon is gaining on us now and we want to get to the Raspberry Farm, so we push off again. Finally we arrive. It must be time for afternoon tea and it is certainly time for coffee. We are shown to a sunny table and I select a raspberry crepe and Gen, Waffles with Rasberries. OMG they are so good. I kid you not, the raspberries here as a big as a thimble. Each single globule bursts under the pressure of your tooth, filling your mouth with the most intense flavour. We make yet another few purchases, including 500g of fresh raspberries for the next day or three - IF I can make them last that long.
As the afternoon shadows lengthen we decide that we need to stop stopping at every food outlet we come across (we'll have to come back to the Anvers Chocolate Factory, the Ashgrove Cheese Factory and Van Dieman's Ice Creamery - probably tomorrow. So we punch in Rosevears and head for the Hotel where we have a room booked for the next 4 nights. We head cross country through picturesque English looking fields, with the every present Cradle Mountain in the background. Arriving in the Tamar Valley, we turn left towards the Tamar River and following the sparkling sun dancing on here waters, passing by marshy patches close to the road until we reach the Rosevears Hotel. Established in 1831, there are a number of new 'pod' like units built on the hill behind the majestic building standing sentinel over her stretch of the river. The KI folk could certainly learn a lesson here!
OMG so sick of the UAP (some mongrel named Clive or something) adverts using all the scaremongering - 85% of all mortgages will default and you will lose your home, UAP will make all superinvestments be made in Oz. How I hope that all of us who know any smidgeon of knowledge of the mechanics of government can share that with at least one other - ignorance will be the killer in this election. And mongrels will use any scare tactic to try to get a vote. grrrrr
Totally knackered now - I'm off to bed. Chat later.
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