On the water then on the wine

[RooFlyer]

Local tourist entrepreneur Rob Pennicott has built a small and successful empire running 'wilderness' tours via fast boats around southern Tasmanian waters:

Pennicott Wilderness Journeys

Pennicott Wilderness Journeys operates cruises and day tours from Hobart, Tasmania. Tour with Robert Pennicott's award winning team in the yellow boats.

www.pennicottjourneys.com.au

A couple of good friends gave me a voucher for 3 for one of their tours, and of course I chose them as my guests and the Tasman island cruise as the destination. This cruise is centered on the Tasman Peninsula, the bit on the bottom right of this map:



The 3 hour cruise was scheduled to run from Stewart's Bay, near Port Arthur to Pirate's Bay at Eaglehawk Neck, but because of strong northerly winds and high seas, we only went along the sheltered south-west coast to just past Tasman Island (to taste the high seas) and back. A bit disappointing in theory, but no-one was disappointed in the end. Then we moved onto the Southern Tasmania Open Vineyards Weekend

Red: approx scheduled
Blue: actual



The boats have a capacity of 45 pax. but covid limited to about 30 and we had 22 on board, so it was quite comfy. Everyone is issued with a long red spray jacket with hood; you have to be seated with seat belt on when going at speed; I don't know what they get up to but there were 3 x 300HP engines on the back . Ginger tablets for motion sickness offered.

Boarding at Stewart's Bay - a lovely fine and sunny day.



View of another boat the same as ours:



We puttered past Port Arthur historic site



And the Isle of the Dead, where about 1,000 are buried, many vertically, to save space ...



The first of many sea caves, this one in sedimentary rock



And the first wildlife, long-necked penguins gannets.



And looking the other way, our destination:

 

[RooFlyer]

Sand dunes on the southern coast of the Port Arthur area (Crescent Bay)




We poked our nose out past the point at Mount Brown to see our first dolerite columns to the south, which will dominate the scenes on the cruise:



And then the inevitable dolphins appeared, the first of several encounters on the cruise. A happy pod, feeding at first and then surfing the boat waves and playing. Of course you can never get a good pic of the damn things, so best just to put the camera down and enjoy.

 

[RooFlyer]

We then fanged it across the entrance to the bay to the 'Black cliffs', the start of our traverse of the SW coast towards Tasman Island. The black is dolerite rock, which was a thick molten intrusive horizontal sill (2-400m thick here) hundreds of millions of years ago. As it cooled and solidified, it shrank volumetrically, and so to 'give', internal cracks formed. Physically, cracks at 120 degrees is some optimum, so classically hexagonal columns form, but you can also get 3, 4 or 5 sided ones. Once exposed at the surface, erosion accentuates individual columns. The Giant's Causeway in Ireland is an example of the phenomenon (in basalt), as are the Organ Pipes on Mt Wellington in Hobart.



A sea cave in dolerite



Dolerite columns hanging like stalactites, or teeth!



We kept going, back into sediments, and round the corner ... has Victoria lost an Apostle? (No wisecracks about adequacy, please ...)

The weather, now just over the other side of the peninsula, making its presence felt with low clouds blowing over the ridge

The boat in front of us has spotted more critters:

 

[RooFlyer]

More dolphins







Onwards ...

These used to be known as New Zealand fur seals, but on closer examination, they have formed a separate species since making their way to Tasmania

A deep cleft in the cliffs, with a blowhole at the end



Approaching the channel between Cape Pillar on the left and Tasman Island on the right. Note the sea state.



Cape Pillar, topped by The Blade

 

[RooFlyer]

As soon as we rounded the point, the seas got very lumpy! From almost calm to 2-3m crest to trough in a matter of minutes. At this stage, everyone on board decided that NOT carrying on to Eaglehawk Neck was a very good idea!

Just beyond that, we pulled into a little crevice, which was relatively calm, and admired these +300m vertical sea cliffs (columnar dolerite), the highest in the southern hemisphere







Expert skipper went back out into the seas and expertly turned the boat through 180 degrees on the top of a swell without getting us swamped . Then we headed back to the island, with the seas following us. Down there somewhere is Antarctica

 

[RooFlyer]

We then re-approached Tasman Island, well known as being the rounding point for the Sydney-Hobart yachts before they enter Storm Bay and the Derwent.



On this side is the somewhat amusingly named 'landing point' for the Island, and for many years, the occupied Tasman Island Lighthouse.





Have a look at the pics, then do yourself a favour and watch this archival video of how you actually got from a boat to the island, then, much more hair-raisingly, up the slope to the top No, not this little black duck!!

Look at the state of the cable-way ... and a cable broke some years before this!!

 

[RooFlyer]

Around the corner, a stationary boat indicated there were more beasties.



More seals - and very smelly ones.









Looking back the way we had come, and are returning to



Finishing back at Stewart's Bay, a gorgeous sheltered beach (with temps in the high 20s) where we disembarked and a bit later cracked a nice crisp Tassie riesling to start the next phase of the weekend - the wine.

 

[RooFlyer]

Forgot ... before we clinked the glasses, we drove down to see Remarkable Cave, south of the Port Arthur site. I'd never been there and it had just reopened after extensive maintenance.

Gorgeous looking water



There were two sea caves here; one collapsed eons ago and is now a very secluded beach:



The other is intact - the 'Remarkable Cave' - but just watch out for those falling rocks ..



Then back to Stewarts Bay, a lovely little beach and even warm enough for me to go swimming ...





Stewarts Bay Lodge overlooks it - about 20-25 2 bedroom cabins are located in the trees in this pic. We stayed there last time, but it was too expensive given the cabins were getting pretty tired. But we booked the restaurant for dinner.

 

[RooFlyer]

We stayed at the Port Arthur Motor Inn. $150/night for a small, basic room, probably built in the '70s. The local up-market hotel group, Federal Hotels (Saffire operators) bought the site about 15 years ago and planned a new complex, sympathetic to its location (it directly overlooks the Port Arthur Historic Site), but a myriad of planning issues, the GFC etc etc has delayed it, but I'm told its about to re-start. You wouldn't consider eating at the present place.



We had pre-dinner drinks on the deck outside our rooms, which faced the back of the historic site - the better rooms and the dining room faced over it.



Rockford Alicante hit the spot



Then a walk to SBL and its restaurant, which is pretty good.





Some more pre dinner drinks on the terrace, overlooking the water:

 

[RooFlyer]

I had local octopus for entrée, we all had local salmon, which was fantastic and I sinned (having been on a diet for 6 weeks!) and had an apple and berry crumble for desert - $65 the lot.







Now, all we had to do was get back to the motel. None of us could face the uphill walk through the lodge and the long way round via the road, so we opted to take the foreshore path to the Historic Site and then an illicit cut through it and hoped that the locked gate at the motel could be scaled or something.

We started in twilight:



When we got to the convict site, we had our own ghost tour (the penitentiary)







Fortunately we could squeeze around the final gate and we made it back to our rooms in the pitch black.

Next morning, one of my friends wanted to go to the Tessellated pavement again, but I couldn't be bothered, so took in the views:



Pirate's Bay, where our cruise yesterday was due to finish.

 

[RB]

That looks like a great value meal and certainly some great scenery in your travels

 

[RooFlyer]

Righto; having dispensed with the sights on the Tasman Peninsula, we headed back towards Hobart and the Coal River Valley for some tasting in the Southern Open Vineyards weekend. A number of small vineyards that don't normally open a cellar door are doing so this weekend, sometimes with some good discounts. You can break it into 2 or 3 regions. The Coal River Valley & surrounds, and the upper Derwent River Valley:



and south of Hobart - the Huon and 'Channel' areas:



My friends guided me - they had done the Weekend a number of times and had found a number of good 'uns. But I wish I had done some research of my own; some great little places included.

First stop was Pressing Matters in the upper Coal River Valley, about at #20 on the first map.





They don't normally have a cellar door, and you can tell . They do a range of rieslings R0, R9, R69 and R167 (sticky)... R being grams residual sugar. I loved their R9 but bought some of each.





Views out over the valley.

 

[RooFlyer]

Next stop, Wobbly Boot vineyard. This place was up a dirt road and I'd probably never go up there even if I knew there was a winery at the end!





The cellar door is in a hose converted to business:



Some nice views from the tasting spot





I bought some of their Late Autumn Riesling but wasn't that keen on the rest.

 

[bPeteb]

Thanks Roo. Loving this. Three weeks now we'll be down there on our camper van adventure. No Port Arthur this trip but picking up some wine on our way north to St Helen's is definitely in the plan. Riesling and sparkle top of our list.

Great videos. Excellent stabilisation. What camera did you use? Or 'just' a phone. We're coming equipped with at least one camera but have a feeling our iPhone 12 Pro Max and Samsung S21 Ultra will end up being our cameras of choice.

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks and Oops. I must finish the report off. More wine!

mixture of iPhone and Sony pocket camera with 100x zoom

 

[RooFlyer]

Close to Wobbly Boot we dropped into Roslyn 1823, mainly to have a look at the buildings. An estate with buildings from 1823 the tasting room is in a former coach house, next to servant's quarters.





On closer inspection, the tower between those buildings and the home on the right is modern Nice English Bond in the inside wall.



The tasting room was pretty packed, and only a single person - the lady of the house - to attend . We had a Riesling, then a light lunch in the adjacent room.

Final stop of the day was Clemens Hill, in the heart of the Coal River Valley. You can't miss it, on the hill:



A view towards the estuary from the winery, the Radio telescope in the distance; Frogmore Creek winery just to the right of that and Hobart Airport in the distance behind that.



this place used to have a cellar door and was built as a bit of a showpiece, but it no longer operates, which is a shame. Special opening today, and it was really packed. Live music, a gourmet food van (with crayfish etc served). This is only a small portion of the people; parking was chaotic, in the narrow lanes on the hillside.



Wasn't really our scene, although one of the winemakers himself attended to us and gave us a very personal tasting.

So that was our half-day. We intended to do the next day as well, but the weather was poor and, well, we couldn't be bothered. There is always next year!

Hope you liked this quick tour - the Coal River Valley is a great, compact wine area, but many of the tiny wineries don't do cellar doors - although some of those will open with appointment.

Southern Wine Trail | Wine Tasmania

Explore the Southern Wine Trail to taste the diverse and exquisite wines of Tasmania's southern wine growing areas.

winetasmania.com.au