Bound for Launceston to see Nanna

Friday the 23rd of March... we all woke to an air of excitement and began packing our bags for the weekend. We were off to Launceston to visit Nanna (my Mum) and a good family friend, Lyn O'Meagher.
Both girls were on one of their few pilgrimages a year to Melbourne for a few days and decided to make a diversion south to meet us in Launceston.
So after packing our weekender bags we set off, via some brekky and a coffee in the direction of Launceston, about 160 kilometres away.
That may not sound far by WA standards but in Tasmania, with its narrow, winding and hilly roads, we weren't sure how long it would take.
Our first stop was at a little shop in the middle of nowhere, aptly named "The Shop In The Bush"... where Jack found a T-shirt he thought we should post to the gumpy laundry cleaner in Hobart...

Jack, Richard and Nina in front of the shop in the middle of nowhere

Jack finds the perfect T-shirt for the grumpy laundry cleaner

We continued on until we came across an elderly couple trying to fix one of their bicycles on the side of the road.

Richard lends a hand

Richard stopped to ask if they wanted help and the man initially said no. But Richard didn't take no for an answer and in no time we had the man, and his bike on board and we were headed back to St Helen's.

His wife rode her bike back to St Helen's to meet her husband. The couple were in the 70's, from Victoria and were cycling around Tasmania. Their chidden who all live on the mainland had told them they were man. I tended to agree!
Our good deed done for the day, we headed back in the direction we had come. Stopping to taste test some cheese at the Pyengana Cheese Factory...

Pyengana

This wasn't just any cheese factory... these cheeses were to die for... we brought at least one of each type and stockpiled on our favourite "Devilish Cheese" which was beautiful.

We continued on, taking the scenic route (most of Tasmania is scenic) through the wine region...

Some artistic paintings in the Tassie Hills

By midday we had reached Bridport, on the north east coast of Tasmania and stopped for lunch at Barnbougle Dunes, one of the worlds top links golf courses which overlooks the Ocean...

Barnbougle Dunes

Sonia, Harry, Jack, NIna & Richard

Just when we thought we were in the middle of nowhere, we bumped into a familiar face... Mike Cornock - a Nissan Dealer from Canberra. Mike and his wife Danni have been on many a Nissan trip with us.

Richard and Mike

After saying our goodbyes we headed towards some of the wineries, stopping at the odd familiar name...

I've had a few of these over the years

A big day in the car for Chook

By late afternoon, we arrived in Launceston. It's a pretty town at the base of the Tamar River and a lot bigger than what I was expecting.
After finding a hotel room we had dinner in a nearby Italian restaurant and had an early night before getting up early to head to the airport to pick up Mum and Lyn.