Sadly today is the last day of our Tackling Tasmania road trip. We’re headed towards our return trip on the Spirit of Tasmania. We wake up to a frosty morning at the Hotel Grand Chancellor and enjoy a delicious buffet style breakfast. The sun is shining and it soon warms up. We’re visiting Cataract Gorge this morning.
We spot a charger in the car park but as we’re well topped up, choose to let the opportunity pass. We don’t think we’ll need another charge before we reach the mainland. Sometimes there’s a fine line between not missing a charging opportunity and being selfish.
The world’s longest single span chairlift reaches across Cataract Gorge, to a cafe, gift shop and some great bush walks. We spend a couple of hours here wandering around and checking things out.
After riding the chairlift back, we notice someone else is availing themselves of the charger and start towards Devonport. The gift shop manager at Cradle Mountain had let us in on a couple of attractions in this area, including a berry farm, with an Icecreamery across the road and a cheese factory.
Raspberries and Ice Cream, …and Cheese?
We arrive at the Christmas Hill Berry Farm, but find the restaurant is quite crowded The grounds look like they are commencing a major renovation over winter and the lake looks to be drained. This looks like it’s normally a great place to visit, but our timing is off, so we head across the road to the icecreamery. The icecreams are so big that in addition to a cone, we get a cup and spoon to catch anything that falls off.
It’s only a short drive to the Ashgrove Cheese Factory, so we head off in that direction. All four of us love our cheese, so after viewing the cheese making facilities through the glass walls, we sit down outside in the sun. We order 4 cheese platters and tuck in to the tasting. After the buffet breakfast, this is enough for lunch. We purchase some of our favourite cheeses from the tasting and head back to the car, which has been plugged in to the free EV charger for an hour.
Click here for our review on our BYO Type 2 Charger Cable
We’d planned on getting back to the Spirit of Tasmania without another charge, and could easily have done so, but with the car at 49% and a free charger just sitting there, we’ve topped up to 60% while eating cheese. That should give us a bit more freedom if we spot something else along the way. Two of my favourite things: Eating Cheese and Free Electricity.
We’ve still got a couple of hours to get to the Spirit of Tasmania, so we stop in Devonport for a spot of shopping and a walk along the riverfront. We get a couple of photos of the Spirit of Tasmania, then head up to the headland to look out over Bass Strait. It looks pleasantly calm from here, let’s hope it stays that way.
Finishing our Tackling Tasmania Road Trip
The Spirit of of Tasmania ‘terminal’ at Devonport is little more than an organised carpark/queue. Frankly the new Geelong Terminal beats it hands down. Hopefully this will get a much needed facelift sometime soon.
The quarantine checks are much less here and we sit waiting in the carpark for quite some time. This isn’t the most interesting part of the journey. We’re glad to get aboard and settle in to the same lounge as on our previous trip. We order some pizzas and drinks. Our cabin is next door to the cabin we occupied on the way over. It’s all a bit Deja Vu if I’m truthful. Bass Strait is once again kind to us and we’re gently rocked to sleep, waking as we get close to Geelong.
Once again, the car is situated quite close to the exit with the other EVs. Next morning we’re among the first to be called to drive off. We arrive at Mum’s house in Torquay about 7:30am and set off to the RACV Resort for a Buffet Breakfast. Mum’s been very keen to show off this breakfast in my home town. It doesn’t disappoint. While we’re eating, the car charges outside on the ChrageFox RACV charger. I duck out towards the end of breakfast to move the car off the charger. There are a few more EVs here now, but still one free bay. It looks like it could get popular at peak times. It’s Monday morning and 3 of 4 bays occupied before I move to make one more space.
We spend the rest of the day with family and rest up for the drive back to Sydney tomorrow.
