Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Cataract Gorge and Boag's Brewery

David & Tina, far left, Bob, Di & Max, right

The Tasting - we enjoyed that part of the tour!






Boag's Head Office 39 William St Launceston















The Gorge















Homes perched beside the Tamar River
















We booked in for the 11.30am cruise, Bob & Di & ourselves, and on arriving found that the Lady Launceston had blown a gasket - worse, she had blown a gasket a few days ago & the new gasket had been put ON TOP OF the old gasket! So I guess it was a double blown gasket ..... Fortunately it was repaired in time for us to set off more or less on time, and we enjoyed a 1 hour cruise around the Tamar and Gorge - we loved the eccentric homes perched on the slopes above the Tamar, some of them in need of serious repair. It was hard to believe the lovely Cataract Gorge is so close to the city centre - only one mile so our guide said.
Imagine our surprise and delight when we met up with old friends from Bowning, NSW, Tina & David - they were just about to board the Lady Launceston for the 12.30pm cruise!
We'd sighted a swish looking Fish'n'Chip restaurant on the boardwalk beside the river, and our guide said our tickets entitled us to 10% discount - we needed it, two pieces of flake (no chips) was $17.50!!! It was a delicious meal tho, and the surroundings were lovely.
Back to Legana for a brief respite, and Di & Bob checking that Meg (their little dog) was OK, and off again to Boag's Brewery. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boag has a good description & history of Boag's if you're interested. We had a look at part of the brewing process (sadly no frothy, yeasty vats) and then the bottling, labelling & packaging section - amazingly fast & one man in charge of the whole operation as far as we could see. Then came The Tasting. Our guide, Matt, was quite enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the different beers, you taste it on the front of your tongue, then right at the back - which means you HAVE to swallow every tasting! :-) I was driving, so I had very teeny tastes! Every morning at precisely 10am the current brew is tasted - because taste buds are fresh at that time of the morning, and haven't been contaminated by the day's eating activities!
Amazing how the day flew by ... in fact we are amazed at how the whole holiday is flying by!

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