So, having the returned “Donkey”, this week saw us exploring the island using Lottie’s van and various interesting accommodation options. Amongst the places we stayed were the house of a wizard, a church and a Pub in a Paddock with a beer drinking pig. We went to the Pub in Question for one reason and one reason only….it had a rating of 2 on Booking.com and we needed to know why. The story goes that over a hundred years ago a farmer had 6 sons who liked to drink more than farm, so they decided to build themselves their own pub in the middle of huge valley miles from any appreciable town. Against the odds, the pub became a great success and today draws tourists and locals alike. We had a great time and so on the reason for the low rating we will say only this…….it  was a really authentic experience.

Prior to staying at the Pub, we went for a walk along the Bay of Fires, a region of clear blue water and granite rocks stained with a lichen, which creates an amazing orange colour, giving the whole area a rather spectacular look. From the Bay of Fires, it was off to the mountains we next headed.

“You’re never too old to try something new is bollocks”, declared Stuart last week when in trying to keep up with Lottie on a mountain bike course he came off, one side of his leg going completely black with bruising. Being fair, she had taken a hours tuition prior to this, which Stuart was too tight to pay for himself. So when Lottie once more suggested mountain biking in a place called Derby, there wasn’t a lot of interest from either of us and we went hiking instead, whilst she tried to kill herself on black runs. Now in an amazing bit of coincidence, she met “Stoke Wizard”, a friend of her instructors from the previous week. The Wizard is an interesting character, an ex-exotic dancer, biking expert and DJ who is well known for his house parties. He kindly offered to put us up for the night at his house, which he shares with a professional trick mountain biking genius called Borys. Whilst we didn’t quite have a house party, the karaoke machine did make an appearance…..but the least said about that the better.

Having really got into the odd accommodation vibe, we next found ourselves heading for a converted church with a fully occupied graveyard for a garden.  On route however, we saw a sign for “Crackpot Village”……well, how can you not go there. We genuinely didn’t have a clue what was there and so were mildly surprised when we found something to waste our money on. Tasmasia is an attraction built mainly around 8 mazes and which claims to be the world’s largest maze complex. Now on doing some research, it can’t even claim to be Australia’s largest maze complex but why let that get in the way of good marketing. It also bizarrely has a rather odd model village.

From one of Tassie’s least sophisticated attractions to one of its most. Apparently, no trip to Tasmania is complete without visiting the Mona Museum of New and Old Art. It is the largest privately funded museum in the southern hemisphere and is, to say the least, a very very odd place. Anywhere that has a 100 plaster cast vulvas next to icons of the Christian orthodox world is interesting. It is not just the collections that make it special but the location. Most of it is underground and built into the rock, so it can feel a bit claustrophobic at times. However for the most eclectic mix of art and curiosities in the world, it’s a must see. 

We were nearing the end of our Tasmania adventure and this was very sad, not because we wanted to see what else it had left to offer (which we did) but because it also meant our time with Lottie was nearly up. Having realized that we may all be a bit down, Stuart decided once more that a mountain needed to be climbed and he’d truly saved the best for last. Cradle Mountain is 1545m high but what makes it truly spectacular is the numerous rainforest trails that cover the area leading up to the peak. The place is teeming with wildlife and we finally got to tick off the last two animals in our list, snakes and wombats. We had seen a wombat before but not in the day and not so close and got within feet, so tame were they. As for the snake, we got a bit closer to that than we would have wanted but fortunately it slithered away quickly on sensing us. Good job, because it was a Tiger snake, deadly and with a tendency to be a bit grumpy on occasion.

We have absolutely loved Tasmania and we don’t understand why more people aren’t raving about it. Lottie summed it up perfectly when she said, “It’s like all our favourite places decided to have an orgy and Tasmania was their love child”. We couldn’t agree more Lottie.