Burnie,Tasmania Oz

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Our first stop in Burnie, Tasmania was Ashgrove Tasmanian Cheese farm. Mostly British style cheese – very good but not something to take back on the ship. We did find our Bush Dust and some Mustard to bring home.

Next stop Anvers Chocolate for tea and a chocolate tasting which ended up being a cup of fabulous hot chocolate and hugs chocolate desserts. Larkin finished hers, Michael ate half and I had a bite. We did pick up some Fortunato No. 4 which a special Peruvian type of chocolate that was thought extinct but found in the Marañón Canyon and through genetic testing they were found to be 100% Pure Nacional. That ”Mother Tree” lives on the Fortunato Family farm. Most other Pure Nacional had been destroyed by disease. According to a website:

The chocolate is intense, with a floral aroma and a persistent mellow richness. Its lack of bitterness is remarkable. One reason may be that Nacional cacao has a rare and precious characteristic: some of the beans are white, not the usual purple, and those from the Marañón Canyon are about 40 percent white. White beans, which Dr. Meinhardt said have fewer bitter anthocyanins, produce a more mellow-tasting, less acidic chocolate. Dr. Meinhardt said white beans are mutations that happen when trees are left undisturbed for hundreds of years.

We enjoyed the little bites of chocolate we had and it was onto tasting wines!

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Can you tell Larkin and I were enjoyed the bumblebees more? You can actually pet the bees. (I guess they can sting but I was brave. They are soft!) They are not indigenous to Tasmania and probably came in from New Zealand and parts north before that. Michael and I tasted the wines which were all very delicious and Michael brought three back to the ship. Our day was very cool and cloudy which in many ways lent for better photos. When we made it back to the ship…Michael headed up to the room and Larkin and I headed to the beach for sand and photos!

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The geology was incredible on the beach, the birds fun to watch and rocks were ripe for the picking as we collected our beach sand. Interesting enough the grey skies made for fabulous photos and there was NO ONE on the beach except the birds. There are 1 foot fences along the highways because fairy penguins come up at night after feeding and they would die on the roads. The excursion to the the penguins march sounded interesting but there were no photos allowed. After 12 excursions in the Antarctic taking tons of photos I just couldn’t imagine not taking photos so we did wine, chocolate and cheese. I think maybe the penguins march only at night and the flash could bother them. Understood!

Until Geelong. Buona sera…