Aussirose Travel and Photography: Last Days in Tasmania, December 2024

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29th December we packed up and said Goodbye to Hadspen near Launceston, Tasmania. We had spent 3 years here shivering through what seemed to be everlasting winter. Time to hit the road for warmer pastures.

Latrobe seemed like a good place for a couple of days to make sure the van was good to go. No problems so far, so all good.

Latrobe is also close to the Spirit of Tasmania, the big ferry to take us over Bass Straight to the mainland. The mainland is an expression that is often used by these strange southerners. So much an us and them expression lol. We certainly won't miss that. 🙄

And along with the local tail-gaiters. Oh yes, it seems that all Tasmanians love to tail-gait. Another thing we won't miss.

Anyway, enough of that. We chose to take a day trip up to Penguin so that I could add The Big Penguin to my list of Big Things. Hubby also wanted to go back to Sisters Beach, a pretty beach up north.

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PENGUIN

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The coastline drive north of Penguin is so pretty. Penguin, what a funny name for a town. But I guess it lends itself to an array of gift paraphernalia.

This guy caught be taking a photo. I just smiled. 😃

We also saw the Tardis here. That's the second time we have seen the Tardis. The other time was on our adventure with young Jesse & Ellen.

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SISTERS BEACH

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Sisters Beach is a family friendly beach with a safe swimming inlet. Naviate a twisty narrow road off the main drag to get here, but it is definitely worth it.

Last time we came there was red algae in the inlet which made for some nice photos. I will put one up here. This time, I was able to capture green water from the nature reflections.

I also had a bit of fun with water reflections. See the little video link below.

RED ALGAE LAST TIME WE VISITED SISTERS BEACH

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LATROBE

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We chose to spend our last few days at Latrobe as it is close to where the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry leaves at Devonport heading to Geelong in Victoria.

Spirit of Tasmania Story -

In December 2017, Tasmania announced that it woud be replacing the current 2 ferries with new builds. They were supposed to arrive in 2021 & cost $714m, but the German shipbuilder pulled out and a Finnish shipbuilder took over for $850m with completion date for the first ferry in 2024 and the other one in 2025.

6 August 2024 - Tasmania Government could not answer why Devonport birth upgrades had not even commenced to house the new ferries. What's even more concerning is that the budget had blown out and everyone was playing the blame game. No one is answering questions and the fact that no one has been held responsible is mind blowing. Clearly the Government has been attempting to hide information as the new ferry is now housed in Scotland and attempts are being made to rent it out. Both the infrastructure Minister and Chairman of TT-Line have now resigned over the debacle. No accountability?...

Thus, we travelled on a very old ship. Thank goodness it held until we reached the mainland.

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So, here are a few pics of downtown Latrobe. It's a cute little village full of gift and antique shops.

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MERSEY RIVER CARAVAN PARK

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This is the popular choice to stay if you are travelling on the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry.

It's a small caravan park with friendly staff, located across the road from the Mersey River and Big Platypus and a short stroll into town.

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THE BIG PLATYPUS & MERSEY RIVER

STOCKMANS HALL OF FAME & THAI IMPERIAL RESTAURANT

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Across the road from the caravan park is the Mersey River.

Here we found another Australian Big Thing to add to my Big Things list. The Big Platypus. Along with the platypus we visited Thai Imperial Restaurant for Sunday dinner. Unfortunately the food wasn't authentic Thai. My coconut crumbed prawns were tasteless and there was no hint at all of corriander in the sauce or topping which was parsley and not corriander. My cocktail, chocolate mint slice was full of ice.... yuk!. So I would not recommend dining here. The pub up town was way better.

Next to the Thai is the Stockman's Hall of Fame which was closed the couple of times we have been here. It was however, open on New Year's eve until 3pm. I realised that 15 minutes before closing time, so I raced over from the caravan park, and low and behold it had already closed even though the opening and closing times were clearly stuck to the front door and Google said still open.

Consequently my Google review consisted of 1 star and an unhappy customer.

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ANVERS CHOCOLATE FACTORY

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This is an elegant place for a nice brunch or lunch. It's classy inside and you cannot fault the food. Yes, it is on the expensive side but well worth your money. We didn't eat this time but I wanted to include the photos as I have not documented them here on my website.

This time we came, we just bought the chocolate which in itself is expensive, but totally delectable. We polished off the whole $45 box below in about 3/4 hour along with a nice glass of wine from La Villa Winery.

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LA VILLA WINERY

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What a wonderful surprise. I have often wondered what their wines would be like. The mediterrranean style archetecture has often caught my eye when Googling wineries. So when we just happened to drive past I had to ask hubby could we come back the next day. Good move.

From the time we stepped foot out of the car, we were transported to Italy. Wow & WoW!

Gayle was amazing and filled us in with awesome stories of her love of Italian wines and how they integrated them here to create a local winery that is rated 4.9 stars on Google! Reading the Google reviews just described my thoughts exactly. I totally recommend this place and it is up there as my second favourite winery in Tasmania and very close to Winterbrook Wines not only for the fabulous wine, but the lovely personal touch of a boutique winery that we love.

Mind you, the Italian bags caught my eye as well. I just need to find $450 for my favourite little one.

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