Friday 9 January 2015
We departed Kentish Hills Retreat at 08:40 and
headed to Devonport, where we filled up with petrol, before heading onto Burnie
– our destination – Hellyers Road Distillery to learn about the production of
whisky.
Hellyers Road Distillery was set
up by Betta Milk as a diversification project. Hellyers Road Distillery also
produces vodka from the barley, it just does not go into barrels to age and
take up the wood colours and flavours.
The whisky barrels are imported from the United States (where they are
only permitted to be used once) and have been previously used for either
bourbon, port or sherry. These are aged
for ten to twelve years prior to being sold.
There are approximately three hundred bottles to the barrel – looking at
the number of barrels in storage that converts to a LOT of bottles. We tasted whisky as it comes from the barrel
– before dilution to 48% alcohol for sale – it burnt my lips with its 69%
alcohol content. The aftertaste was
quite enjoyable, although the same cannot be said for its taste in the mouth at this strength.
Next we headed down the Murchison Highway. We
turned off this to go to Montezuma Falls – Tasmania’s highest waterfall –
dropping 104m. It was 4km each way along
an old mining train track so should have been easy walking. In dry conditions it would have been easy
walking, however it is in a wet forest and we had had substantial rain the day
before – so – it was extremely muddy and required careful placement of each
footstep. The falls were very impressive
when we arrived there, unfortunately the fresh battery in my camera was flat!!
Driving to Strahan from Rosebery we saw much
variation in the landscape, including the effects of mining and logging. As we approached the West Coast the wind
picked up significantly, however Strahan itself seems quite protected. Our accommodation here was Driftwood Villas
Strahan – a compact two bedroom apartment.
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