aussielozzie18

Dinner Restaurant - Pink Agave ”Elevated Mexican fare” (I actually remembered to take a photo of the menus here) I took one look at the menus and decided I needed help. My waitress looked like Pink and her name badge said Pink. She introduced herself and said my name is….but I prefer to be called Pink. I told Pink I had no clue what to order and I was in her hands. After a discussion about my likes and dislikes, she took my order based entirely on her recommendations.

DD is planning on flying back home. She has a fear of falling again with all the ice & snow. She only had the operation on Saturday and I told her she must speak to her surgeon before she books a long flight home to Sydney. I think there would be a risk with bloods clots on a long haul flight(s).

If anyone is reading this thread that isn’t Australian. Here is a map with Burnie & Devonport marked, with Ulverstone where we had lunch in the middle.

Then we started heading back to Burnie via one last scenic lookout. Got back to the town centre in time for the shuttle bus to take us back to the ship. Very nice day out. Very nice sail out from Burnie. Love the name of the pilot boat “hell yer” Prior to the cruise I did consider booking a day tour to Cradle Mountain but decided against it because I didn’t want a long coach ride there and back. Those that did go, had gorgeous weather & took some lovely photos.

The Berry Patch - a strawberry patch & cafe. Surprisingly for February, there were still lots of strawberries ready to be picked and other visitors were coming in with big punnets from picking. We were just there for their ice-creams (this was paid for by the guide - only thing included in the tour). Very very popular. We had a fairly long wait. But definitely worth it. Strawberry or Raspberry flavour. I had strawberry. We all agreed they were delicious ice-creams. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever nearby just for the ice-cream alone but they also had pizza which looked rather nice.

No idea. I wasn’t keen enough to find out. I was going to buy a jar for my dad but he said he wasn’t keen on pickled onions when I messaged him so I didn’t look at the jars on offer, to see any labels.

Then we headed for a beautiful winery. Our guide said it looked like a villa in Tuscany. On arrival, lots of apple trees with apples and inside the beautiful villa for wine tasting with the lady owner. $10 a taste (then taken off cost of a bottle of wine) or you could buy a single glass of wine from 6 varieties. We all sat outside the villa in the shade to sip our wine (at our own cost). Very nice location. Camera battery died at this point - so brochure photo. Funny thing was every time any of our group headed back inside to use the toilets, a loud gong would sound. Bit of an Adams Family moment that made us laugh.

Chocolate factory? Yes please. Stocked up on gifts and bought a yummy ice-cream. Anvers Chocolate Tasmanian Devil made out of chocolate

Next up Mersey Bluff Lighthouse and lookout at Devonport. Beautiful day for it.

Lunch (at our own cost) was at Windows on Westella cafe on the outskirts of Ulverstone. The site contains the Broad Acres Vineyard and the manufacturing facility of pickled onions. I thought I liked pickled onions but I wasn’t keen on these: For mains I chose Tasmanian Fish & Chips. I was too busy talking to take a photo (we had one long table) this is a stock photo from their website. My actual portion was bigger. Apparently their specialty is waffles but we didn’t stay for dessert.

Next stop was the beachside town of Penguin - where the fairy penguins come ashore. Big Penguin statue in the park and bins covered in Penguins. Had 20 mins here to stroll the Main Street. Rather liked the Antique shop here. Loved the street library in the main park too.

That’s good to know. On Hellyer’s website, a tour can be arranged but this day tour didn’t offer it. Simply a shop stop but we weren’t rushed.

Onto Fernglade Park in Burnie for Platypus spotting. Beautiful location with two viewing platforms over the water. Didn’t see any platypus but did see a couple of pademelons (small wallabies) on the bush track between the two platforms. A flood had occurred in Burnie last year. They had 100mm of rain. The water was not clear as it would normally be. Guide said she usually sees platypus on every second tour or thereabouts.

Next stop was Hellyers Road Distillery. Beautiful location and lovely premises. This was basically a shop stop. You could do a couple of tasting at $4 each - at your own cost. Bought the coffee cream liquor. Had no issue bringing it back on the ship.

Was tempted to do a tour to Cradle Mountain whilst in Burnie. Decided against it due to travelling time there and back. Those that went spent 3hrs there and took beautiful photos due to the lovely weather. Instead did a private full day tour booked online beforehand. First stop on the Coastal Delights Sightseeing Experience was an scenic lookout over Burnie Port and town. Was informed that 7 cruise ships have not been able to dock this season due to either striking dock workers or weather.

Here are the menus for Extra Virgin The Wake Forget to take photos at the time. Printed these off in pre-cruise research.

Burnie, Tasmania. We had perfect weather. Warm, sunny, no breeze. Working port, so free shuttle from ship to town centre. Before we hopped off shuttle bus, the female Mayor hopped on wearing her gold ceremonial chain and gave each bus load of cruisers an enthusiastic welcome. When we offloaded from bus, Local tourism people greeted us & provided info if required. A very small market was also set up at the shuttle drop off.

Dinner at The Wake Restaurant. So named as it overlooks the wake. Really nice interiors of this restaurant and the food & service was top notch. The bread - warm - omg 🤤 Entree: Clam Chowder - yum! Continuing with seafood, Had a lot of promo loot (OBC) to spend so splurged on seafood - an additional $50. I actually did a silent OMG when this bowl of seafood was served. Lobster, crab legs, mussels, oysters etc. Dessert was Baked Alaska Yummy! Cant wait to visit Alaska in May and have crab legs again….

Agree & yes that those are dishes I wanted to try as well as others.

Sounds great. Wish I had seen it. Did either of you participate?

@Sea Dog Greg, hope post op situation improves for you.

@George C Sorry to read of your health scare. Glad all tests were ok.

@dani negreanu I would like to echo MJ’s comments for your dear friend Alex.

I am doing a photo review of the Resilient Lady in the Australian/NZ forum and have posted photos of The Galley, Virgin’s version of the buffet and all the food eateries available within The Galley.

This area was very popular for cruisers to play board games & puzzles - all supplied by Virgin. A food area nearby with free lollies in a jar and a range of free sweet treats. There was also apparently a games room close by - The Arcade - with old style machine games that could played for free but I didn’t see it.