West to East then North

We had promised ourselves on our way to Hobart 6 days ago that we wouldn’t leave Tasmania without having again experienced its most quintessential cuisine - the scallop pie.

It was 40 years since we had first tasted this delicacy at St. Helens in the northeast of the island and its taste and memory lingered. Today was our last chance to revisit this exquisite treat for the first time since then, and we successfully tracked one down and savoured it for lunch in New Norfolk enroute to Hobart. Now we could happily head home.

This morning was cold and damp in Queenstown as we started heading east. First stop was a 1hr 20 minute drive (encountering a total of 9 other cars on the entire leg) to Derwent Bridge and a welcome morning tea stop at ‘The Wall’ - an enormously long, intricately carved wall of Huon Pine panels house in a purpose built shed literally in the middle of wilderness bushland. The workmanship is amazing, depicting some of the story of Tasmania in a series of carved images. It was sorely tempting to photograph the carvings but we respected the ‘no photography’ signage and refrained.

A quick backtrack to lake St. Clair, where the view was marred by low cloud and strong wind on the lake. A dusting of snow on the mountaintops could be seen through the passing clouds.

A little way further along we pulled off the side of the road beside a very unassuming plaque and cairn which marked ‘the geographic centre of Tasmania’. For reasons that are difficult to explain, this was also on our ‘Tasmania Bucket List’ as we vividly remember stopping at this unremarkable landmark on our way across Tasmania on our honeymoon, being amazed at how quickly we had travelled from coast to centre on that occasion.

The weather cleared, we crossed the famous Franklin river at the one and only place this river is crossed by a man made structure and continued to New Norfolk for our scallop pie encounter.

Before we knew it we were entering the outskirts of Hobart again, noting that there were still a number of attractions to this wonderful island that we would love to explore at some point in the future, God Willing.

Hobart airport is a busy little terminal but I have found a quiet corner to finish this blog as we wait to board our flight home.
Thanks for following us along and hopefully the text and photos have helped give you a little taste of the beauty of this wonderful part of God’s creation.
Loriene and I feel very blessed to have shared an amazing 40 years of married life and look forward to the next phase(s) of our life together.Lue lisää