The Sausage Dog

Day 1 Drive Canberra – Albury

Day 2 Drive Albury – Melbourne 

Lunch at Hosaku Izakaya, Melbourne CBD

This was a random choice, we had parked the car near the aquarium and pretty much chose the first eatery we saw! It was amazing, the food was so beautifully presented and tasted great too. 10/10 would recommend. I had the sushi sashimi bento, ben had the teriyaki salmon bento and Nathan had salmon sashimi and wagyu beef gyoza.

Melbourne Aquarium 

Spent about 1.5 hours here, but really nice exhibits, especially the jelly fish exhibit.

Dinner with friends – Kobi-Q, East Brunswick 

Looks unassuming, but the quality of the meat was incredible, there were plenty of tasty banchans, the wait staff cooked for us, and we had such a good time catching up and eating great food. 10/10 would recommend 

Accomodation 1 night – East Brunswick Hotel, East Brunswick 

There is no reception, you check in at the bar. The hotel rooms are well appointed and clean, but be warned that it does get really noisy at night due to the live music just downstairs. We didn’t sleep much that night, but we weren’t that mad because the pianist was playing music from our childhood that we loved so it wasn’t too much of a loss.

Day 3 – Melbourne

Drive to Geelong

Dinner Petrel Hotel, Geelong West

I was originally planning for us to eat at BAAH LAH! after having painstakingly stalked and approved their menu, alas! It was closed when we arrived despite Google claiming it was open. Now, we were desperate. So we hooked up the car at the nearest EV charger, and right in front of us, I saw Petrel Hotel. I couldn’t believe how delicious all of the food was, it was the best old English country pub food I have had in a really long time, and I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who is in Geelong looking for a good bite to eat.

I had the lemon and herb crumbed snapper with potato mash, Ben had a steak with potato dauphinoise and Nathan had chicken schnitzel.

8.30pm Check in to ferry 

10pm ferry departs

Ben and I have never been on the Spirit of Tasmania before, so we were both so excited to see what it would be like. It was amazing! They are just this well oiled machine, they have got their system down pat, and everything flows seamlessly. The staff are so nice and helpful, and the ship is clean and well appointed. The rooms were nice and comfortable too. We got the 4 bunk bed cabin. It had a shower and toilet, everything was nice and clean, with liquid soap provided too. 

Day 4 – Devonport

8.30am docking

Don River Railway

Nathan had a good time exploring the old train exhibits.

Simon Martin Whips and Leathercraft

Ben bought a nice belt and a wallet here.

Anvers Tasmania

Great chocolate

Lunch Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm

I had pulled pork bao buns, ben had a steak sandwich, Nathan had raspberry crepes with raspberry ice-cream, it was filled with 2 punnets of raspberries! We also bought a ton of their produce while we were there, u couldn’t resist! I picked up some raspberry vinegar and some nice jams to give as gifts.

Van Diemens ice creamery 

Just a short walk across the road from Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm! It was really nice ice cream.

Melita Honey Farm

Picked up some nice honey, soap and candles.

This is one of those mountains that you can drive all the way up to the highest point, which was so so so cold. It was so cold and so windy you basically have no visibility because you’re just crying. We had a quick “look” up at the top and then ran back to the car. We did a couple of short hikes down below. 

Stay in Leisure Inn Penny Royal, Launceston 3 nights

Day 5 – Beauty Point

Seahorse World

Very informative guided tour. This is a commercial seahorse breeding farm, they sell seahorses to aquariums etc.

Platypus Farm

Another informative guided tour, and we got to hang out up close and personal with some echidnas!

Greens beach

Drive up to Greens beach and did a one hour return walk through Greens beach and nudist beach. The views were lovely.

Holm Oak Vineyards

Did the Pinot Noir Tasting, cost $30 for 5 pinot noir wines to taste. They also have some pigs that you can feed apples to.

Day 6 – Launceston

Morning Cataract Gorge – chair lift

We did the return chair lift, such a smooth set up, and we did a couple of walks, one up to the very top on the Eagle Eyrie track (this was very steep and challenging, but so worth it), and another one called the cataract track, both were excellent with amazing views. 

Hollybank Treetops adventures 

Nathan did the Tree Ropes Junior course, he was so brave and caught on really quickly!

Day 7

Hollybank treetops zip lining

We came back the next morning for Ben and Nathan to do zip lining, they had a great time.

Drive to Bay of Fires

Checked into Bay of Fires Bush Retreat

The Bush retreat was incredible! Would recommend for anyone to stay there for an amazing glampung experience. The retreat was well appointed, super comfortable with a clean and modern communal bathroom area. If you are sensitive to sound during the night, I would not recommend the bell tents, they do have permanent structures which are soundproof. There was a well appointed communal kitchen, and it was just such a nice vibe to make dinner together, meet new people, roast marshmallows around the fire pit and have chats under the stars.

Day 8 Bay of fires 

Binalong Bay

Serpentarium zoo 11am- 3pm

Matthew (the owner) is so incredibly passionate about reptiles, he is a whole vibe. This is a smaller facility, but you can see that all the animals are lovingly cared for by the family, there is also a stunning blue and gold Macaw and they have some rescue kangaroo, wallaby and pademelons that are so friendly and perfectly happy for scratches.

Day 9 Apsley waterhole 

This was an incredible experience, very short walk to the beautiful waterhole, the water was completely clear and a beautiful aquamarine colour. I regretted not getting into my swimmers, as the water was just call out for me to dive in. We wish we could have stayed for longer and continued up the walking trail.

Bicheno blowhole

The Bicheno blowhole was also incredible. The swells were huge while we were there and the blowhole was completely inundated as the waves were crashing over all the rocks. It was a sight to see and there was quite a crowd gathered. On a normal day, you would be able to get quite close to the blowhole to have a look, but because of the massive swells, it just wasn’t safe, so we kept a safe distance from the blowhole.

The lobster shack, Bicheno

I was completely blown away by this place, it is absolutely worth the hype. I ordered a half lobster with garlic butter sauce, the abalone in garlic butter sauce, a crumbed fish and chips and some calamari rings for nathan, all served with sweet potato chips. I haven’t had a lot of lobster in my life because it is so expensive, but I haven’t had at least 10, and by far, this lobster was the most amazing lobster I have ever had, it was cooked to perfection! Still moist, the abalone garlic butter sauce was to die for, and the crumbed fish was seriously incredible. I would recommend this place to anyone coming to visit Bicheno, it is a must NOT miss.

Day 10 Wineglass Bay

Hike to Wineglass Bay Beach 3.5 hours return

This was a really challenging steep hike, especially after my plantar faciitis, and silly me, I forgot to pack my hiking boots. Unfortunately the day that we were hiking was rainy and overcast, and the swells were epic, but it was the only day we could do this hike, so we persevered. I was really proud of myself for doing the hike, and well just use the stock pictures here 🙂

Lunch Freycinet Marine Farm 

This place was really mid, as a foodie, I wouldn’t recommend that you go out of your way to try this place. The lobster was quite dry (probably because they broiled it) and we had their oysters (they were fine), but the real disappointment was the mussels as every other mussel we ate had a tiny crab inside it too! It just wasn’t a very nice eating experience discovering these rogue crabs inside and crunching through them.

Day 11 Hobart 

Kate’s berry farm, Swansea

Would 💯 recommend Kate’s berry Farm. I am so impressed with Kate, she is 81 years old and is actually trying to sell the farm and the business so that she can retire. She moved to Tasmania 40 years ago to set up this berry farm and she built every structure on the property by herself and set up her business solo. We saw her bussing tables and managing the till, she moves quick for an 81 year old! The business is what is keeping her young and active and I hope she does continue.

Day 12 Hobart

Self guided walk through Battery Point Sculpture Trail

Bonorong Wildlife Park

We had a lot of fun here, and did the wombat experience. Beanie the wombat was absolutely darling, we have never been that close to a wombat before. We got to pet her and she walked all over us. There was a 111 year old cockatoo there named Frank, the Queen of England had written a letter to him wishing him happy birthday on his 100th birthday! All of the animals are so well taken care of there and it is definitely worth a visit.

Day 13 Day trip to Bruny Island

We stopped to have beer, cheese, berries, chocolate and honey, all of which were delicious. The honey place was absolutely packed, I’d recommend getting there before all of the tour buses. We had smoked wallaby for the first time at the beer and cheese place. It was actually really good!

Cape Bruny Lighthouse 

The views from here were stunning, it was a short walk up the hill to the lighthouse and a slightly longer walk down the hill to the nearby beach, which was also stunning.

The Neck

The views from here were also stunning, there was a nice viewing platform and lots of stairs set up on the rookery and you could overlook the two sides of the neck between the north and south land masses.

Day 14 

Mt Wellington 

Komatsu Japanese

A solid Japanese eatery, we enjoyed all do the sushi and had the pork belly Okonomiyaki. The dons and bento boxes are probably better value, but we had been craving some sushi.

Day 15 

Zoodoo Zoo

This zoo probably wasn’t as good as the Bonorong zoo, but they had some beautiful macaws and such cute monkeys. We did an experience where we met 5 animals, Jack the Black cockatoo (he was so incredibly friendly and sat on my shoulder the whole time), frosty the Tasmanian devil (we fed him some beef), some super cute cotton top marmosets (they were so cute and their faces are so tiny!) and some meerkats names Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles.

Day 16 Salamanca Markets

Day 17 Farm Gate Market

Drive to Devonport

Prems seafood bar and grill, Devonport

I was so impressed by this restaurant, the portions are huge! If you are not a big eater, I would recommend ordering one of the entrees or sharing with someone else. The food was also delicious, ben had the steak and chips, I had the seafood curry, nathan had the pasta bolognese. 

Day 18 Drive to Canberra