Shhhh…don’t tell ANYONE about Australia’s best-kept secret.
After saying farewell to my gorgeous group of South Australian travelers on the Brecon Wine Estate hosted trip, I slipped away to scout out more places in Australia for future visits. Traveling on this journey with my husband, our first stop was Tasmania, and I chose wisely. Tasmania, or Tassie as the locals call it, is Australia’s southernmost state and a must-visit destination for travelers looking for unspoiled natural beauty, wildlife, and world-class food and wine experiences. It’s about 150 miles southeast of the mainland, separated by the Bass Strait. Unlike the California-like topography of South Australia, where we’d spent the last 10 days with my Brecon group, Tassie is full of green fields, mountains and water everywhere.
The weather is also very different. Being December, it’s summer Down Under, and it definitely felt that way in South Australia with its high temps and sapphire skies. Tassie felt more like winter, except that the skies stayed light until about 9 pm, which was a total joy to me. But curiously, I did experience what people say about this island, that you can get all four seasons in a single day.
I’m writing this after spending three incredibly exciting days in the capital of Hobart, so I’ll stick with that for this blog. Next will be about northern Tassie and Launceston, part 2 of my journey here.
Day 1 – The Perfect Start to Our Tasmania Adventure
Getting some steps on
Our guide Noah, a charming Melbournian who relocated to Hobart during the pandemic to pursue a career in Brazilian music (go figure), started me out with a walking tour of Hobart. This is a city built by POMS—prisoners of Mother England—with some of the buildings dating back to the early 1800’s.
Arthur Square in Battery Park was one of the original worker neighborhoods, with tiny houses built in either the Georgian or Colonial style, Today, these 2 bedroom/1 bath houses are prime real estate and typically sell for well over $1 million! We descended the Kelly steps, famous mostly because they were built by convicts and are still functional. They lead to the vibrant waterfront and Salamanca, which is an old warehouse converted to local shops, artisan studios and eating places.
Morning drinking
Time for that later, but it was now wine time. First stop was Stefano Lubiana, a small producer with Italian (Istrian) roots. Despite the heritage, this is definitely Tassie wine, with a focus on what they do best here—Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Located south of Hobart on the Derwent River Valley. Our host Aurelia let me sample six different wines, starting with a 2016 Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine, which was dry and refreshing with just a drop of fruit. Other tastes included their Rieslings, Chardonnays and Pinots. Winner for me was the Pinot, more acidic than the Pinots I’m familiar with from California or Burgundy.
Call of the Wild
The next stop was Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, a place where they rescue animals and do what it takes to release them back into the wild. Not only is this an amazing place to get up close to the beautiful creatures, but it’s inspirational because of what they do, Our guide Chris started as a volunteer during the pandemic and loved it so much that he became a full-time employee.
Our first visit was with Beanie, a female wombat who luckily did not become roadkill, a sadly common end to many wombats’ lives. Chris brought Beaning into a larger pen where we could feed her a carrot (a huge treat for her) and pet her. Something about bonding with animals is very soothing,
We passed by a number of rare cockatoos, each with beautifully brightly colored feathers, and then saw Tassie’s namesake, a Tasmanian Devil, Little Phoenix hid in a hollowed-out tree stump, but finally emerged so we could see her. As cute as Devils are, it’s look and don’t touch because their sharp teeth can do serious damage.
Continuing, we saw a kookaburra, which is a bird (not everyone knows that, including me!). While kookaburras make a loud laugh-like sound, this one was quiet. Then, I got to feed an echidna, a marsupial who somewhat resembles a skunk. The trainer had me put on gloves and then I scooped up a delicious blob of echidna porridge—a slush of ground-up ants, termites and other bugs. They have very long tongues, up to 30 centimeters, and when little Ruby ate from my hand, her little tongue tickled my gloved palm as she slurped up her lunch.
The last feeding was the kangaroos, who must have been overfed because most of them weren’t hungry. One Australian animal they don’t have at Bonorong is the koala because there aren’t any on this island.
Speaking of lunch
Noah took us to lovely Frogmore Creek, a winery and fine dining establishment near Bonarong. Known for farm-to-table food served with artistic style, I enjoyed a delicious Moroccan lamb dish. Dessert is a specialty here, so I indulged in tastes of 2 desserts, including a confection with local honey, a regional specialty. Knowing we had two wineries to go to, we didn’t sample their wines, but Noah did say they were quite good.
Afternoon drinking
From here, we went to the other southern Tassie wine region, the Coal River Valley. First on the agenda was Pooley, one of the region’s most prestigious labels. Housed in a building more French than Australian, this cellar door (Australian for tasting room) offers a number of wines at three different levels. I chose the single-vineyard tasting and tried the Big 3—Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. While I liked the wines, I wasn’t in love although I thought the Riesling was a perfect choice to sip on a hot summer day.
The last winery was the clear winner. Pressing Matters (love the name, and it’s so Australian in its cheekiness) is a small producer with a unique wine-making style. Riesling is a great example. They make the Riesling and then stop the fermentation at three levels of residual sugar. What this does is let the consumer select the Riesling with the level of dryness they prefer.
Even better, on good years they do a Riesling blending and produce a textured Riesling, which was killer in its complexity. Our tasting room host was Terrence and his passion for the wines, including telling the stories about the perfect pairings, made our time at Pressing Matters even more special.
Day 2 – Hard To Believe Tasmania Can Get Better
Wild Seafood
Hard to top Day 1, but Day 2 was pretty incredible. Meeting at one of the docks at the waterfront, we boarded the Cuttlefish for a 4 ½ hour boating trip to eat some of the best seafood ever. This experience is definitely on the agenda for a Wine Lovers Travel group to Tasmania.
Operated by just three crew members, the Cuttlefish is quite a luxurious boat. It has a high-end indoor kitchen (calling it a galley doesn’t do it justice), an outdoor cooking/grilling station, two bathrooms with real toilets, a shower and lots of space to wander among the three decks.
Although the crew told me they could accommodate up to 50 people, that would be way too crowded. For our sailing, we had nine, which was lovely. Since a WLT group is usually between 12 to 20, this ship is the perfect size.
The crew consisted of the captain, the diver/chef Dan and the sous-chef and marine biologist Will. During the course of the cruise, we feasted on abalone, oysters, sea urchins, periwinkles (sea snails), salmon, rock lobster and crayfish. All were served both raw and cooked, including uni (sea urchin) cooked with scrambled eggs. Each fish was presented beautifully—apparently it wasn’t enough for the crew to offer the best seafood ever, it had to look like a photo op as well.
Beverages ranged from sparkling wine, Riesling, various beers and water. All you could consume. Plus, if that weren’t enough, Will baked a delicious apple cake to enjoy for dessert.
But enough about food. What did we do on this cruise? After leaving the harbor, we headed to Bruny Island, which is where the best sea urchins and periwinkles can be found. Along the way, the dolphins swam with us, always something thrilling to see. As we approached Bruny Island, Dan donned full diving gear, jumped in and returned about 20 minutes later with two bags full of sea treasures.
The boat then repositioned to a salmon farm, something I’d never seen. They are large (maybe 30 feet in diameter) wire structures where the salmon are bred. The salmon kept jumping out of the water, which I guess is what they do. It was very entertaining.
The only seafood we ate that Dan actually harvested were the sea urchins and the periwinkles. By law, only licensed commercial fishermen can catch the other varieties we ate, so the crew purchases them the same day from the local purveyors before each cruise.
Day 3 – The Cultural Side of Hobart
Is this art or someone’s fantasy?
Final day in Hobart we caught a ferry to MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, located across the river from the city. While you can drive there, it’s more fun to arrive by ferry. We traveled in the Posh Pit, a VIP experience where they serve you beverages of choice (who knew I’d like a passionfruit Mimosa) and lovely tapas.
MONA was the brainchild of David Walsh, a man from humble beginnings who amassed a fortune a money through gambling. The short story is he was a math/computer science major at the University of Tasmania and developed an algorithm for winning at poker. As he amassed a fortune in winnings, he started collecting truly eclectic art. When his collection grew to a point where he had no room to store it, he decided to purchase land on the Berriedale peninsula near Hobart where he grew up. While he could have located his museum anywhere in the world, he wanted to create jobs and give back to the community of his birth.
Ironically, the land he purchased was from another gambler, who didn’t have the algorithm because he burned through his family’s fortune and the property was in receivership. It was also the second oldest vineyard in Tasmania, so in addition to the museum, the Moorilla Estate Winery is on the property. They grow only chardonnay and Pinot Noir on this property, but Walsh also has other vineyards in the Tamber River area and produces about 13,000 cases per year, ranging from Estate wine to “fun” wines made from purchased grapes.
It’s hard to describe the museum because it’s one man’s vision and nobody can get inside another person’s psyche. The art ranges from what some consider to be pornographic to icons of pop culture to a Renoir. Sadly, we only had 90 minutes to explore the three levels, but I will be back. While people seem to have strong opinions about loving or hating the museum, I thought it was fascinating.
After the museum, we got a tour of the winery followed by a guided tour with Emily, someone who has worked with cultured foods her entire career. Before wine, it was baking yeast bread and cheese making, so she’s a woman who has found her passion. Before leaving, we had lunch at The Source, the fine dining venue on site. Enjoyed a curry-infused seafood salad and a pappardelle pasta with greens, lemon, ricotta and fresh peas; as creative as the museum and the winery.
What’s next?
Now that I’ve experienced some of the best Hobart has to offer, I want to share these treasures with our Wine Lovers Travel community. This can be in small group trips or even a special trip we design just for you. We will be announcing more trips to Australia in 2025, so watch for those. But if you can’t wait, please contact me and let me design the perfect experience for you.