Jimmy's bar @Frangos & Frangos, Daylesford

another restaurant with beautiful view: sault 

the Bridestowe Lavender Estate

One of the highlights of our short Tassie gateway was the visit to the Bridestowe Lavender Estate.  

Upon arrival at the Hertz help desk, the most humiliated thing happened: Bertrand found his driver licence has JUST EXPIRED on that day and I didn't have the full licence at that time (and even not now).  It was a weekend which made renewing the licence impossible ,  and we had to face the fact that we were unable to drive to the Lavender farm by ourselves..

When we arrived at the hotel we asked the concierge hoping to find if there is any group tours to the Lavender farm, and not surprisingly , we were told there was no other way to get there except we have our own transport, But fortunately the concierge gave us someone's business card, saying that he could drop us wherever we want and he charges cheaper than a taxi. 

So our self driving tour became a private guided tour. 

Our local guide was an old, tall gentleman who owns a luxury car rental business. Driving through the way to the Lavender estate he told us many of the best kept secrets , such as ' the Cradle mountain only has one clear day out of a week'..(and now you know it too!)

After 40 minutes' cows and sheep watching along the hilly road , we finally got to see the beautiful sights I had been wishing to see for months. Spanning over 260 acres of lavender fields, it is the largest lavender farm in the southern hemisphere. Clouds blanked the sky, which is a bit disappointing. But half an hour later the sun peek out to say hello , enabled me to capture some of the beautiful pictures.. Lavenders  were in their full bloom in January but we only saw a few tourists coming from interstate. And this is why we love here, the less touched land.

So now you know where my facebook profile picture come from !

The shop offers a great range of lavender products, from lavender oil to scented soap.

And here are the  iconic lavender teddy bears staring at me, so I bought two home. Nowadays you can hardly buy these bears ever since the Taiwanese pop star Show Luo's tourism campaign for Tasmania became famous and, after another celebrity showed off this bear in Weibo, it became the most popular souvenir from Tasmania.  Believe it or not, they were sold out almost everywhere.. 

And yes, please make sure you have an ice cream break - I don't normally eat lavender-flavoured things but the lavender ice cream here has definitely perked me up..

You might also like: Launceston, our weekend escape

Tokyo Disneyland

I'm savouring every magical moment here..

In the beautifully decorated Cinderella's Castle. 

The hotel where we stayed overnight in the Tokyo Disney resort : Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel

Launceston: our weekend escape.

Finally got a chance to catch up some of our experiences in Launceston earlier this year.

Only 1 hour flight away from Melbourne, we spent 3 days in this almost secluded, quiet small town ,situated peacefully in the north of Tasmania.

The weather was perfect throughout our stay . People are very laid back , spending hours and hours drinking in pub or getting sunbake in their little backyard....Like all other remote regional areas in Australia , we found locals here are not very get used to the tourists yet . Some even showed a wee bit curiosity when they saw Asian  faces like us holding a camera ... But  Tassies are very nice and we felt welcomed.

Can You Imagine this is their city Centre??????? You can't see a single person on the weekend!!!



Tasmania is generally not a culinary destination for Oz foodies, but having dozens of the most freshly opened, mount watering oysters is always on top of our agenda.. A MUST TRY !!!!!!

Who cannot love Tassie Oysters?????  We are so proud to have the best oysters in the world....and I can guarantee that you can never have them enough , just like us.