March 21-23
Hi All,
We had booked the Saffire Freycinet Lodge as a continuation of our celebration of our 40th wedding anniversary and Kathy’s 60th BD year!!! And wow, did this place make it special!!!
http://www.saffire-freycinet.com.au/default-en.html
It was rated the #1 luxury lodge in Australia and we can see why. We still rate Post Ranch in Big Sur and Namale and Vatulele in Fiji #1 but Saffire and Southern Ocean on Kangaroo Island are very, very close indeed!!
We only stayed for 2 nights and wish we had stayed longer…..we stayed very busy so not much time for R&R. When we got there around noon we had a delightful lunch sampling several wines and then had a very relaxing 90 minute couple massage…..what a way to start!!!!
Later the first day we did the Tasmanian Devil experience. They have built a 2 acre sanctuary for old, retired Devils. They are participating in the research to find a cure for the facial tumor cancer that is wiping out the Devil population in Tasmania for the past 20 years…..from ~150k to now about 20k….and they are almost ready with a vaccination. We were fortunate to observe about 7 Devil’s eating a freshly killed wallaby and observe the various confrontation behavior….it was a fascinating experience.
On the 2nd day we did a 2 hour hike up the pass to the Wineglass Bay lookout part of the Hazard mountains. It was about a 3 mile hike, but climbed 1200′ so we did have a little exercise. The view was great….the bay does look like the bottom of a wine glass and as the story goes, in the early 1800’s there was a whaling station and the water turned the color of red wine as they processed the whales….the view then sort of took on a different perspective….whoa!!!
Maybe the highlight experience was going to an oyster farm. This farm processes about 75k dozen oysters/year and have about 3million on the farm. They are raising the Pacific oyster which we learned is from Japan and is now the dominant Tasmanian oyster over the native Angasi oyster. We had a very deligtful tour guide named Emma, it was just the two of us with Emma, and the weather was perfect!!! We donned our waders and went out to see the farm. The highlight is standing in the water by a white table cloth table drinking champagne and having fresh shucked oysters….oh wow,
it was a CO (culinary orgasmic) experience!!!
We also explored Freycinet NP….went up to the lighthouse and viewed the East coast landscape as well as several beaches…all gorgeous views!!
Saffire also featured an award winning restaurant with a very exhaustive wine cellar. The food was outstanding,many CO’s…..we had beef filet done perfectly, scotch filets, tuna, snapper and beef tartare and many oysters as entrèes and ice cream, souffles, chocolate et al for dessert. The food was on par with the Southern Ocean lodge and some of the best we have had in Australia.
Wines: Wow….I mainly tried to taste as many Tasmanian Pinot Noirs as I could….I liked Frogmore, Pipers Brook, Devils Corner, Milton (Kathy liked their Rieslings too) and Bream Creek. We also were told the Spring Vale and Freycinet Pinot were also excellent!! And, we both really liked the Gala sparkling pinot!!!
Whisky: I was also setup to taste some more Tasmania whiskies, gotta love this place…..Sullivan double French oak (excellent with 1 cube), Nant American oak bourbon (excellent, neat, as one cube took the spice away), Lark single malt port (excellent, 1 cube), Overeem Sherry (Daniel the waiter’s favorite but too strong for me, 60% alcohol, even with 2 cubes) and Hellyer’s Road Peated bourbon cask (closest to highland Scotland but my least favorite….too peaty/smoky!!!)
Stats:
Traveled:
Car miles: 100 miles to Saffire Lodge; 4600 miles total
Air miles: 2100 total
Train miles: 1600 total
Total traveled miles: 8300 miles
Wrong turns: 3 total
Kangaroo/”Roos”/Skippy count: 5 this leg; 341 total!!!
Skippy roadside warning signs: 6 this leg, 170 total
Koala count: 0 this leg; 49 total
Emu count: 0 this leg; 120 total
Echidna count: 0 this leg; 5 total
One Way bridges: 0 today; 19 total
Speeding Tickets: 0 today; 1 total
Hotel: Saffire Freycinet lodge: defines luxurious!!!
Food: Too many CO’s to count!!
LIG!!!!
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
View of the Hazard Mountains from Saffire Freycinet Lodge
View of Oyster Bay and Saffire Lodge in the middle
Saffire Fyeycinet Lodge
Sunset on the Hazard Mountains
Tasmania Devil
My food!!
Luv that bone!1
I’m bad!!
Yummers…fresh Wallaby
Trying to share!!
John tasting the whiskies
Tasmanian Pacific Oysters: some natural and some in a garlic butter…..outstanding
Scotch filet….perfectly done with a potato puree and vegetables!!
View of Oyster Bay
Wineglass Bay
The picture somewhat shows the iron oxidized red in the granite
View of Hazard Mountains from oyster farm
Oyster Farm
Oysters
Emma shucking our oysters
Yummers!!
LIG with a mouth full of oyster!!
Just a marvelous experience!!
Top from Cape Tourville with Wineglass Bay to the right
Look at the calm Tasman Sea
That’s a red lichen on the rocks from the sea spray!!
On Honeymoon Beach
They think some Aboriginal carvings…yep, I go with that!!
Hi John and Kathy,
A belated Happy Annivesary from Bob and Elaine Ebaugh! Still living aboard, but also still pretty much tied to the dock….
Anniversary that is! Best Bob