Headed north from Cradle Mountain towards Launceston and the Tamar Valley. Driving around parts of Tasmania is wonderful because the place is just full of gorgeous little rural towns that one might miss if not driving through. It’s like stepping back into the Australia of by-gone days before Woolworths and McDonald’s – when everyone bought their food from the corner General Store or the local farmer. Farms and fields and rustic little cottages dot the countryside and summer is a time for fruits and berries and vegetables everywhere.
Sheffield was just one of these lovely little towns, and we stopped there for lunch at Bossimi’s cafe. I don’t know if it’s just because Tasmania is so far away from everywhere else and it’s cheaper to use local but I just love how everyone seems to focus on using local produce. Ate at a lovely café called Bossimi’s which had views of the mountains and pies made from local produce like scallops, deer and apricots (not all together!)
Whilst in Sheffield we also stocked up on some yummy local produce. Young’s veggie shed had some awesome fresh local fruit and veges, and there is also a great seafood shop there. Nigel’s meats wasn’t cheap but had some of the most beautiful quality local meat I’ve seen. A great tip is that the famous Tasmanian leatherwood honey is much, much cheaper in the fruit shops than in the tourist sites and comes in the same nice jars.
Headed to Launceston and the Cataract Gorge, which is right in the centre of town. It’s a great facility with a natural gorge, some short walks, swimming in the river or a large man made pool with facilities. The gorge itself is pretty but not as spectacular as many other places, but it’s worth looking at either for a nice swim on a summer’s day or just for the novelty of such a lovely place in the middle of a city. A few nice walks go from here too.
If you venture into the city of Launceston make sure you come armed with coins for parking as all parking is metered, and they don’t take notes or cards.
In Launceston we headed to the harbour for a picnic lunch of our lovely fruit from Sheffield, our oysters from Kyeema, cheese from Ashgrove which we’d stopped at on the way and our Spreyton cider which is by far the best cider we’ve ever tasted!
Our base for this area was a lovely BnB on the banks of the Tamar River in the Tamar valley. A beautiful fertile valley full of orchards and vineyards. We drove around both sides of the Tamar enjoying the scenery and stopping for treats like Miller’s orchard apples and fresh cherries and the Hillwood Berry farm where for a reasonable price we were able to pick fresh raspberries. I can tell you that fresh raspberries off the vine are a totally different beast to the sour soggy things you sometimes get in the shops!
Also drove to the north coast to Greens beach and took a short stroll to West Head lookout which is beautiful and worth looking at with panoramic views of cliffs and wild beaches. Just hang on to any loose clothing or hats though as it blows a gale up on the cliffs.
Our BnB hosts were lovely and had a friendly pair of Border collies as well who joined us for dinner. We enjoyed a BBQ on the provided facilities of local meat, seafood veges on the deck with our amazing view!
A couple of days were easily spent exploring the Tamar valley and then we were headed to the East coast. Our host recommended driving through Scottsdale which was only slightly longer but more scenic. He wasn’t wrong! It’s a magic drive through more quaint and rustic villages and farms with lots of produce stalls on the way selling fruit and veges. Scottsdale itself is the home of the famous RhuBru products made from locally grown Rhubarb. We stopped and had a rhubarb smoothie, which was to die for.
