This Aussie road trip is outstanding, even if my car isn’t

Considering what’s ahead, maybe I should be rolling off the Spirit of Tasmania in my Aston Martin convertible. But surely wheels are wheels, and if that annoying warning light is just a little hoax of an electrical fault in my VW Golf, then the badge on the car won’t be making much difference in this relaxed version of Tasmanian luxury.

Table Cape in Tasmania.Credit: Tourism Tasmania

I’m no stranger to the Spirit and its Bass Strait crossings, but usually when the ship docks in Devonport, I turn left and head for the east coast. On this moody morning, I’m turning right and aiming for Stanley, 90 minutes away in the state’s north-west, a historic fishing town with a curious geological nub called “the Nut” rising above it.

I’m embarking on a journey called Ship to Shore, a three-part itinerary of fine dining and two-night luxurious stays in each of Stanley, Port Sorell and Launceston.

But, this being a road trip, rather than gunning the Golf straight for Stanley, after Wynyard I turn for Table Cape, high above the Bass Strait coast and rich in farmland – the most colourful of it delivering tulips as far as you can see in spring. From the lookout I can see a few showers of rain marching across Bass Strait, a cargo ship aiming for Burnie and seabirds circling.

Back on the road and the highway sometimes hugs the coast, sometimes cruises through cropping and cattle country. Before long I roll into Stanley and the Ship Inn, looking colourful and stately with the Nut looming large above it. I’m a little early for my room, so I make myself a coffee in the club-like guest lounge, take a wander through the inn’s beautiful gardens and find myself at the curious cottage next door.

The coastline wrapping around towards Stanley and the Nut.

It turns out Anthony Albanese wasn’t the first Australian prime minister with a waterfront home – Joe Lyons, Tasmania’s first and so far only PM (1932-1939) – also had a view of the water out the front. But that was in this tiny timber cottage he shared with his parents and six siblings. “Be a bit of top-and-tail for those kids,” says my host as I wander through.

Back at the superbly restored Ship Inn, my Van Diemen’s Apartment is probably slightly bigger than the Lyons’ entire cottage. It comes with bay and garden views, a lounge area and a smart kitchen stocked with breakfast provisions.

The Ship Inn Stanley with the Nut rising behind.

Just a couple of houses past the PM’s pad is Hursey Seafood. People come from all over the region to Hursey, for its fish and crayfish fresh off the boat. My package includes a voucher to eat here, and I make the most of it – a platter of crayfish, oysters and more back to the apartment one night and into the restaurant for scallops and fresh stripey trumpeter the next.

You can take a short chairlift ride if you want, but Stanley’s intriguing Nut isn’t that hard a climb and the sea views are plentiful from the track that circles the top of it. There’s a surprise in store below the Nut, at Godfrey’s Beach – here the Parks Service has built a viewing platform to admire the little penguins, returning at dusk to feed their offspring.

If you don’t want the 15-minute walk to Godfrey’s, you can cross the road below the Ship Inn and head to the rock wall that wraps around the beach at the head of Stanley Harbour. Come dusk from September to March, there they’ll be – the little tackers squawking for food as Mum and Dad return from a forage at sea.

Back on the road (the Golf’s warning light is now telling me to “stop and contact workshop” but after a few minutes it vanishes, so we battle on) and we’re now backtracking east, past Devonport and on to the next stop, the Vineyard House at Ghost Rock Wines, near Port Sorrell.

Ghost Rock is the creation of the Arnold family – 31 hectares under vines and wine under two labels, the premium Ghost Rock, and the minimum intervention Supernatural – wines that “go against all the traditions – no filtration, no additives,” in the words of Justin Arnold.

The stay here starts with a tasting – working through the winery’s fruity but flinty 2019 Catherine sparkling, a selection of whites and eventually arriving at the 2023 Climat pinot noir, a sublime wine created from a spray-free experimental plot and coming in light but earthy.

The tasting is a handy prelude to lunch at the winery restaurant – both are Ship to Shore inclusions – and on this clear day, lunch is out on the sunny terrace, vineyards in the foregound, then some farmland and then the blue expanse of Bass Strait in the distance, something Arnold calls, “our great big air conditioner”.

Inside Ghost Rock’s Vineyard House.

Lunch is fresh and seasonal, and I have no need to worry about drinking and driving (or the Golf and its complaints) – Vineyard House, albeit hidden in vast gardens, is all of 20 metres from the restaurant door. Home for the next couple of nights, there’s plenty of space here – three bedrooms, open-plan living, big kitchen and dining area and spectacular views of the surrounding country.

There’s a platter of local cheeses and other treats, along with two bottles of Ghost Rock wine – a sparkling and a pinot – as well as a selection of bread, jams and cereal for breakfast. On top of those supplies, there’s a kitchen garden just out the door, meaning fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables are there for the picking.

Beyond the winery, and the house you could well sit back and enjoy for the rest of your stay, there are beach walks nearby at Port Sorrell and Hawley Beach, or, facing Bass Strait on Northdown Beach. Devonport is 15 minutes away for supplies and other restaurant selections.

Next, and final, stop is Launceston and while I could hit the highway and cover the ground in a bit over an hour (warning lights permitting), I decide to detour, leaving the highway at Sassafrass to amble through the countryside, through farmland and forest, past truffle farms and, not far offtrack, a rarity in Tasmania – sustainable salmon from the inland 41 South salmon farm.

Eventually we come into Deloraine on the Mole Creek Road, the mountain-fed Meander River spilling through the town. Coffee in hand from Frank and Lotti’s on Emu Bay Road, I give the Golf a breather and enjoy the coffee in the park down by the river.

Launceston’s Cataract Gorge – Stillwater Seven is bottom left on the waterfront.

From Deloraine, it’s a 40-minute drive into Launceston for boutique bliss and a welcoming bottle of sparkling wine and some snacks in a suite at Stillwater Seven. The small hotel and its restaurant are converted from an old flour mill. This part of the package includes two nights’ accommodation, dinner for two in the restaurant and breakfast provisions in the room.

The rooms come with huge timber beams, views over the river and a stunning piece of furniture designed by Launceston’s Simon Anchor that is the mini-bar (unusually for a hotel, its contents are very well priced).

Breakfast with a view in a suite at Stillwater Seven.

Dinner is at the restaurant with some inspired Tasmanian dishes, not least the octopus that has followed me all the way here from Stanley, topped with bonito flakes that might be waving in the wind.

After a DIY breakfast (including croissants delivered fresh in the morning), to walk off the indulgence, the track into the Cataract Gorge starts just across the road from Stillwater and has to be one of the world’s best city walks given the stunning scenery of rock, river and forest. Keep walking and if it’s a hot day there’s a free-to-use public pool on the lawns of First Basin.

After six nights of Ship to Shore indulgence, it’s time to move on, and what do you know? The warning light’s back on, but the car’s still moving.

THE DETAILS

TOUR
I actually did this in reverse, the suggested Ship to Shore package starts in Launceston and includes two nights at Stillwater Seven (stillwater.net.au), two nights at Ghost Rock’s Vineyard House (ghostrock.com.au) in Port Sorell and two nights in Stanley at Van Diemen’s Apartment at Ship Inn (shipinnstanley.com.au); from $5190 for two. A range of meals and drinks at onsite or nearby restaurants are included, along with provisions at your accommodation. For more information, email [e-mail]

FERRY
The Spirit of Tasmania makes daily or more crossings between Geelong (Victoria) and Devonport (Tasmania). Fares for one person and a car from $335. See spiritoftasmania.com.au

The writer was a guest of Ship to Shore and the Spirit of Tasmania.