THE RaTTAToT TOUR
(Ramsay's Terrific Tag-a-long Adventure Tour of Tasmania)
For 14 November 2001
Report by André and Julia
The 7am breakfast posed no problem for our keen group and
we travelled 40km to the pretty town of Strahan on the West
coast. We enjoyed a boat cruise around Macquarie Harbour (twice
as big as Sydney Harbour) and on the Gordon River. A guided
tour of Sarah Island was included which was settled as a penal
colony in 1821. The tour was relaxing despite the presence
of some MG car club members (only joking) and the lunch served
was varied and plentiful. Norm and Liz chose the cruise to
introduce the first of several Tasmanian knowledge quizzes,
to ensure our minds didn't completely seise up. Norm had organised
bright yellow rugby shirts to celebrate the tour which were
wonderful because they made members easy to spot and did not
need ironing. The weather left a bit to be desired with continual
drizzle, but as we ended the cruise the sun came out for a
group photo (no cars this time). The dry roads then provided
a much more interesting return journey back to the hotel.
Some people took walks around Strahan before returning to
Queenstown for a little car maintenance. Steve fixed a leak
in his exhaust with the help of some coke cans and muffle
putty. Syd changed all his spark plugs and took Paul for a
test drive. Paul's white knuckles on return showed that he
enjoyed it (so Syd said).
Queenstown is not the gourmet capital of Tasmania so it was
a choice of either going back to last night's pub for dinner
or trying the 'other pub' across the road, for cheap and cheerful
tucker. Those who ventured the 8 yards across the bitumen,
met the friendly barmaid who had never heard of King Island
Cream (a tragedy for sure). On asking how much she had seen
of Australia she answered "I think I went to the east-side
[of Tasmania] when I was four !!
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