Cruise to Tasmania

[blowhard]

Just came back from touring Tassie for three weeks. Terrific place, terrific people, terrific chocolate, terrific roads.

Definitely do the Cadburys tour, I rang up in the morning and went on a tour that afternoon, might just have been lucky so book ahead. Wear something with big deep pockets and hang around at the back of the group and then fill them up at each sample stop. Descretely of course. If you can find a dirt road into the Cadbury factory then go for it dude because you ain't going the right way, and Ken will get all your chocolate. Snap up a couple of shopping trolleys full of chocolate at the factory shop at the end of the tour, discount prices across the range of products - good value three family size blocks of Peppermint cream or Caramello for 5 bucks.

The Tassie locals are a bit of a menace on the roads, they have a penchant for travelling on the wrong side of the centreline, you soon learn to keep well left around any left handers to allow for the peanuts coming the other way on your side of the road. Sorry Tassie T drivers but it happened with such regularity that it became a bit of a joke to see how little respect the locals showed for the centreline. Not surprisingly the couple of reported fatal accidents I saw in the papers were head on colisions.

Most of the hire cars are four cylinder and tend to travel slow - everyone we met who was associated with the tourist industry kept telling us how bad the roads are in Tassie and the need to travel slowly and cautiously. The truth is the roads are better than most country roads in NSW, good surfaces and very few potholes or patches. Just watch out because they don't sign post all the serious corners with speed advisory signs they could catch you out if you are travelling at warp 9.

There are some downsides - the road maps are bloody disgraceful, very little detail other than the major roads and the sign posting of the smaller roads is often misleading. Look for the road number, not the name of the town on the sign. Log trucks, smoke haze, ice and snow, wildlife, wet/damp conditions and the fore mentioned Tassie drivers were other fun experiences.

I would strongly recommend going to the Targa Tassie site (www.targa.org.au) and downloading all the information on the stages used this year and trying to incorporate as many of them as you can into your tour. A lot of them were on the main roads between tourist destinations. I had a blast doing the various stages in the landcruiser with the van doggedly trying to stay attached - until the kids starting throwing up. Targa was on when I was down there, managed to catch some of the action and car expos, now all I need is the car the codriver and the bucks - anyone interested?

If you go to Strahan, go for the full day cruise on the World heritage Tours boats- they are the maroon and yellow ones - family run company and my three kids 8-7-4 all had a fantastic time.

I travelled down and back from Sydney on Spirit of Tassie in the Hostel accomodation ($250 down and $230 back). Thoroughly recommend it, great atmosphere, good food, a wonderful way to start and finish the holiday. If you're worried about sea sickness get some motion sickness drugs and stop worrying. The only people who were crook on the trips were the ones who said I'll see how I go and if I feel sick I'll get some tablets - get yourself prepared before hand. The wife and kids flew down - cheaper.

Get down there and have a blast - as for driving to Melbourne and then catching the ferry why bother, there is more to life than cruise control, speed cameras and the bloody Hume Highway.

Regards

Blowhard

[ms700]

Thanks for the advice Blowhard! If I dont go down with the site in November, im definatley going down for targa next year, ive heard its a blast! V8 Supercars running around with HQ bodies on them! :punchhead:

[Lord Cyric]

  blowhard said:

Wear something with big deep pockets and hang around at the back of the group and then fill them up at each sample stop. Descretely of course.

Hmmm.... I have a Scott-eVest jacket that has 28 pockets in it. Me thinks I'll be supplying my folks with a year worth of choccies for xmas!

Blowhard, would be a good idea if you map out where you drove and then get in touch with the cruise organisers. Any info you can provide them will be greatly appreciated. :punchhead:

[Buf-Phoon]

Blowhard

Great post mate thanks :punchhead:

[voy74656]

hmmmm....tassie is looking more and more yummy

[Falchoon]

C'mon John, hurry up and organise this!

[saleen]

  Falchoon said:

C'mon John, hurry up and organise this!

If you're going, I'm not.

[Zeke]

I'm keeping an eye on this one....sounds great. Gotta figure out what to do with the mutt and how to stop Zeke jr hosting wild parties while we're gone. Must be a way.

[voy74656]

the laws of nature prohibit the non hosting of parties while parents are away...its nature I tell u...nature.....

[twinxrs]

  blowhard said:

...

Get down there and have a blast - as for driving to Melbourne and then catching the ferry why bother, there is more to life than cruise control, speed cameras and the bloody Hume Highway.

What he said...

I must admit that if it pans out (work permitting etc) we'll probably investigate catching the ferry down from Sydney - we did the Hume last November for the Ford & GOR trip - the Ferry from Sydney would make for a nice change...

(Not to mention bypassing the Mexican tax collectors ! )