Another Winter in Tasmania.

[drron]

Closer to Queenstown still a little of the denuded hills.Our first time here basically no trees at all on the surrounding mountains.
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Then into town.
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I had never continued down the road beside the railway before so did so this time.Past the Wilderness Railways workshop.
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Not the better end of town.
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And people are living in this one and managed to sell it.
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The ducks think it is OK though.
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A memorial park for the Mt.Lyell mine disaster.
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A mural in town.
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And up on the hill a better class of home.
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We then went up to Spion Kop.Took photos of the view but then the rain started..
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On the way up you see this building.i guess rather important in the day.
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Then back down to the railway and a late brekkie in their cafe.
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You could have had a full breakfast but our plan was a leisurely drive back along A10 then through Ridgley and an easy drive on the Bass Highway for a late lunch at Bellys for old times sake.mrsdrron was flying back to the Sunshine Coast in the morning.
But here are the menus for the cafe.
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[drron]

We then headed off towards Burnie.A few Kms before we got to the Ridgely Highway we got a phone call from the Quest asking why we hadn't moved out yet as they had put notices under the door on Friday night and Saturday morning.Well we had left Friday afternoon for our weekend away.Now we find out the Quest has actually closed it's doors.
So plans changed and we drove straight back to Launceston and the Quest.They agreed to let us stay the night and move out Monday morning.Quite strange sleeping in a hotel when you are the only ones there.No other guests and no staff.

Monday morning and mrsdrron dropped me off at the hospital.She was originally booked to fly out early morning via Melbourne but had changed that to an early afternnon flight via Sydney so she had less risk of being caught out by Anastacia.
Meanwhile My agent was arranging accommodation.Was difficult as the other Quest guests who had moved out Friday and Saturday had taken up most of the rooms.I had the choice of the last room at the Adina motel or a motel at Georgetown.Way too far out of town especially as I was going on call the next week.

So after I dropped mrsdrron off at LST time to move in with what I affectionately as the shoebox.At least it had a good view.
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Came with a kitchenette.
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A small bathroom with small shower with a very slippery floor.
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But at least I got good sunsets.
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The Adina is a 60s multi story motel.Access to all rooms is via outside exposed walkways.Showing it's age in parts.More importantly the wifi was terrible.regularly taking 5-10 minutes to upload 1 photo to a post.mostly though it was impossible to upload.I wasn't going to spend the next 8 weeks there.Ended up having to spend 2 weeks though.

Still I enjoyed the sunsets.Sometimes a little disappointing.
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But sometimes spectacular.
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[drron]

I never get bored with sunsets.
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The next day Launceston turned on the weather.Early afternoon-
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But a couple of hours later it was pleasant enough sitting on the balcony ready for a drink.
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[drron]

The last of the sunsets.
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I was on call for the week ending in the Queen's birthday holiday>It is a locum's job.So nothing much happened that week.
The next weekend I wanted to go to Hobart for the Winter Feast.Now I had looked at accommodation in Hobart about 6 weeks out and there was only 1 hotel room available at a rather exotbitant price.When the Victorian lockdown first happened I looked again and although there were more rooms available they were from ~ $450 to $1000+.I was resigned to not going.
Then the lockdown was extended so I looked again.A lot more availability but only 1 place in the CBD that had a room under $300 a night.As this is an event I had wanted to go to for a couple of years and I knew I would never be back in Tasmania in winter I booked the room.It turned out to basically be perfect.

I was a little late leaving Launceston as on Saturday I was leaving the Adina and checking in to a new apartment on Sunday.I had arranged to leave my large bags there but no one turned up so off I went with 3 months luggage for a one night stay.I was a little early for checkin so drove around North Hobart.

One of the streets had an old church that is now a Greek Orthodox church.
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Around it several old large versions of Town houses.
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An old commercial building.
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Over the road smaller buildings with character.
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On a side street more of the divided properties.
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It was nearly 1400 so I drove to the hotel and fortunately coould check in.I had to park in their secondary car park on the other side of the waterfront past MacQ01.On one side timber.
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On the other a drive through covid testing tent.
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The walk back to the Customs House hotel.The old IXL works were huge.
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And down the other side opposite MacQ01
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That is all part of the old IXL property.Note UTas has a slice now.They must be one of the biggest landowners and employers in Tasmania.
The old Sheraton.Now Grand Chancellor.
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Another old commercial building.
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The Telegraph hotel now unloved and empty.
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The Customs House hotel.
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The room was comfortable.
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Good views.
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And able to see where I was going that night.Really convenient.
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I can thoroughly recommend it.

 

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I got over there a bit before 1500 and no one there.told the gates would open ~ 1515 so a stroll around the Salamanca markets which was still going.
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Back to the event entry right on 1515 and only a handful of people in front of me.I was tha first in Lane 6.There were 12 lanes.Only 1 woman behind me at ~1530 when I took this photo.
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And this is what those cylinders did.
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Impressive when it got dark.
When we were allowed to enter the woman on queue 6 couldn't get her card machine to work so I was behind quite a few.Chose to start off inside.A lot of ethnic food so i chose to go with some of the unusual offerings.First a Venezuelan stall.
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I had the pulled beef Arepa.Pretty good.
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Next was an Ethiopian chicken dish.Forgot to picture the menu board.Chicken juicy and a nice sauce.A little spicy.
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[drron]

Time for a drink.i sampled a good range of pinot noirs.From here I had a glass of both the 2013 and 2019 pinots.The 2013 was best.
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I then went for tacos.I had the pork and cauliflower ones.
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The red lighting made photography difficult.Now I had sat at the end of one of the bench seating with a couple sitting opposite with a one year old.Now as usual young chilgren are fascinated with me.The kid was smiling and laughing and didn't stop looking at me.When I went for food or wine I left my jacket on the seat.Now when i came back from getting the tacos the couple had moved and moved my jacket half way up the bench-but had kept my wine.nothing said when i went and got that glass.
The place was getting busy.
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The next dish was the Mount Gnomon steamed bao bun with their red pork.Delicious.I will have something from them again at Launceston's Harvest market.
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Another of the wines I had was the TMV pinot.
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No puctures but I also had a glass of the Hughes and Hughes pinot noir plus a glass of their dornfelder.To finish off a glass of the 2016 Sailor Seeks Horse pinot.
The last of inside before I went outside.
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Going outside I was told that if i did it would be unlikely to get back in.Anyone from outside wanting to go inside had to go back to the entrance and line up with those who had just paid to come in.The line was very crowded.Fortunately it was my plan to stay outside.

First joined the line for the squidsicle.Very popular.
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Really crowded outside.No social distancing.
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Twice when i sat down to eat I sat down close to the couple with the young child I sat near at first.The child recognised me both times.I told them I would obviously make a good surrogate grandfather.
The other food I had was a lamb Sharma.Quite nice.
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I was now quite full so I left at 1930.The lines were long to get in.The linese were 5 deep.
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And the view back from the hotel.
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I was going to walk around town but the wine was telling me to go back to the room.
In the morning breakfast was complimentary.One item from the main menu and one drink.So I had the smoked salmon eggs Benedict plus a tomato juice.
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It was very nice.
The last view from my room before leaving.
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[drron]

So the trip back to Lonnie.A first stop at Mangalore and a historic home Oakwood.
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We have a connection with this property.first when I was in practice our service company was Oakwood Gardens.
but this has been the home of a sculptor for nearly 20 years -Folko Cooper.We saw his work at the Melbourne Flower Show.When I began working in Tasmania we got a couple of pieces from him with a bird bath similiar to this one.
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Kooper Tasmania, Australia | Birdbaths, garden sculptures, gates & screens, public art, fauna & flora sculpture

Custom made garden sculpture in bronze, glass, stone and steel. Designed and made in Tasmania, Australia.

www.koopertasmania.com.au

A fair bit of his work around the gardens.
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Across the road some lovely country.
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From the time I crossed the road until I drove off the sheep kept watching me.
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I then stopped at Kempton.Named after Anthony Kemp described as a feisty fellow always arguing with the authorities.
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Stopped at what was regarded as the finest inn in the town.
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But I wasn't here for the history.something far more important
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A flight of their gins plus the lavender malt liqueur.$22.
They also served light meals.Those that I saw looked good but it was a little early for lunch.

 

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Their shop.
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I bought their Embezzler gin,the lavender malt liqueur which I really liked.plus a bottle of sweet chilli whiskey jam which is also delicious.
Then a walk around the buildings.
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Worth a visit.

 

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I spent some time exploring Kempton.The locals have made it easy to know what you are looking at.lots of signs and plaques.Lots of interesting buildings.
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The Manse.
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A shop belonging to the owner of Dysart House.
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Nice country behind the town.
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