Megs & I shared an apartment on the 8th floor so had a great view of the MCG, Rod Laver Arena & lots of railway tracks. Nice apartment & a comfortable place to stay. Not being able to aclimatise to the time zone was a bit of a worry, seeing we went to bed about 1.30am every night - it's only 10.30pm in Perth!
Saturday it was bye bye girls & I flew to Hobart to stay a few days in Sandy Bay at the quaint Wrest Point Casino. Great view from the window. Went for an evening stroll around Sandy Bay, loving the daylight saving and ended up with scallops & chips, sitting on a bench by the boats in the twilight. Scallops are my favorite seafood & you do not get 7 fresh cooked scallops (with the roe on) & chips in Perth for $5.95. More like $15.95! Needless to say, after the last few nights, this was an early one.
Sunday I ventured to the suburbs around Seven Mile Beach. Karen (my borowed GPS) & I had words about the round about way she liked to take me places so after a phone call relied on directions given to me by real humans. That night Jaime, Lisa & I tried out Pier One Restuarant at the Casino. Great views & nice menu. Thanks to Jaime, I tried something new - Butternut Pumpkin pesto & King Island Roaring 40s Blue Cheese on flatbreads. Delicious & I felt all grown up having eaten blue cheese!
Of course, had to have a look through the casino itself. It's just a tiny one but with everything a gambler would need. Not being much of one myself I joined a few older patrons on the 1c poker machines. An hour later I was the only one groaning as I won, as I had had enough, handed over $4 & wanted to go to bed. So it was high stakes, 10c a time but unfortunately bet big & you win big so it took another 40 minutes to get rid of all the money.
Monday I started the quilt shop visits & revisiting the city itself;
* Frangipani Fabrics in Sandy Bay - lovely old shop with great fabrics
* The Quilted Crow in New Town - Wow, that church setting is gorgeous
* Salamanca Place - Great coffee & brought lovely fruit, cheese & supplies at Salamanca Fresh Fruit Market cheaper than we get in Perth at the supermarket
Then I fulfilled a dream & visited Petes Patch, the vege garden from Gardening Australia at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical gardens. Peter Cundall is my kind of bloke! Pleased to see even he & his replacement Tino have veges that bolt to seed too.
The whole park was just beautiful, with views over the water & the flowers inside & out were magnificent. I loved the Antartic House where they pump in freezing air & it is planted to suit. The mural was great. Inside here was the coldest I ever got in Tassie too. Great weather.
Tuesday it was time for a big drive to Launceston. I'm not much for big drives but Karen kept me company & she did behave though it wasn't difficult - 'drive straight for 168 kms'. Naturally I played with her mind & did a few detours. The signs on the side of the road for Scallop Pies in Oatlands got to me so it was a quick turn right (Do a U-turn yelled Karen). I was soon happily parked by the Lake Dulverton Conservation Area with curry scallop pie in hand, feeling very happy with myself, not believing how many scallops you can put in flakey pastry & sell for $5.80.
Tuesday it's quilt shop tour but I will leave that for the next post....
Happy stitching (wish I had a scallop pie...)
Tracee xx
Tracee sounds like great fun you had ,i think you had a lot of patience with Karen,lol,she was lucky she wasnt thrown out the window,lol.Cant wait to see what you bought,i also love scallops,lol.
ReplyDeleteG'day. I loved reading about your tour of Tassie. I was born in Hobart and we lived in
ReplyDeleteSandy Bay where my uncle ran a Nursing Home.I was eight, when we moved to the Mainland. Hubby and I generally go back every few years and it's coming up that time again to start planning another trip.Take care. Liz...
Oh my I so want to go to Tassie, great photos.
ReplyDeleteHelen
Fabulous tour of Tassie so far. I have never been there but it is on the list. From the sound of all those quilt shops it would be a great place for the Australian Sewing Guild to have its annual group fashion, fabric, and sights tour. I would have to go quite a way to get real scallops at a fish shop. I do love them though. For the few years I lived in Auckland I was heavily involved in playgroup. Just over 20 years ago it was really big in NZ.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see your next post :)