It was time to head back towards Hobart. Rather than stay on the highway, we took the far less travelled road down through the Central Highlands. At one point there’s about a 20km stretch that isn’t paved, but the gravel road was in fine condition and we made it through without issue.

We stopped at a lookout to get a view of the Great Lake.

We stopped in for lunch at the Central Highlands Lodge near Miena. Nice little place.

At last we made it to Bothwell to the Nant Distillery. This property was incredibly picturesque, and they actually use the water from the River Clyde to make their whisky!

We had booked into a tour, where we learned that the water also powers the actual barley mill. Unfortunately photos were not allowed inside the tour, but we did end up having a nice little tasting at the end of it. (Though in my case, again, I was only allowed to smell since I’m driving.)

See how picturesque? Mr Snook also bought a tiny bottle to take home as well. (This stuff is seriously expensive.)

We stayed that night in Richmond, a tourist town not far from Hobart Airport. Unfortunately Richmond turned out to be the only dud of the trip. It just wasn’t our thing. It’s billed as important and historic, but I didn’t warm to the fake “ye olde” Georgian reproductions. The dining options were uninspiring, and we ended up at the local pizza joint (which wasn’t amazing, but at least wasn’t expensive either).

Our hotel was Hatcher’s Manor and… it’s a weird place. The thing is like a folly. I had read the reviews that made it sound pretty campy. But hey, I like campy! I thought it would be “campy good,” but instead it ended up more “campy creepy.” It’s just overloaded with “ye olde English” frippery. Our room was the Tower Suite, and honestly it felt a little sad and run down. It felt like we were in an episode of the Twilight Zone.

The next morning we had breakfast at Richmond Bakery and then wandered down to see the old bridge. It’s the oldest bridge in Australia, and it’s pretty. So there was at least one part of Richmond that I liked!

And that was pretty much it. We headed to Hobart Airport, returned the rental car, and caught our flight back to Sydney.

Favourite souvenir from the trip is definitely my thylacine oven mitt. 🙂

The end!

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