Hobart

Saturday morning in Hobart means the Salamanca Markets are in full operation.

A chance to see all the artisanal food producers in one place..........the hand crafted knitters, weavers, sewers, wood turners, jewellery makers...........

 ...and APPLES, pears and quinces, honey, jam, garlic, kale, potatoes and onions and every related value added food product you can think of............

 The Salamanca Markets fill twice the space they did when we last visited.......the place is packed.

We spent at least 3 hours there doing our best for the Tasmanian economy, before retreating back to our apartment overlooking nearby Sullivan's Cove for a cup of tea and some fresh Tasmanian fish and chips.

We then spent the afternoon exploring the Eastern side of the Huon Valley, driving through the mountainous roads near Mt Wellington and out to the fertile green farmland around Longley, Grove and Huonville.  We stopped at the Apple Heritage Centre and Museum at Grove and enjoyed learning a bit more about the history behind the "Apple Isle".  The region is covered with apple and cherry orchards, and the trees look to be loaded with rapidly ripening crops of apples in every shape size and colour.

Another fun stop was at Pagan Cider's cellar door outside Cygnet. We'd loved our Pagan Pear cider with lunch last Thursday and enjoyed hearing the story behind it and tasting some of the other Pagan varieties. We'll be sure to chase that up back in Canberra (at "Plonk" probably).

Our scenic drive took us as far south as Verona Sands and back to Hobart through Gordon and Kettering where we'd caught the ferry yesterday to Bruny Island.

We had a 7.00pm dinner booking at Prosser's on the Beach (at Sandy Bay) a top quality old school seafood restaurant situated right on the water overlooking the mouth of the Derwent River. We thought the seafood was wonderful - fresh, bountiful and beautifully prepared and presented - all served with top notch Tasmanian Rieslings.  The food here in Tassie is wonderful!!!!