We are on our way!!!!!!!

Cheese, chocolate, raspberries and wine

 

The afternoon was a foodie experience...kind of required after Lower Crackpot!

 

Anvers Chocolates

 

 That's my cape by the way!

 

Stop it Dad!

 

Ha ha really funny

 

At Ashgrove cheese

 

Cant help but scruff a cow, even if it is fake

 

They had really big pumpkins.

 

Christmas Hills raspberry farm, I know it just sounds great,

Strike a pose

 



Sounds like a pretty good afternoon...after visiting Lower Crackpot

Stanley

Our last couple of days were in Stanley, it was beautiful and I wanted to move there.  Check out how cute the place is we stayed at.

 

Pretty good view I think

 

We made use of this, very nice when it was wet and raining.

 

Entry with some stinky shoes.

 

Oh and we got upgraded to the spa cottage as the one we booked was having some renos done.  Rhys thought it was the best, swanning about in the spa bath.

 

 

 

 

One of Rhys' photos

 

The nut also took one of The Nut

Penguin

Well we had to make our lunch stop here, what a great name for a place. 

 

We thought this was a little funny.

 

Rhys chose a penguin cookie, apparently it was really good.

 

So was the muffin.

 

Seafood parcel, pretty yummy, very rich.

 

Off to Stanley.

Swiss Village

We stayed in a two bedroom apartment at Grindelwald, about 10 minutes from Launceston.  It was cold, dark and raining when we arrived in Launceston.  A quick pick up of the hire car and our bags and we made the mad dash to the car.  The gps didn't fire up to start with so we winged it and made out way north, quick stop at a Woollies and a bottle shop and we found our accommodation.  They had turned the heating on for us and we were soon inside, dry, warm and most importantly settled with a wine in hand. 

 

Main bedroom

 

Upstairs to the kids room, had a bunk, single and trundle.  They kind of made the beds.

 

Part of the resort, its all Swiss style.  Includes a couple of shops, a great restaurant, bakery/café (hot chocolate!), kids pirate play ship and jumping pillow.

 

Front of our place.

 

Up close

 

Lounge area

This is their website Tamar Valley Resort

Seahorse World, Platapus House and Beaconsfield

 

Today we decided to head north up to Beauty Point and then hit up three attractions, Seahorse World, Platypus House and Beaconsfield Mine.  Beauty Point was stunning and on the way back I saw a wombat on the side of the road, he was huge - no photo I wasn't quick enough. 

 

Nature photographer in the making

 

So now to our first stop - Seahorse World.  It isn't too hard to find but you could miss it.  Its a huge building on a wharf, doesn't look much from the outside but the action is all inside.  Someone was a bit dubious about what his wife was getting them into and lets face it how interesting could seahorses be???  Well he was wrong and quite surprised at how interesting a place this was. 

 

They do guided tours several times a day.  You learn all about the breading of the seahorses (they get sold to aquariums all around the world, not for herbal medicines or food).  We were able to see some babies that had missed being collected that morning, so tiny and cute.  The kids were enthralled with the experience.  They got to feed them - they eat sea monkeys, yep those things that were on the back of the Archie comics!  That look nothing like a monkey more like a nit.  There are several different ones they breed and one of the amazing things is they can change colour. 

There are other tanks with different fish (Nemo makes an appearance) as well as this guy a rather large lobster called Dinner.  There is also a giant crab.  Toward the end you get the opportunity to hold a seahorse.  They are surprisingly strong and wrap their little tails around your finger.  There is a gift shop selling all things seahorse.   

 

So on the other side of the wharf is Platypus House.  The two attractions work together and have it so their tours don't clash.  We all ducked over to the next tour which began with a movie on the platypus.  Then it was off to have a look at these little cuties.  There were a couple on display and we got to see them being fed.  Yum yum yabbies. 

 

Then it was on to the echidnas, this was amazing.  They wander around the enclosure walking around your feet.  They were super cute.  Wonder who owns the sparkle shoes?



 

On the way out we allowed the kids to get their one and only souvenir, you guessed it they all got a bloody plushie!  So now we have a Tassie devil, an echidna and a platypus called Dawn.  The echidna is called Mr Prickles.

 

 

 

 

You can check out their websites  Seahorse World   Platypus House

 

So on to lunch, we had seen a big old historical looking pub and thought it would be nice for a pub lunch an a cold day.  It was a little drizzly and we hoped to find somewhere warm and snuggly.  Well it wasn't that way at all.  The pub had a Thai restaurant and really bad service.  The food was pre packaged and was horrible and the building was cold, including the loos.  Coldest toilet we ever sat on, Biz yelped!   

 

Somewhat filled and we were on our way to our last stop of the three, Beaconsfield Mine (here).  This was the mine where Brant Webb and Todd Russell were rescued from.

 

There is a huge number of displays including historical ones, the old apple sorter was pretty cool, mining and of course the mine rescue.  This is a multi sensory exhibit and at times it is quite chilling, they have done an amazing job.  Outside are more old buildings, hard to believe it was all kept while a working mine and you can go up the

 

The kids can get a sheet to find hidden animals, which keeps them pretty busy.  At the end of it they were given a wrist band for their efforts.  On entry you write your name on a tag and tag in and out.  The kids loved it and you can either recycle them at the end or keep them - guess what we did.

 

 

We had purchased a Tamar Triple Pass, which got us entry into all three attractions, it can be purchased at all three locations and I think for a family it was about $130.

 

So one last stop on the way home ....at a super cute little winery called Moores Hill.  We were greeted by a beautiful dog, called Otto (I think) who Bella made friends with and I think was planning on taking home.  They have tasting plates which would have been a better choice for lunch and you can sit in front of their wood burner.  We tasted their sparkling, Riesling, chardy, pinot noir and cab merlot.  John thought the reds were a little light but I loved them, especially the pinot, it was a beautiful soft wine and the colour was stunning.  The big surprise was the Riesling, very different not sweet as youd expect.  The lady was lovely and we will be ordering for Xmas.  We picked up a bottle of their sparkling for that night.  Now back to the resort for some steaks and that wine.