Grindelwald, Lavender, St Helen's

One of Suzie's friends told us about Grindelwald ...what we thought at the time was a Swiss bakery that apparently had awesome apple strudel.  It was only a 30 minute drive...so we thought a good spot for morning tea. 

But it wasn't just a bakery...it was a mini Swiss village...with coffee shops a little store...putt putt....very very cute.  They didn't have apple strudel though...but Suzie had an amazing Dutch apple cake, and I had banana walnut bread.  Yum! Would love to come and stay in the village at a later time. (They have accommodation at the village.)

Then we went to Lavender House Perfumery.  They didn't have many flowers in their fields because they are in the process of renewing their plants which they do every 5 years.  (I was disappointed when I saw the lack of flowers here. One of the main reasons I wanted to come to Tasmsnia was to see the lavender fields in full bloom. Bucket list item.)

However the guy behind the counter was a chemist and made all the products they had himself.  He was very knowledgeable and was lovely to chat too.  I bought quite a few products and am thinking I will buy online again when they are gone, especially the hand serum which I think is going to do magical things for my dry hands.  Suzie got a really good photo of me in the fields here.

Then into the Bridestowe Lavender Farm.  After there not being many flowers in the fields at the perfumery I was a bit worried about if Bridestowe would be the same.  I didn't have to worry on that count.  Lavender as far as the eye could see.  Astounding.  We had a late lunch/afternoon tea.  Suzie had a chicken pie with tomato lavender chutney.  I had lavender scones with lavender blueberry jam and a caffeine free lavender latte.  Both so damn good... especially the latte.  And I had to have a chocolate lavender icecream on the way out.  Nom Nom Nom.  Bought some tasty lavender goodies to take home...if they don't get eaten by us in the meantime.

Then on to St Helens were we're camping tonight. It's been raining on and off today. Hoping it rains itself out overnight and the weather doesn't put a dampener on our east coast explorations.

We've been told that the east coast is better than the west coast. Considering we've completely enjoyed the west coast we're really looking forward to seeing what the east coast has to offer.

(Going to add a video to another post.)Read more