Peppermint Bay Cruise and a Shared Meal
You don't often
play tourist in your hometown. Tourist guide is more common. I went so often to Port Arthur in my first eighteen months in Hobart, I can never go back.
When the
Queensland and Sydney family descended over the Christmas-New Year period they
wanted to do stuff.
A cruise
from Hobart down the D'entrecasteaux Channel to Peppermint Bay at Woodbridge
was on the itinerary.
The body of
water between Bruny Island and the townships from Snug to Gordon was named
after French explorer, Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni d'Entrecastreaux. Now it’s known
fondly as the Channel to locals. It’s a lovely coastline and it’s not
unusual to see seals, cormorants and a sea eagle. You’ll take in
the silver Banksias and blue gum of the Alum Cliffs and the caves and rock
formations of Tinderbox.
I’ve been
previously. Ten years ago when the family was last here and the lunch was a
Tasmanian produce bento box and again around two years ago. The Lovely Deputy
took me, Skater boy and ‘I’m
the arty one’.
I still had fond memories of the early dating phase, nervously getting to know the kids
and a delicious meal when we reached Woodbridge.
This time
around I discovered the tourist route can be pretty relaxing. The family and I
chilled on the boat with a beverage or two, chatted and watched the coastline
pass, listening occasionally to the commentary and taking the odd photo.
We arrived
at Woodbridge at noon and enjoyed a four course shared meal. We started with an
antipasto plate that was followed by cauliflower, sage and burnt butter soup.
The main
meal was slow cooked lamb shoulder, green leaves and a quinoa salad.
There was a
morsel of salted caramel fudge to finish.
Lunch is a
lovely meal and you can enjoy it with a bottle of Tassie wine available at the
bar. We chose a Home Hill pinor noir, $50, and the Derwent Estate pinot rose,
$38 per bottle which is also available by the glass.
Big Sis is
gluten free and her youngest has gone vego. They catered for both adequately.
Leaving at
10.30 am from Hobart, the cruise takes an hour and a half to reach Peppermint
Bay at Woodbridge. Tickets are $128 per person on the Captains Upper Deck where
there is a maximum of 18 guests or $98 on the main deck where there is a
maximum of 30 people. We chose the main deck and there was plenty of room to
breathe.
The
catamaran leaves around 2 pm so there’s a little time after lunch to look around the town of
Woodbridge. You might find a souvenir to take home.
The tour and
its lunch is recommended for tourists and locals looking for a relaxing day on
the water and a good meal.
You can book a tour at the new Brooke Street Pier. Find our post here.
You can find
out more about Peppermint Bay Cruises here.
This is our
post on the Peppermint Bay Bistro.
Find out a
little about what happened to David Doyle formerly from the Stackings
restaurant at Peppermint Bay at his new Hobart restaurant called Franklin.
