Devonport

We left Devonport early Monday morning. We decided not to stay longer than a day as there really isn’t much more to Devonport itself, but rather the surrounding areas hold the attractions and nothing seems to be very far away. We headed west of Devonport and drove through a number of small towns. What I didn’t know when I booked our trip over to Tassie was we were arriving on a public holiday long weekend so not much was going to be open.

First stop was Branddon’s lookout, which looked over the surrounding farmland. In true Tassie style, as I’m quickly learning, it was cloudy, overcast and prone to misting rain so we didn’t stay long.

Branddon’s Lookout

Next stop was Makers Workshop in Burnie. This gorgeous little centre has been brilliantly put together with sculptures, tours, an information centre, café and more. What really interested me about this place is that it is where a number of cheeses from Tasmania are actually made and they have them for purchase.  I was hoping I would find a cheese that maybe I hadn’t heard of before; however, I found that they produce the main brands that you can find in any supermarket. This didn’t stop me from tasting and buying a massive off cut of Brie for $5.

We did stop a while here as the little café sold massive chocolate wagon wheels and did tastings of Hellyers Road Whisky. As Hellyers Road Distillery was closed, damn public holiday, I thought this would be the next best thing so Hubby and I stopped and relaxed for a while in the cafe.

View from Makers Workshop

From here we meandered through more dairy farmland with rolling green hills spotted with cows until we arrived at Hellyers Gorge. Named after Henry Hellyer an English surveyor and architect who was one of the first explorers to visit the rugged interior of the north-west of Tasmania, Australia and made the most comprehensive maps of the area up to that time (thanks Wikipedia).  Hellyers Gorge had free camping in the rest area so we set up and stayed for a couple of nights.

Hellyer Gorge