Bay of Fires @ Binalong Bay

We stayed only one night at Bicheno by the Bay. After check out this morning, we headed towards Binalong Bay. The drive from Bicheno to Bay of Fires in Binalong Bay was about 1hr 40mins.

Famous for its crystal-clear waters, white sandy beaches and orange lichen-covered granite boulders, the Bay of Fires is one of Tasmania’s most popular conservation reserves. The area contains rocky gullies, with many small secluded beaches and inlets to explore. Binalong Bay is the area’s main beach – a beautiful stretch of white sand and clear water for swimming, snorkelling, surfing or simply relaxing. We were not there to snorkel or surf, just for photos and to appreciate the beauty of the area. The colour of the sea was amazing!

The GPS is not exactly accurate for this site and depending on whether you input Bay of Fires or Bay of Fires Conservation Area, may lead you to different points along the coast. At one stage we ended at a dead end with nothing in sight. If you input the Gardens, there is an option to take you to the middle of the road. All these are not exactly ideal. So here is what I can advise:

The southern section of The Bay of Fires is in the Conservation Area, situated along a 13 km stretch of coast between Binalong Bay and The Gardens. Access to the southern section of the Bay of Fires is via the Binalong Bay Road (C850 ) out of St Helen’s. Take the turnoff on the left into the C848 at the sign – “The Gardens – 13Kms” This is a sealed road. The road terminates at private land at “The Gardens”.

DSis’s car and ours ended in different places and we actually could see each other across the bay on different outcrops…hahaha. In the end we realized that we were at different ends and could walk to each other between the 2 points. It was an easy walk.

We spend some time hanging around the various rocks and gullies, basically fooling around.

Lunch @ Mohr & Smith, St Helens

It was about lunch time and we decided to go to St Helens. I consulted my “G” secretary and found several places. We decided on Mohr & Smith and called to check if they had a table for 10 before we headed there.

Mohr & Smith is a contemporary restaurant and setting was simple and beautiful. It was relatively quiet when we arrived.

The menu was interesting with an Asian fusion twist. I specially enjoyed with Japanese pancake with roasted pork belly that I had. I was almost missing Asian food by this time of the trip and the roasted pork belly (A$20) was excellent. It was crispy and juicy. Almost like how we do Chinese roast pork belly. DH, DS1 & 2 and DD are boring and all went for the beef burger (A$16). But they were all praises for their burgers too.

For drinks, DH & I had an ice coffee (A$7) each, DD had a caramel milkshake (A$6) and the 2 boys had a coke (A$3) each. The straws which came with the cokes were made of steel! And DD’s milkshake came in a huge metal container. Really cool! Our ice coffee was the most ordinary :(.

Overall a good meal in a very pleasant setting. But when I try to check it’s website to try to provide a link when I am writing this post, it seems that the restaurant has closed….what a pity!

Brief shopping stop @ Tasmania Honey Company

The drive from St Helens to Sheffield where we will be spending the night is about 3hours. We cannot find anything interesting to look see along the way. So we decided to do a shopping stop at the Tasmanian Honey Company in Perth which is 2 hours from St Helens and 1 hour from Sheffield. We were hoping to make this a toilet break as well, but unfortunately found out that the shop did not have a toilet for us to use. Instead we were directed to a gas station nearby.

The shop was not big, but had an interesting array of different flavoured honey. We especially like their Manuka honey drops which Dmum, and DSis and I, all bought. If you want to buy honey, this is a good place to buy it if you are nearby. We found these honey sold at Launceston airport when we were leaving flying to Melbourne and found that it was at least double the price of what we paid here.

Our 2-Bedroom Apartment @ Sheffield Motor Inn

We finally arrived at Sheffield Motor Inn. We had booked a 2 BR apartment (A$225) for my family, a double room (A$125) for my parents and a triple room (A$140) for DSis’s family. All came with kitchenette.

What I like about our apartment was that they had proper beds for 5 and 2 bathrooms! The 2 bathrooms were much welcomed after having to share 1.5 bathroom among the 10 of us the night before at Bicheno by the Bay. As for the bedding configuration, one bedroom had 2 single beds and the other had a queen and a single bed. Like most motels, they provided milk. We had 4 small packets.

There was a coin service laundry available so we used that too that evening. Wash was A$3/A$4 (sorry, can’t remember the exact amount now) per load. Dryer was A$1 for 15 mins.

Wifi here was very unstable, so don’t depend on it.

Overall a decent basic motel that has all that you want (except WiFi) at a reasonable price.

Dinner @ Basilico, Sheffield

We decided to have dinner at Basilico as it was only next to Sheffield Motor Inn. Basilico was a casual Italian restaurant that just opened a few months ago, but the few reviews I saw on TripAdvisor were positive. When I called to make my reservations, they said that for groups of 8 and more, they offer a set meal at A$25 per pax. As we were 8 adults and 2 kids (since DD and DN are both under 12) they said that they will only charge for the 8 adults and the 2 girls can share our meal. Their sets were done family style, ie we share some pizzas and pastas. We thought it was very reasonable and so accepted their suggestion. We left it to them to decide what to prepare for us as we had no dietary restrictions.

We were served the following:

1. Tomato and basil pasta

2. Beef cheek pasta (ragu)

3. Rocket and apple salad

4. Margarita pizza

5. Salami pizza

6. Rocket & parma ham pizza

After our meal, they asked if we were game for another pizza and we definitely were! So they served us a dessert pizza – Nutella Pizza. It was so good. We all loved it!

For A$200 (excluding drinks) for 10 of us, it was very reasonable. Most importantly, food was good! I’d highly recommend eating here. It’s really value for money!

Next up : Day 8 – Cradle Mountain

The post 15 Days Tasmania & Melbourne Self Drive, 2017: Day 7 (Bicheno- Binalong Bay – Sheffield) appeared first on Mums Travels.

Breakfast this morning at Highland restaurant was included in our room rates. They serve standard hotel buffet. It was a welcomed change after so many days of simple self prepared breakfast. A break for me!

After breakfast, we checked out of our cabin and headed back to Sheffield to do what we had originally planned to do yesterday. It was raining at Cradle Mountain and we were glad we were leaving and had done our walks the day before when rain was relatively lighter and had occasional breaks.

Tasmazia & The Village of Lower Crackpot

First stop this morning was Tasmazia & The Village of Lower Crackpot, a small theme park with 8 mazes, a miniature village and an Embassy Garden. Adult pass was A$27.50, child Pass was A$13.75 and Family Pass was A$77.

The 8 mazes all had different themes. The Great Maze – at the time of planting the world’s largest! The 8 mazes includes the Great Maze, Cage Maze, Balance Maze, Hexagonal Maze, Irish Maze, Hampton Court Maze, Yellow Brick Maze, Confusion Maze. Some complicated, some easy, but all were fun! I was expecting a kiddy maze, but really it wasn’t. Well worth the entrance fee!

The Village of Lower Crackpot was a whimsical model village built to 1/5th scale. It was fun and cute with lots of humor too. You just need to spend time reading all the signs!

The Embassy Gardens was apparently a recent addition, containing sixty buildings dedicated to over 40 countries.

The most funny must be the representation of USA (Statue of Liberty) and Mexico (cactus). And in between these, they actually have a wall with Trump’s face on it – yes, Trump’s Wall! Hahaha!

If you are visiting Cradle Mountain, do drop by Tasmazia for some laughs and to get lost! It is not only for little kids. Really lots of fun! Highly recommended!

Lunch @ Blacksmith Gallery Cafe, Sheffield

I had made reservations for lunch at Blacksmith Gallery Cafe in Sheffield. Because there were 10 of us, I figured that it was better to call ahead to reserve a table. Furthermore based on reviews I read in the internet, this cafe is very popular. So after leaving Tasmazia, we headed back to Sheffield Town.

This cafe combines traditional style country food in a heritage building that was once the town’s blacksmith and this is reflected in the mural outside the cafe. The interior of the cafe is decorated with a wonderful selection of local art and craft. The whole atmosphere was very cozy. It’s a great place to sit around and relax with friends over a cup of coffee.

This cafe serves simple fare including homemade pies and cakes. As we were there on 23 Dec and they were going to be closed for a few days over Christmas, the choice was a little limited.

Among our family of 5, we had 2 blacksmith burger (A$10.50), 2 chicken and veg soup (served with bread) (A$9.50), 1 sausage roll (A$4) and 1 chicken, cheese and sweet chili pie (A$5.50). For drinks, we had 2 ice coffee, 1 long black, 1 coke and 1 bundaberg guava juice. Total bill came up to A$73.

There is an IGA next to the cafe, and we took the opportunity to shop there for supplies for our dinner that night and on Christmas Day before we left Sheffield.

Sheffield – The Town of Murals

After lunch at Blacksmith, we took a stroll around town to explore the murals scattered all over the town. Sheffield is renowned as a heritage country town with old-world ambiance. It was one of the early townships in Tasmania. Over the years and left behind by development around it, the population of the town declined. Inspired by the story of Chemainus, a small Canadian town that had through mural art, rescued itself from ruin, the Kentish Association for Tourism (KAT) worked on the vision to combine the arts and tourism to revive and reinvent the town of Sheffield.

Today, Sheffield has become a major tourist attraction due to it being promoted as a “Town of Murals”

The first town mural was painted in Sheffield in December 1986. Since then over 60 murals depicting the area’s rich history and beautiful natural scenery have been painted on walls throughout the town and buildings along the roadside. The murals attract an estimated 200,000 people to the town annually.

One of my favourite murals is the one of the old gas station. It look great with the old world vehicle of yesteryear parked next to it.

Murphett’s Cottage, Red Feather Inn

We left Sheffield Town and headed to Hadspen, just outside Launceston, where we will be spending the next 2 nights. We had book Murphett’s Cottage, a stand-alone Cottage of Red Feather Inn which can accommodate all 10 of us, 8 adults and 2 kids. The check in time here was very strict, only between 4-5pm. We paid A$550 per night for the cottage for 10pax.

DSis arrived first and there was a lady who directed their car to the Cottage. She was then handed with 3 sets of keys and then the lady left. The lady did not even bother to show her around or explain anything. When she was checking out the Cottage, we arrived as well. When we counted the beds, we realized that there were only 3 double and 2 singles. The sofa bed was not made up. We figured that we can do it on our own, but we couldn’t find the beddings. So we walked over to the Red Feather Inn, but the lady had locked up and left! There was a phone number to call in the literature that we found in the Cottage but no one answered the phone. I left a message and no one replied in the 2 days that we stayed there. In the end, we made do as there were additional pillows on my bed and we found some duvet in the cupboard. But we couldn’t find any sheets. My 2 boys used that sofa bed, and they just made do. The service here was really disappointing. In fact, no service at all.

But we must admit that the Cottage was beautiful and very cozy and comfortable. The beds were comfortable too. There were 2 bathrooms. Based on the layout plan on the Red Feather Inn website, there was a laundry room. However, we found the room, but there was no washing machine in it. So not sure what they meant by laundry room. Anyway, there was a coin laundromat nearby and DH and DS2 brought our laundry there together with their iPad and iPhone to entertain themselves while they waited. while we ladies were preparing dinner.

The kitchen was well equipped and they had all that we needed to prepare our meals. Oven, microwave, stove and dishwasher. The pots and pans were generally clean and in good condition. That night, we had a dinner of steak, salad and potatoes. I made the steak and DSis did the potato and salad. DMum helped us. Ddad commented that it was the first time that he has seen DMum, DSis and I prepare a meal together!

One big negative here was that while they say they provide WiFi, all of us hardly can get any reliable signal. I think we needed to stand at the gate to get some decent signal which was ridiculous. So don’t depend on it.

Despite the unhappiness of not having sheets and pillows for the sofa bed which was not made up and non-existence WiFi, our stay at Murphett’s Cottage was overall comfortable. It was a very pretty cottage with space for everyone. Although there were 10 of us, we did not get into one another’s way.

When we left on Christmas Day 2 days later, we just dropped the keys in a box outside the Red Feather Inn before the 11am check out time. Yes it was all self service! We never saw anyone except the lady who opened the door for DSis when we arrived. They had already debited my credit card for full payment before we arrived.

Next up: Day 10 – Launceston

The post 15 Days Tasmania & Melbourne Self Drive, 2017 : Day 9 (Cradle Mountain- Sheffield – Launceston) appeared first on Mums Travels.