Holiday in Tasmania

This is one of my unforgettable holiday in Tasmania in 2014. Neil Broadbridge, my guest came to our cooking class a year before I went to his country.  I never forget Neil telling me to come visit him when I need a break from teaching.

So we, Chandra, Junnie my sister and I went to Hobart, Tasmania. Neil and Ness, (his wife) met us and I was very happy to see them again.  As we were driven to his home, Neil kept asking questions and but I could not reply him as the sites going through us was so beautiful.

From the airport, the road were chilly and windy and we felt swept off our feet. Neil stayed at the foothill of Mount Wellington so whether you are in and out of the house, it is so very cold for us. For Neil. he walks around with a thin shirt. Most days in the house, he turn on the heater for us.

Neil was so kind to allow us to feel so at home in his house. Both of them would go to work and we got to wake up a little later. Well, as I told Neil, I came to rest. But Ness works just half day and by the time, she gets home, she took us around.  I really had a good rest, just doing nothing for 2 to 3 days. Just feeling so relaxed and comfortably warm in our Eskimo shoes in the house.

One of the place, I cannot forget is the retired animals at Bonorong.  You get to see the wild animals here. You named it, wombats, kangaroos, tasmanian devils, koala, short-beck echidna, tawny frogmouth, long-billed corella, sulphur crested cockatoo, bare nosed wombat, spotted tail quoll, emu and many others.  We felt it was the most unforgettable time we had at the retirement home for the animals. I feel so happy they were well cared for.

The Maritime Museum and Tasmanian Museum housed informative archives, I have not seen before, really interesting. We visited so many places and people are so warm and friendly.

But for me, if I do not get to farmer’s market, cooking or trying new food, it will be missing the best activities out in the holiday. Eating and cooking is so important for me even on holiday. So on our 9th country we visited, Neil took me to Salamanca to see the famous place that I heard him mentioned so often.

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We had a great time in Hobart and some days we travel by bus to the town and some days, Neil and Ness took us around. The botanical garden were impressive with flowers I have not seen before. Met a beautiful lady baskering almost every where we went and made friend with her. She does sing very well but travelling making ends meet. With that in my mind, I bought 3 days lunches for her.

The apple farm was amazing. Never knew there was so many varieties of apples from New Zealand and that at one time they were the biggest exporter.

Richmond and Salamanca were unforgettable. We had a chance to taste quince jam, many kind of apples, sweets and cookies which were really nice for us. We don’t really cooked fruits and served with ice cream so it was a nice change.

Richmond is a rich history and we went to see the miniature town they took 3 years to built. Since we lived at the foothills of Mt Wellington, Ness drive us up to the peak and we had a great laugh. When we got out of the car, Ness said to put on the parka and we bravely said, we are fine without it. She laughed at us and we thought, ok, we will take the challenge.

Walking and hiking at Mt Wellington with Ness, Neil Junnie and Chandra.

We have not walked 10 steps and we ran back to the car, shivering and laughing at our arrogance. It is really so cold with parka too as we walked at the peak of Mt Wellington.

In Islington, behind us is Mt Wellington, and we lived on the foothill.

However, next day, we love the walk surrounding the foothill which Neil did every time he had time. It was a nice comfortable walk and all of us loved the scenic and colorful forest. The buggy from town carrying visitors drove past us like a whirl wind as we waved to the people in the buggy.

Unforgettable holiday and Hobart, we will come back.