Turismo Tasmania 2012 – Day 1
This year there is no traditional Alfesta at Easter time, so my family joined the Turismo Tasmania – a four day driving tour of Tasmania (http://www.alfaromeoturismotasmania2012.com.au/). On Thursday evening before Easter, we sailed on the Spirit of Tasmania – the large ferry that crosses Bass Strait from Melbourne to Devonport in Tasmania. The boat was well subscribed for the Easter break, so there was a long delay loading our cars aboard.
Bass Strait can be pretty rough at times I’m told, however with the late departure we weren’t out in the open sea until well after 1am. This meant a good nights sleep in the comfortable cabins and a sleep-in before a late arrival in Devonport. The schedule hiccup didn’t seem to upset the organising group however, and we were soon tucked into some decent coffee and bacon and eggs.
It’s also a place to get familiar with some of the cars that were joining us on the tour, including a couple of fab pre-war cars – an RL TF and a 1750 SS. We decided to bring our 1990 75 Twinspark along – it’s a great family car while still being entertaining to drive and an almost-classic.
Day one is split into three main sections. First stage we drove from breakfast at Devonport to Sheffield (the town of murals) and stopped for a leg stretch, then continued on via the twisty Gogg Ranges to the village of Chudleigh where the ladies fundraising committee put on tea and cakes. Lovely view from the garden and a pretty little town.
From Chudleigh onwards we drove through country lanes and farmland broken up with light woodland, arriving in the town of Deloraine for lunch at the restaurant ‘Red’. At this point it’s dawning on me – Tasmanian roads are brilliantly made, with fantastic combinations of rise and fall and cambered corners. Also there’s very little traffic! How good is this?
The final leg from Deloraine to Launceston was a fairly easy run along the old highway – a fast and sweeping well made A-road which has been bypassed by a motorway, so has almost no traffic. We stopped at the little town of Westbury for the famous Andy’s Gelato.
So a very nice gentle start to the tour showing off a very attractive part of Tasmania, looking forward to more to come!
