Anette´s blog of travels.: Tasmania

Tasmanian road trip, day 1: February 1.

Distance: Launceston-George Town

Plan for the road trip; take it one day at a time!!

Drops of rain; none!

Number of roadkill; 5-10

Wines bought; 3, wines drunk; 1,5

So we flew from Sydney to Launceston, Tasmania at the crack of dawn with Jetstar. In Launceston we picked up our rental car, a black Suzuki, at the airport. Our car was small and convenient for two gals like us. We didn´t really need that much speed on the island! The weather was a bit colder than Sydney so Cathrine had to buy a jumper after arrival, but we only had to use long sleeves at night. I had packed for cooler weather, but the weather got warmer and warmer each day. It was raining in Sydney the first couple of days but we didn´t catch a drop!

After a chai latte and a walk about town we were on the road, leaving Launceston behind and heading up the Tamar Valley. The Tamar Valley is Tasmania´s key wineproducing area, and the premium wines created here have achieved international recognition.

First stop; Exeter (pop 400), predominantly an orchard and mixed farming area (source Lonely Planet).

We had a stop here because I read in LP that they had very good pies at the Exeter bakery.

The Tamar valley consists of a lot of different wineries and enormous vineyards. Cathrine was driving so I was the wine taster. I am not used to being tipsy in the middle of the day, ha ha.

First winery, Goaty Hill. We bought a Pinot Gris 2012.

Second winery; Tamar Ridge. We bought a 2012 Riesling and their award winning 2012 Sauvignon Blanc.

From Launceston the Tamar River stretches 64 km, separating the east and the west Tamar district. The Batman Bridge (over and below) unites the Tamar´s two banks. The bridge was opened in 1968. We decided to stay on the eastern side of the island, so we crossed the bridge just north of Deviot.

Low Head (pop 465) and George Town (pop 5550) are barely divided, you hardly notice leaving one and enter the other. We decided to spend the first night in George Town, as Low Head really didn´t have any accommodation. Low Head was really picturistic though, as these five pictures show.

The view of George Town from our motel room.

We stayed at the Pier, a Comfort Inn motel. We chose this place because their bistro was said to be a star attraction! The room was great and it was happily situated! I had a pumpkin pizza for dinner, surprise, surprise.