2011 Already....

The last couple of weeks we have been taking to the road and visiting some great places in Launceston and surrounds for Shopping, Food, Wine and Berry Picking.

Here are my top 10 great places to visit:

1. For a weekend Breakfast by the water -

Stillwater River Cafe Restaurant and Wine Bar
2 Bridge Rd.Launceston TAS 7250

This place has great coffee and food and the service is A1. After Breakfast go upstairs to the Mill & Providore for some nice gifts and treats.

2. Followed by a leisurely walk either along the Seaport boarwalk or right to the Launceston Gorge - bring your bathers and have a swim in the pool located in the Gorge.

3. Launceston Library - I love this place. Look down the back of the library they usually have books for sale and March 19 2011 is their big book sale at St Albie's Hall

4. Op Shops in Launceston have to be the best ones by far - there are so many.

5. Lilydale is about a 20-30 minute nice drive to buy some great
Goats Cheese @ Yondover Farm House Cheese
Japanese Plants @ The Red Dragon Nursery
Antique & Collectibles Shop in the main street of town
Pick Blueberries Crestview Blueberry Farm Main Road
Leaning Church Vineyard for some wine and great food
Feeling adventurous you may also want to try the Treetop Adventure in the Hollybank Forest

6. On the way to Hobart stop by the Red Bridge Cafe in Campbell Town to try their Tub of Love dip, beautiful bread and organic goodies.

7. Hillwood Strawberry Farm - great day out for the kids picking in season Berries they also have a nice cafe with delicious ice creams, pancakes and a lot of other nice things. Their gift range is great as well.

8. Festivale every February in the City Park Launceston - the City Park is great any day but add music, food and tons of people and for three days it becomes the place to be. Also make sure you check out the Wood Design Centre on the edge of the Park which houses some beautiful furniture and gifts from local Tasmanians.

9. Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery at Invermay, now with a permanent exhibition, planetarium and lots of things for the kids and adults to see, along with the excellent gift shop it has to be one of the best places to spend a couple of hours. Their "Choose" Cafe located in the the Gallery also has very reasonable priced food and never disappoints!

10. The last but not the least favourite thing to do in Launceston and it's surrounds.......is driving to the many beaches close by and looking out to ocean when the weather is perfect (most of the year) and in the winter driving to see the snow at Ben Lomond or to see the majestic Cradle Mountain.

New Made It Items

I have put some of my products on my Made It Store - Bikkuri. Nice Stocking Stuffers for Christmas. Hopefully I will also have some of my Japanese Kimono Bags on there as well before Christmas.

Junction 2010 is on in Launceston and they have some amazing spectacles to be seen in Civic Square below are some photos of a felt ball tree and an umbrella tree. Check out the program here http://www.junction2010.com.au

Another exciting Niche Market is on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th August at two big locations - I will be at the Boathouse...

Another Niche Market is happening on Friday 30th April and Saturday 1st May 2010 from 10am - 4pm.

This is at a new location - The "Boathouse" - on Northbank (North Esk Rowing Club).

This is to raise funds for St Giles and also to find Mum a special something for Mother's Day.

Come along......

Tom Jones in Lonnie

Tom Jones in Launceston who would have thought - after a huge down pour of rain I thought Josef Chromy's vineyard would be underwater but funny enough the rain stopped the sun came out and it was a perfect day for a great concert.


I know he is 70 and all but boy can he move and the crowd loved it.!!

Went and saw Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D - really good and the pace of the movie is very quick so no time to get bored - the 3D effects were great the song by Avril is quite good check it out....

Trip to Japan November 2009

So we had a great time in Kyoto Japan for our 2 week holiday last year and took a lot of photos - don't you just love digital cameras.

Here is my favourite place Uji:

This area is famous for a number of things - one being their famous Green Tea production. Said to have the purest water and best soil - the Green Tea here is said to have the best flavour.

There are many places to buy the green tea but I followed the many local people to a shop which was on the way to the famous Byodoin Temple. Here I purchased some Green Tea products including Green Tea Kit Kat, some delicious melt in your mouth green tea shortbread with green tea filling and some green tea hard boiled lollies with green tea powder inside all packaged beautifully.

The next thing to enjoy in Uji is to follow the path of the "Tale of Genji". The area surrounding Uji is thought to have been the setting for the famous "Tale of Genji" by Lady Murasaki. Long bridges, beautiful river and surrounded by mountains. I have since ordered a copy of this book to read the Tale after visiting the area.

The third the beautiful Autumn leaves.

Byodoin Temple - this temple well worth the visit and is also famous for appearing on the Japanese 10 cent piece. The Temple has a fabulous Gallery showcasing the artifacts from the temple which is now one of the oldest standing buildings in Japan.

So if you find yourself in Japan and have some time - put Uji on your list of places to visit.

I was inspired to visit Uji after reading Paul's Travel Pics blog.