Unsurprisingly I left a few things to the last minute, including filling up the car! I was going to Coles yesterday morning when I noticed that my trip-meter was hovering around 398km. My 'low on fuel' light hasn't worked reliably for a couple of years now (hey, I can live with it) so I work off my trip meter being around 400km between fill-ups. I knew I actually had a little bit of room to play with as I went to Kyneton a few weeks ago (in the same tank) so some of the k's related to 'country driving'.
I had to pick my laudry up from the laundromat so didn't have time to stop immediately so I told myself that I'd call into the petrol station after I'd done that. I forgot of course!
The next plan was to do it on the way to the ferry terminal but I left later than planned (fussing around making sure everything was properly away ... I've got a funny feeling that I managed to leave one particular box out that I wanted away though... I've got a friend house-sitting and just wanted to limit what was just 'lying around' (bad experience with another friend feeling that everything left out was free for him to read... yes that was IB)).
I drive past a Caltex on the way but there were a couple of cars waiting so I thought I'd go to the next one I passed. I then not only didn't pass any, but I took a wrong turn and had to find a way to correct myself. I swear the cross street I missed never appeared, still, fortunately I've been to Port Melbourne by PT a couple of times so I knew my way around enough to get there.
But.. I got on the boat (long wait and I was only 15 minutes after they started loading cars)
There were heaps of Targa cars on there (I must admit that I didn't even realise it was on) and they looked sooo FINE. Surprisingly I managed to get a cabin to myself (I paid for a twin share) so it gave me a bit more latitude.
I decided to treat myself for dinner and go to the 'proper' restaurant. Start the holiday off the way I'd like it to continue, with good food rather than 'whatever I can lay my hands on'. I've decided that I won't monitor my food intake closely this holiday (as I've been doing) but I've set myself a few conditions for this.
- I'll only eat food that tastes good, no eating what's in front of me regardless of whether it's worth the calories.
- I'll only eat while I'm hungry (except if I know that I need to eat something as it's been too long between meals). Meal serving sizes these days are definitely too large, there's no shame in leaving food on my plate.
- To balance what I'm eating, I need to do a few bushwalks to keep up my activity levels. It's been quite a while but M got my appetite whetted when he told me about the Wineglass Bay track and said he thought I'd be able to do it.
Anyway (before I got distracted), I ate in the Leatherwood Restaurant on board the Sprit of Tasmania. I was quite fortunate as I managed to get the last available table. It's a set menu (choice of 2 or 3 courses) and I ended up going for the below
Entree: Tempura Vegetables
These were scrummy. Just the right temperature and the dipping sauces weren't too overpowering
Main: Tenderloin of Beef
I actually asked for this cooked Blue and it came Medium-Rare so not exactly as expected. It still tasted nice though and I didn't want to bother sending it back.
Dessert: Cheese Platter
This was truthfully quite 'ordinary' nothing worth salivating over. I ended up not finishing this.
I had a really restless night on board due to the movement of the waves. Fortunately I didn't feel unwell at all, just didn't sleep through. I'm hoping this isn't a portent for the trip as a whole.
Sunday
I'm combining days in this post as I really didn't think I'd go on for as long as I did about the trip over (considering it started at 19:30).
So I got off the ferry and found the closest petrol station. By this time my trip-meter was up to 423km so I was definitely feeling a bit jittery about it. I was a bit surprised to get driveway service. That hasn't happened to me in years!
I'd eaten a muesli bar on the ferry for breakfast but wanted something a bit more substantial so I kept my eyes open. The below is the route I was supposed to take but there were a few departures from the path I must admit.
View Larger Map
I may have mentioned that I just love driving. Not in a purposeless manner, I need to be going somewhere but I just adore the sensation of moving along in a car (probably quite homeopathic)
So, driving, driving, driving. I saw what appeared to be a promising cafe on the road but the carpark appeared full so I kept going. I got to Deloraine and found my first tourist information office.
Which was closed.
So I decided to double back and go to the cafe, and I'm really glad I did. They had an absolutely divine ham, cheese and tomato toastie. I don't know what cheese they used but it melted perfectly. It was the Elizabeth Town Bakery & Cafe and it had a gorgeous outlook as well.
Feeling refreshed (and with lunch in my backpack-my other reason for stopping) I decided to head to do the Meander Falls walk. It was only another hour or so to Launceston so I had plenty of time and I'd purchased a National Parks pass on the ferry so wanted to ensure I got good use out of it.
Unfortunately the plan fell through as the only current access road is for 4x4. Much as I love my car, she just wouldn't cope.
So I decided to do the Liffey Falls Walk instead. My original intention had been to do this from Miena later in the trip, but I needed to stretch my legs and this seemed the right thing to do.
I made my way to the top carpark and decided that I'd do the 'complete' walk to the bottom carpark and back (about 2 hours return). I'm so glad I did this as it was spectacular (there must be a sale on adjectives today, I'm using a few)
(I've linked to the relevant Flikr set at the bottom of this post..not long now)
I'd honestly forgotten how much I love doing this kind of stuff. I definitely want to do more this month.
It was then off to Launceston and my accomodation. I'd booked 4 nights at The River House just north of Launceston and it turned out to be just what I wanted. The host was friendly, the accomodations spacious (and so beautiful), and the tranquility was divine.
I'd said that I wanted someone casual to dine so Carl (the host) directed me to the Seaport area of town where I tried some Tapas at Salsas. I must admit to some qualms when I saw how few patrons there were but my love of tapas overcame it and I had quite a nice meal indeed. I must admit that there was nothing that stuck in the memory but that also means there was nothing bad. It was typical tapas done well and that was more than enough for me.
I then went for a post-prandial stroll before returning to Dilston. On my way to The River House I'd needed to stop for directions (yes, I got lost again... I know... I'm hopeless) and had discovered that my internet connection didn't seem to be working as desired. That is, it seemed obsessed with connecting with my home wireless connection, which as it was in a different state with Bass Straight between it as well, was not going to be happening. I wanted to investigate a bit further.
Carl (the host at the River House) had shown me another internet computer in the corridor which I could use as a contingency but I really wanted to get my own 'puter working for my bookmarks if nothing else. There was also the factor that there's a HC staff meeting at 5am tomorrow so I didn't really want to have to pull myself together enough to go out into public.
Unfortunately my computer didn't want to play nice so I logged to checked what had to be checked. A very slow connection and noisy as well so I gave my appologies and looked forward to a sleep in the next day.
Here's the link to all my photos for today.
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