The Ultimate Tassie Getaway (and the best bath in Australia)
I can’t actually remember the last time we went on a family holiday. We have met up in places people lived over the years, attended weddings, celebrated Christmas and family occasions at home in Port Fairy, but I don’t think we have all been away together specifically for a holiday since I lived at home as a kid! So it was actually pretty brave of Mum to suggest she spend some of a gift from a much loved Uncle on a family holiday!
After a number of logistically difficult suggestions were thrown around (we started with a week in a villa in Bali which was never going to happen for six *then* working adults, let alone when I threw in the mix that I was going away for some time!), I suggested an amazing property I had seen on Instagram in Tassie. The positive response was unanimous and miraculously a date was settled on.
Thalia Haven on the East Coast of Tasmania between Orford and Swansea is an idyllic, remote slice of heaven. You have to open, drive through, and shut four farm gates to even get to the acreage it sits on. You round a bend to be greeted by a stone and timber fortress set onto the shoreline of Great Oyster Bay. It really does take your breath away when it comes into sight.
The house is made of up three ancient-stone bedrooms clustered around olive-tree courtyards plus a main living and eating area with another bedroom. It’s total off the grid living: your water, electricity, and warmth are drawn from its land, breezes, and sunshine. But really, whilst we were certainly conscious of using these resources carefully, the home is luxurious and has all the comforts you could require. Including a very well equipped kitchen with a stocked pantry! Nick and Inga went the cooking on fire route – using the outdoor wood fire and a grill plate to whip up pink on the inside, blackened on the outside barbequed lamb (from Wursthaus Kitchen in Salamanca which Gourmet Traveller rates as one of the Top 5 Foodstores in Australia – we were definitely in heaven in there) with roast veges and a panzenalla salad using Pigeon Whole Bakers bread. Emma and I slow-cooked some incredible beef short ribs, also from Wursthaus Kitchen, until they fell apart and served them with Paris mash (don’t think about the butter, just put it in) and brocollini. And there was cheese. A lot of cheese. We did not go hungry.
Aside from cooking, we spent some time Saturday morning exploring Freycinet National Park , walked up to the Wineglass Bay lookout and rewarded ourselves with delicious wood fired pizza and fish and chips at Devil’s Corner Cellar Door. We walked along the private beach at Thalia, Nick even swam (little brothers *insert eye roll*). We read. We listened to music. Inga and Emma did a puzzle. We played Scrabble – Mum kicked everyone’s butts. Nick and I had a sauna (yep, there’s even a traditional wood fired sauna). We watched sunrises and sunsets and the cray boats picking up their catches. We took endless photos. And we reconnected with ourselves and each other.
Oh. And we bathed. In what must surely be the best bath in the country. Maybe the world. I bathed under the brilliant, dazzling Tasmania stars with a glass of red. Nick and Inga indulged at dawn with a cup of coffee. Emma at sunset with champagne. What an inspired addition to this already magnificent property.
Thalia Haven is one of those once in a lifetime places to stay…that you fervently hope you will somehow find a way to get back to again to make sure it’s at least twice in a lifetime.
