Happy Australia Day!

Happy Australia Day, everyone -- celebrated every January 26!  This date is celebrated as the anniversary of the day in 1788, when the British sailed into Sydney Harbor with its first fleet of convict ships.  This date has been celebrated since early on in Sydney and New South Wales (the Australian state that includes Sydney).  However, other Australian states did not have a history of celebrating this date, because it was not their history.  All of today's states in Australia were for a long time independent colonies.  Even after the colonies/states were federated together to create the nation, Australia, in 1901, there was not broad agreement that this date should be selected as the day for celebrating the nation.  Several alternatives were proposed by the states.  However, by the 1930's, consensus was reached, and today's national holiday, Australia Day, was officially born.

Our celebration plan for today is to explore the Huon Trail.  This is an area to the south of Hobart that is well known for its natural beauty and fruit orchards.  We head south and drive through lovely seaside neighborhoods until the houses become more sparse and the view is more rural.  Our first stop is the recommended Inverawe Native Gardens, a private estate run by an elderly husband and wife in what is clearly a labor of love.   Margaret, the wife, provides us an extensive overview of the property, including a map.  All the plants in the gardens are native to Australia.  Their accomplishment is impressive, and the location is very scenic.  The property sits on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel at the mouth of the North West River near the town of Margate.  I take note of one plant that can either be the size of a bush or grow to the size of a small tree call Melaleuca Nesophiles.  It has charming little pink poms poms, similar to the bottle brush tree (another Australian native plant), although we are informed that they are not related.  I plan to see if this is available in the United States.  Rob likes the annuals called Paper Daisies, native to Western Australia.  Seed packs are available for purchase, but I don't think we would be allowed to bring them into the United States.  Too bad for us.

We continue driving south along the western shore of the channel until we reach a town called Woodbridge, where, just to the south, we stop at the Grandvewe Sheep Cheesery, Australia's only organic sheep's milk cheese producer.  There is a small cafe there, so we enjoy lunch called "toasties."  These are grilled (sheep) cheese sandwiches, combined with either ham or roasted vegetables, very good.  We each enjoy a glass of sauvignon blanc produced under the Grandvewe name.  The coastline here is very scenic, and as much as we enjoyed driving the Tasman Peninsula yesterday, we are enjoying this more.  The landscape is just so charming with its rolling green hills and blue water.  We make additional stops in the small towns of Gordon and Verona Sands to admire these views.  Verona Sands lies just at about the bottom of this peninsula.

After Verona Sands, the highway turns back towards the north as we drive up what is now called the Huon River valley, which is, of course, an estuary at this point.  We stop at a scenic pullover site and take some nice pictures of Eggs and Bacon Bay, yes, that is the real name.  

We also drive through a charming town called Cygnet as we make our way north to Huonville, which is the top of this valley.  The agricultural specialty of this valley appears to be apples, and there are any roadside apple stands.  Huonville, itself, appears to be a very nice larger town, but we pass through.  We stop just north, however, at a place called the Apple Shed, where I hope to see some of the local apples.  We are disappointed to learn that this is actually more of a restaurant.  It does offer apple cider tasting, though.  We pass on this and continue north.  One more picture of the Huon Valley at its northern end:

Our final stop on today's drive is the top of Mount Wellington.  This mountain towers over Hobart and the surrounding areas at 4,170 feet elevation.  A fairly good road take you to the top, but it takes a while to get there.  Once there, it is colder, naturally, but the views are amazing.  You can see a great distance, and many pictures are taken.  Here is one I took with the city of Hobart in the center:

You can see Hobart is not that close, and certainly far below!

From here we return to the hotel to watch a little tennis and prepare for our flight to Sydney tomorrow. We have dinner reservations at the restaurant Rockwall, where we ate on our first night in Hobart.  Both of us are certain to order the Tasmanian Salmon again.  This may be our last chance to get it, since its availability in other parts of Australia is uncertain.

Dinner does not disappoint, we both order the same salad and same Tasmanian Salmon that we did last Wednesday.  We also order a pinot noir from a town called Granton and a winery called Stefano Lubiana.  It is not a light style and actually seems as if it could age a while.  Everything about this dinner was perfection.  I feel a little sad (maudlin, actually) at the end, as there may not be another chance to enjoy this delicous fish.  This particular Tasmanian Salmon is from the Huon River area, where we had just toured this afternoon.  Hopefully, I am wrong, and we will find this on the menu in Sydney.

Walking back to the hotel, I get the idea to walk past the hotel, even though the street sign says there is no outlet.  My hunch is based on the fact that every time I look our our hotel window, I see someone walking in that direction.  As soon as we pass the hotel, we see why:  there is a lovely small park called Princes Park that one can stroll through.  It connects to neighborhoods on the other side.  I regret not coming through here before, but we are glad we did this evening.

We go back to the hotel to turn in and watch a little more tennis.  We have to get up early tomorrow.  As I write this, I can look out the window and see the Dawn Princess come into and dock in Hobart Harbor.