We didn’t hang around in Hobart for too long – Tasmania is not a place you come to see cities – we got out into the hills to get lost in the spectacular scenery – Tasmania’s real tourist attraction. I had heard from a number of people that Tasmania is a lot like New Zealand, with it’s rugged landscape, island culture and lots of sheep! So far I was loving Tasmania, so New Zealand should be even better!

As you’ll see if you look at the map, we spent quite a bit of time in the National Parks of Tasmania – the first of which, Mt Fields National Park was a great place to stretch our legs and soak in the views, rather than wine for a while. Lake St Clair the next day saw us take a more leisurely walk and a swim, although there wasn’t a single Platypus to be seen, but that wasn’t all that unusual apparently as they’re both nocturnal and extremely shy. Unfortunately, something that we did see a whole lot of was evidence of the other nocturnal wildlife on the island – the roads of Tasmania are littered with roadkill. We only drove at dusk once, which was more than enough! It is just when the wallabies are at their most active – and came a bit too close for comfort on more than one occasion!

After a few days off the wine (not entirely true – as we’d bought some when down South) we plotted a course through the Tamar wine region outside the town of Launceston. With so many to choose from, we had to choose carefully – but after the first one of the day, fresh with recommendations for nearby wineries not on our list, our plans quickly changed!

I had wanted to make the pilgrimage to Bay of Fires after trying the ‘Arras’ sparkling on New Years Eve with my friend Tom, who I had met working at Kemenys in Bondi, and who had worked a vintage with them a few years ago. Unfortunately, I was cheated of a second taste of the Arras, as they had run out of the 2001 and were awaiting delivery of the 2002! So it looks like Kemenys beat their own cellar door to the punch on that one!

We did however try ther rest of the range, so it wasn’t a totally wasted journey! and after some deliberation we bought a bottle of the Bay of Fires Riesling 2007, with aromas of fresh passionfruit and green apple backed up with a zing of acidity it was a great accompaniment to the Thai that we had that night.

Driving further along the same road, we stopped in at Delamere Vineyard, which had recently been bought by Shane Holloway – in fact only 5 weeks before – with the vintage only weeks away! It turned out his wife Fran is the winemaker at Bay of Fires.. so perhaps not such a coincidence that they sent us in this direction! Specialising in the Burgundian combo of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with Chardonnays ranging from the subtley oaked 2002, with delicate nutty character with some development whilst retaining a refreshing acidity – to the 2005 Reserve Chardonnay which had weight on the front palate, nice rich oak leading onto a fresh zing on the finish.

We briefly stopped into Dalrymple Vineyards to try their Sauvignon blanc made by Shane and while we were there it would be rude not to try the rest of the range too! The

But with time pressing, there was one vineyard we didn’t want to miss before the end of the day. On our first day in Tasmania, we had stumbled upon ‘Grape’ a nice little wine bar with well informed staff, and had tried the Brook Eden Chardonnay, it was a hit with both of us, so we definitely wanted to see what else they had to offer…