47. Launceston and the Tamar Valley Wine Region, Tasmania. Part 3 of our road trip doing the Lap of Tasmania, Australia.
This week’s episode is a fun one as we take you on our trip to Launceston via Penguin, Deloraine, then on to the Tamar Valley Wine Region.
We are still road tripping around Tasmania and you guys are listening in record numbers – so thank you.
Our first stop for brekkie was at the cute little town of Penguin – and we tell you why it’s called that. Then we drive on to one of the prettiest towns in Tasmania – if not Australia – Deloraine on the Meander River. It should be in movies – just gorgeous.
Finally, we reach our overnight accommodation in the city of Launceston. We take you to the most popular tourist attraction in town – the spectacular Cataract Gorge. We also walk through the city park which we were really surprised to see an animal enclosure full of cheeky cute little – not telling – you will just have to listen. Here’s a hint though – they were a gift from Japan.
Then we travel on to the small town of Grindewald, which is a replica of a Swiss village with the same name full of Swiss chalets and pristine gardens.
We stay in a tiny hotel room – my fault when booking- but it was cheap and the facilities were amazing like an indoor heated pool and putt putt golf – which I kicked Lyle’s butt in.
Then we go on a full day wine tour all around Tamar Valley. It is such a beautiful area of Tasmania and the wineries were fabulous. We visit Marion’s Vineyard on the side of a hill with views to die for, Goaty Hill Wines (which is now Small Wonders organic wines) with the most amazing platters and picnic areas, Holm Oak vineyard with its huge pigs and lastly Swinging Gate with it’s cute mascot – Nellie the dog.
Listen to the end to hear where our favourite place to have a wine was and about the really cool Mixed Dozen program that allows you to buy a couple of wines at each participating vineyard and have them all sent home together – what a great idea! And your holiday can continue when you arrive home – perfect.
SHOW NOTES AND PICTURES BELOW
Penguin
The first stop on this part of our road trip was Penguin. Yes, there is a town called Penguin and as you can see by the pictures they are very proud of their town. It is a very pretty little seaside village with beautiful beaches and shore front. You can see the Fairy Penguins returning from the sea every night at the Burnie Penguin Observation Centre from October 1st to 31st March.
Deloraine
After a nice walk around the beach and breakfast at Penguin we headed to Deloraine for lunch. Deloraine is a small town of just over 3,000 people and is in the middle of one of Tasmania’s farming areas.
The town itself has a lovely main street with historic buildings which are now full of cafes and galleries.
One of the main attractions in the town is the Meander River. As you can see from the pictures it is absolutely beautiful. We wandered around the river and across the rickety pedestrian bridge just taking in the views.
The Deloraine Hotel is a great stop for lunch and we enjoyed our meal in the beer garden with views of the river.
Launceston
We arrived at Launceston after lunch on a sunny Sunday afternoon. We had stayed right in the city at the Grand Chancellor Hotel. This was a really nice hotel and we really liked their restaurant. The city was quiet, so we decided to walk to Cataract Gorge. It is a 20 minute walk to the beginning of the track that takes you along the gorge. There are many stops along the way to admire the stunning views back to Launceston and also to the suspension bridge. If you don’t want to walk along the 2.1 km track to the bridge, you can drive to the car park and access the gorge from there. Cataract Gorge has the world’s longest single span chairlift that goes across the gorge. There are two places to swim. The First Basin is a natural swimming hole and there is a man-made swimming pool that is open in summer months.
Another nice place to walk around is City Park right in the heart of the city. There are many beautiful tree-lined walks, a rotunda, conservatory full of flowers, ferns and orchids and a monkey enclosure. Not quite what you expect to see in the middle of Launceston.
Grindewald
After an overnight in Launceston we drove the short distance to our next stop for two nights - the Aspect Tamar Valley Resort at Grindewald. This little village is a replica of a Swiss village of the same name. It is very quaint and certainly different. The resort has lots of facilities including a large indoor heated swimming pool, a restaurant, cafe, hire shop, bakery and putt putt golf. I absolutely kicked Lyle’s butt at putt putt. (that was a surprise to me as well)
There is a lot for families to do at the resort with all the facilities such as adventure playgrounds and a lake where you can hire boats.
Tamar Valley Wine Region
After enjoying the golf and a nice meal (and a Tassie wine) we headed off to bed to get ready for our big day touring the wineries.
We did a day tour with Tamar Valley wine tours. They were fabulous. They picked us up from our accommodation with 8 others and off we went.
Our first stop was Marion’s Vineyard. It is a pretty vineyard and we were lucky to meet Marion who gave us all the tasting information about the delicious wines. There is a very picturesque outdoor tasting area with views down over the vines to the river. Not a bad start.
Next was Goaty HIll wines which has now changed its name to Small Wonders as it now produces only organic wines. They also have a lovely outdoor area for tastings and we enjoyed one of the gourmet platters for lunch. Lovely views of the trees and vines at this winery as well.
Our third winery was Holm Oak which was a lovely rustic building with a verandah where we did our tastings. They have some huge pigs that you can feed (no not us - actual pigs).
Lastly we went to Swinging Gates wines. This was a very quirky tasting area and was made even more unique because of the cute winery mascot - Nellie the cattle dog. Some of the people on our tour were staying here in the Domescapes Glamping accommodation. They looked pretty cool.
The Tamar Valley is know for its Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. We enjoyed all the wines and can honestly say we haven’t tried a Tasmanian wine we didn’t like.
One of the great things about our tour was we were able to purchase a couple of bottles at each winery and we took them with us in the bus and when we reached the last winery, they packaged them up and sent the whole lot home together in one package. It is called the Mixed Dozen Wine Delivery Program.. Such a great idea.
One of the best places to check out all about the wine areas of Tasmania is here at Tamar Valley Wine Trail
This is the third part of our road trip around Tasmania. You can find out all about all the other Tasmanian episodes by clicking the button below.