Day 24 Pennicott Wilderness Tour - Bruny Island
After all crawling off to bed at silly hours, from 8pm for a couple people, we all showered and had an early night!
Today, we were due up and out by a quarter to seven. The alarm was set and without exception, fell fast asleep!
Dee's alarm went off and one by one we assembled in the living room to savour a cuppa! Then the bombshell hit...........
Dee said, sorry guys, my alarm clock is still on NZ time, it's only ten past four!!!!!
We finished our tea and sloped off muttering under breath!
The allotted time came and deja vu set in, we all sat round drinking tea!
Breakfast was mostly eaten, except Pat who, when she realised we were due to leave there and then, shoved hers into the fridge!
Confusion reigned as the super fandango front door lock proved a little more difficult to close?
Eventually, all aboard, we set off for Hobart, about an hours drive. Once we turned onto the A9 we joined a long tailback which snaked its way slowly towards our destination!
It soon became clear, we weren't going to make the meeting point at the allotted time.
Lis, who had organised the day, phoned our driver to explain our plight?
Hannah, (the driver), said she'd give us to twenty to seven and let her know where we were and if we were not going to make it there on time.
Again, we were far to far away, so she said we could meet at the ferry terminal, a few kilometres south of Hobart. But that was still at the other end of the queue!
Of course, we eventually arrived, just as Hannah was trying to contact us to find out where we were!
All climbed in and sat down and off to the ferry, just a couple of hundred metres down the road!
A very pleasant crossing with most of us going up top to take the in view.
There was a suggestion that there might be dolphins or seals; but no!
The short crossing done, the tour bus climbed the hill away from the sea. Our first destination was for a cheese tasting experience.
Neither Trev nor John are great lovers of strong cheeses and struggled to consume theirs. The girls devoured theirs with gusto!
There was Tom, a cheese that gets on well with everything and likes to be rubbed?
Then Saint a soft cheese with a white mould.
Next Oen, another soft cheese wrapped in vine leaves, when matured, the rind becomes pungent and the texture fudgey!
And last, Otto, wrapped in Prosciutto! A simple fresh cheese wrapped locally in Prosciutto and the strongest of all of them!
Hannah rounded us up and we headed off to our next stop for Oyster tasting.
We all had a laugh at the name of the place, 'Get Shucked' an Oyster farm and Oyster bar. I watched as they prepared them, my only tasting a few years back, didn't go well. It was runny and very salty. They were solid like a fig?
Pat went first, but had to spit it out. Dee next and swallowed without any problems.
Her second one had lemon squeezed over it. Much better!
We'd been allocated six oysters each....... We gave the others away!
On then to our next stop: the berry shop!
Ice cream, scones and berries. We all ordered hot fresh scones with jam and fresh thick cream. Absolutely delicious!
Hannah suggested walking down to the sea, our fourth venue, which is where Captain Cook landed; beautiful white sands!
Hannah rounded us up again and showed us a piece of kelp sea weed. Seems when ground, it is used in many household items, such as toothpaste as a suspending agent? Who knew???
Onto our fifth stop, a wine tasting with three reds and three whites. Most of the wines on offer were still young and a little acidic!
Lunch here too; lamb, salmon and some strange tasting sausages?
Having eaten, Hannah guided us back to the coach and off for a chocolate/fudge tasting! Trev was looking forward to this one!
We were offered four choices, dark chocolate, strawberry, a date and fig chocolate fudge! There were also huge honeycomb cubes! The fudges were all very strong on flavour and not to everyone's taste though! The honeycomb was the best!
Sated, it was on to our last stop: whiskey tasting!
We were offered a choice of a special blended whiskey, or a gin and tonic!
Although Trev doesn't drink, he was ordered by Dee to take a whiskey, while she had the G&T
Dee hasn't touched whiskey since Ali's christening, where she had far too much and spent a good couple of days cuddling the loo!!!
She said she had to give it one more go! Her verdict? The G&T won it!!!!!
There was a beautiful covered porch area, where we congregated and spent a leisurely half hour chatting with Hannah.
Time over, we headed back to the coach for the trip back to ferry.
Hannah spotted a couple of large eagles just off to our left, hat a site seeing them so close!
With luck on our side, we almost drove straight on with only a few minutes of us waiting!
We gave Hannah details of our blog, she was most impressed that us 'oldies' were tech savvy!
We all agreed that Hannah was very sweat and was extremely enthusiastic about her vocation and that helped make the day. Her infectious laugh and bubbly personality will stay with us long after we've returned to Blighty!
Back home to grab it's, as we're all suitably stuffed, what a superb day!
Thank you Hannah!
Tomorrow sees the return of our sixth traveller, coming into Hobart around lunchtime...... Looking forward to having you back buddy!!!
No early start tomorrow, so no alarms to be set!