Tasmania 2024 Day 1 – Flying, driving, Eaglehawk Neck

We flew out of Tullamarine mid-morning on Friday. The flight was delayed by 30 minutes but G has access to the lounge so it wasn’t too much of a hardship. There were clouds most of the way over Tasmania but once we started our descent we got a good look at the environs of Hobart. I was shocked by how brown the countryside was. Once on the ground, we could see how crispy the vegetation was. Normally Melbourne would look like that by the end of January, but this year, with all the rain, we’ve stayed green so it was a shock to see Tasmania so brown. Most locals we met agreed, they’d had a very dry summer and were waiting on some good rain.

The Hobart airport is small but there was a queue at the hire car place and each customer seemed to take for ever to get sorted. We finally picked up our car and headed out towards the Tasman Peninsula. We planned to spend our weekend near Eaglehawk Neck with friends who were coming to join us from Launceston. The drive is about 50 minutes. We stopped for lunch at Bangor Vineyard Shed. We didn’t book because we weren’t sure what time we would arrive. Luckily a couple were just leaving so we snagged their table. We both had lamb pie with salad which was good and I had a glass of their Pinot Noir. The dining room has large windows looking out over the vines and the water. It was a lovely way to wind down into our holiday.

Google misdirected our friends who had to backtrack after finding themselves on a dirt road and being wary of continuing into the unknown. That meant we had a little bit of time to ourselves to have a peak around the rock formations near Eaglehawk Neck. Just past The Neck (a narrow isthmus connecting the Tasman Peninsula to the Forestier Peninsula which is only 100m wide in one section) are The Blowhole and Fossil Bay. When we were there the tide was low and the sea not wild enough to really experience the excitement of the Blowhole at full throttle but we did get a bit of a splash and boom. After watching the waves for a short time we wandered around to look at Fossil Bay and then back towards The Neck.

Afterwards, we headed ten minutes further down the road to Mason’s Point where we’d rented a house. The house was on a small road directly off the highway, looking over the water. There was nothing in the immediate vicinity. We got unpacked, then soaked up the view from the couch while waiting for our friends.

Our friends finally arrived and we headed off to Nunbeena IGA (20 minutes away) to pick up some supplies, breakfast food and pasta for our dinner. There are not many services on the peninsula, just a few very small towns amid the scattered tourist spots. While we were there we went for a walk along the waterfront which was lovely.

Then it was back to the house for dinner and a long chat before bed.