Tassie !

I had previously avoided Tasmania in January because I felt that the school
holidays might overcrowd the limited facilities, however, with a little bit
of planning and pre-booking of accommodation (which turned out to be a VERY
good move - some places were completely booked out) it was very worthwhile.

1) It was fresh food season, and boy was most of it great - strawberries,
raspberries, apricots, blueberries - all of the most wonderful flavour, far
better than anything that ever gets into the Sydney markets . It was all
very ripe and required eating almost straight away. We soon worked out that
we could eat, say the best of the raspberries and use the left over bits and
broken pieces as a dessert with Raspberry flavoured yoghurt.

We brought 3 kilos of very fresh and tasty Apricots from a farm near New
Norfolk at $2.00 a Kilo and ate them in the car in two days.

2) Actually got to see the view from the top of Mt Wellington for the first
time and it was really worthwhile. My previous attempts had ended up with
either fog or clouds.

The great fear of being sued has resulted in warning signs against drinking
the water from the spring about 2/3 rds of the way up - but many people were
still filling containers.

3) The Tahune Forest Walkway is well worth the drive and the cost, as was
the riverside picnic area on the road into there.

4) The Abt Railway - also well worthwhile, even if only to see what 20-30
million in grants can buy as a tourist attraction - but longer reports are
to follow on both this and Spirit of Tasmania III
--
Tony Bailey
Mercury Travel Books

Thanks Tony, am going to Tasmania next month on a Virgin Blue special for 9
days. Have booked on the Abt railway, so look forward to your next trip
report. Plan also to visit the Tahune, so your brief report was
interesting!

Regards

David Bennetts