It’s the dot in the ocean that has bred both devils and a Danish princess, seen shipwrecks and the saving of forests. It’s green and clean, and one of the world’s last outposts of fresh air and pristine food.
Some people say Tasmania is like England and to be honest I had never seen it that way. So much of it is the bushland and scrub and pastures that I have grown up with on ‘the mainland’, as Taswegians call the rest of Australia.
But a recent trip to the north of this island-state gave me another perspective.
We arrived at Devonport Airport at noon on a windy February afternoon, picked up our car and headed west almost without missing a beat. We have visited Devonport before and while it is a lovely town, this time we had other business across on the far north-west tip.
The drive along the A2 skims along the edge of Bass Strait, in many places with views of headlands and cliffs. We passed through Burnie, formerly better known for its industries and ended up on schedule at Stanley, made notable by its distinctive table-shaped headland which is appropriately called ‘The Nut’.
After checking into our sumptuous Horizon Deluxe Apartment (www.horizonapartments.com.au) with its stupendous view across the town and The Nut with the ocean beyond, we headed off almost immediately for Hammond Farms. No relation, just a happy coincidence. These Hammonds breed wagyu beef and I was keen to see what it all was about.
Obviously the Japanese realise the benefits of Tasmania’s fine environment, and the Hammonds breed and carefully nurture the young beasts (whose flesh will ultimately sell for $300 per kilogram) until it is time for them to be shipped off at around a year old to Japan for final fattening on feedlots before slaughter.
It’s a relatively new industry – the Hammonds impregnated their first cow with frozen embryos in 1994 – and they are part of a small and elite group of wagyu farmers in Australia. What is even more interesting is that this farm has been in the family for generations and the 800 or so head of cattle are grazed on nearby Robins and Walker Islands. They are transferred at low tide, corralled by ‘cowboys’ on quad bikes.
Back briefly then to Stanley to change and freshen up before dinner, although I must admit we spent a few minutes playing with the various gadgets and inclusions in our brand-new studio-style apartment. It had everything you would normally find in a swish city pad, including blinds that glided up and down at the touch of a switch whenever we wanted to gaze again at that view.
Dinner at the Old Cable Station (www.oldcablestation.com.au) was yet another surprise. In the rustic dining room surrounded by bits of memorabilia from the days when this place was about communications not coffee, we had an excellent meal. The main dish of tray-roasted salmon and vegetables was prepared in the wood-fired oven to one side of the room, and owner Charlotte Brown surprised us even more when she told us the unusual arrangement she and her partner-chef Michael Whatley have. Their other restaurant, Cafe Carlotta, is diagonally across the continent in Broome and is closed in the summer wet season while they open the Stanley one. When it is too cold in the northern Tasmanian winter, they close the Old Cable Station and head west again. Neat.
Next day, after the generous breakfast left in our apartment for us to fix ourselves we set out to enjoy Stanley. It’s not a large town (pop. 6000) but there are some good things to see. At the waterfront I visited Hursey & Sons, a seafood establishment like no other I have seen. Huge tanks held wriggling rock lobsters and fish ready for selection and beside the shop I talked to another member of the family in the cafe where I could have had fish and chips (of course) or a crayfish burger.
The Stanley Artworks Studio Gallery at the Van Dieman Land Company Store in the shadow of The Nut was worth a stop too. Here was top class craftsmanship, glass and ceramics, paintings, furniture and photography. Elegant silver and gold jewellery filed one showcase and the creator, Melanie Horner, newly relocated from Strahan came to speak with us, shyly showing a newspaper clipping of Princess Mary on a recent visit to Tasmania actually wearing earrings Melanie had created. Now that is classy. I could have spent hours in this place.
It was here that I finally ‘got’ what people mean when they say Tasmania is like the UK. The bleak coastline, the pinched look of the buildings, the fishing fleets – this could be Scotland, or Cornwall on a good day. But too soon we had to leave this lovely town and head back towards Launceston after a quick glance at the appropriately named Highfield House (1835) on a hill in perhaps the best position in town.
At Sisters Creek we paused to visit Naturally Nichols (www.naturally-nichols.com.au) when a bright sign Red Banks Farm Shoppe lured us off the highway. If only my pantry was nearby, I lamented. I would have happily loaded up with cakes and pies, ice creams and preserves. It was such a fragrant, shiny, delightful place.
This time we could stop in Burnie and there we drove up a hill above the town to Hellyers Road Distillery (www.hellyersroaddistillery.com.au) where the paint was hardly dry on the brand new interpretative centre and restaurant. This Bond Store belongs to Australia’s largest distillery and produces three varieties of single malt whisky in a setting with long views across the valleys that is truly magical.
Almost next door the Lactos factory (www.lactos.com.au) lured us too and we tasted cheeses and inhaled the wonderful aromas before heading on. By now it was getting late. Time only for a quick stop to visit Coates Smallgoods in Forth, and to meet Raymond Coates and be amazed by his gleaming array of smallgoods and fresh meats before heading south for Barrington.
I had been keeping my eyes open for roadside signs for cherries. I knew it was almost at the end of the season for the big black crisp beauties I have enjoyed during other summers in Tasmania. Luckily I found one place – The Big Apple at Spreyton – still with a few left, so we chomped on them happily until we reached Glencoe Farm Rural Retreat (www.glencoefarm.com.au), our home for the night.
We had met Remi and Ginette Bancal on a previous visit to the north. That time they had been our hosts at Calstock near Deloraine. Since then they have moved on to open their own lavender and cream B&B at Barrington, perfectly sited for people who want to take a break before heading up to the wild country around Cradle Mountain. Or indeed for anyone who simply wants a delightful place to relax.
As always their welcome was genuine and we were delighted to see what they have done with this beautiful old farmhouse. Ginette’s impeccable taste is evident in the décor and of course Remi’s dinner that night was a delight.
The interesting town of Sheffield is close to Glencoe and we made a stop here on our way back to Launceston the next day because we had heard so much about it. This had been a town gasping for survival a little while back. Then someone with vision suggested a possible solution. Why not paint pictures on the many walls and make this a feature of the town? Maybe it would attract visitors. They did, and it surely has. We arrived as several tour buses disgorged their passengers and the immediately the antique shops and cafes and galleries were abuzz, and the streets alive with people snapping pictures of some truly beautiful murals.
In Launceston, half an hour or so away, we had a meeting with John Kelly at Lenah Game Meats planned for mid-morning. He was there ready for us and talked us through this venture that butchers wallaby and other game meat for restaurant menus. I came away with a styrofoam pack containing smoked wallaby meat and some possum chipolatas – and a huge respect for the skill it takes to build such a business. Have eaten wallaby before. It is a tender meat more like lamb than kangaroo. Kelly calls it the ‘veal of game’.
I like Launceston and we happily spent the rest of the day reacquainting ourselves with familiar places. Casually elegant Stillwater Restaurant on the riverfront, beautiful as ever, but now with a small semi-alfresco area ideal for drinks, tapas or coffee; the upstairs Mill Provedore even more lush than ever – if that’s possible; and Davies Grand Central in Wellington Street, perhaps the best provedore I know, was as grand as ever.
We discovered the new (for us) Seaport area and its cafes, restaurants and bars, and fell in love with tant pour tant (www.tantpourtant.com.au) a pocket-sized cafe-patisserie-bakery. So much so that I returned on my last day to take some of owner/Director Jo Herbig’s lovely sourdough bread back home with me. I made sure I had another of her excellent coffees too (Oomph coffee - roasted in Hobart).
The next two nights we were booked into The Country Club (www.countryclubtasmania.com.au) one of Launceston’s premier establishments. As the name suggests it is connected to a golf course. There is a casino too and possibly the best restaurant in town, but we were not booked to dine there until Night Two.
This turned out to be no problem as the first night we went back into town to Luck’s (www.lucks.com.au) for dinner. This corner restaurant is a pure delight, located in the shop of Australia’s first butcher, Gordon Luck. It is French bistro casual, with a flair that would see it well accepted in any Australian city.
Sunday is market day in Launceston so we headed off reasonably early for the showgrounds and spent a happy time checking out the apples, potatoes, onions (we had seen many paddocks of them on our travels) and other seasonal fruits. Only a few cherries were left, though, I found to my disappointment. The farmers’ market here segues on to the general market so I pretended not to notice and bric-a-bracked for an hour or so there too.
With half a day to ourselves we decided to take a lazy drive along the Tamar, dropping in at Hillwood Strawberry farm where families armed with ice cream containers were happily picking the huge red berries. It was hot by now, so we cut our trip a bit shorter, crossing the river on the massive Batman Bridge and detouring to Beaconsfield to see the mine which had made news around the world just months before.
That night at dinner in the Country Club’s Terrace Restaurant, chef Luke Stepsys’ complex degustation menu matched with fine wines blew us away. This chef, we found, was not afraid to try new combinations. Licorice with duck? My mouth waters still just thinking about it. The menu drew on flavours and textures with such flair, using produce sourced here in this tiny island-state of Tasmania, as well as interstate and overseas, moving seamlessly from Iberico jamon (perfect, wafer thin slices of imported Spanish ham) to Macquarie Harbour trout, cured in-house, then West Australian scampi and Kangaroo Island chicken.
Next day we had just enough time before our flight back to Sydney to drop in at the Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Company (www.gourmetsauce.com.au) and meet owner Julie Barbour. This is truly a local success story, progressing from home kitchen to a busy kitchen that currently produces 29 different lines for sale in Australia and overseas. The tasting room is too small, we were told, as busloads now come to sample the range of delicious chutneys, jams and mustards.
Just a few days in a small part of this wonderful state, and now it was time for us to leave. For just a moment I wished Tasmania was closer so that I could drop in and stock up with goodies for the weekend whenever I had friends coming. But then I realised that was not the point.
A trip to this lovely place has to require effort. And it is certainly worth it.
