While on holiday, our lunches fall within a couple of extremes. One extreme could be termed “splurged and ate too much.” On our recent interstate trip to Tasmania, the very first day would fall into this category.

With a direct flight Adelaide to Launceston, and with our first night’s accommodation arranged for Devonport, we headed off straight away in our hire car from the airport. We planned a stop at Latrobe, to follow up a touristy suggestion: Reliquaire Toy Shop as recommended by Dave and Margaret M. Certainly worth a look! An intriguing place with numbers of rooms full of an amazing range of toys, games, and gifts.

Back to lunch. Parked near a pub, checked it out, seemed a bit average. Then thought – ah! the Entertainment Book app! I’ve persevered with the Entertainment Book (digital version), even though with COVID there were months where we couldn’t use the discounts at restaurants. This iteration of the Entertainment Book offered a “multi-city” bonus (probably due to the loss of sales due to COVID). Yes, thanks, I’ll take that offer, especially as we were planning to go to Queensland. Then, the Queensland trip was cancelled. Tasmania was booked instead, taking advantage of the cheap direct flights Adelaide to Launceston.

So, are there any local discounts at Latrobe? Yes, thank you very much, how about a free main meal at Belly’s Bar and Grill? Thus followed a sumptuous meal with drinks. Tasmanian Wallaby Loin with a local Tasmanian white wine for me. Very nice. Just a shame that there is more driving to do. Maybe a bit more walking around before heading up to Devonport!

The sort of lunch that demands a nap later and a very small evening meal to compensate! And makes a small dint in the holiday budget on day one.

At the other end of the scale is the frugal yet sensible self-catered picnic. We quite often have a portion of holiday where we cater some of our own meals. We don’t need full cooked breakfasts every day, so healthy cereal and yoghurt eaten at our accommodation works well. We have a trip to the local supermarket to purchase fruit, snacks and lunch/light meal provisions.

Thus, we found ourselves on the way back from Smithton to Sheffield with picnic provisions as an option for lunch. We stopped at the Hellyer Road Distillery to investigate a lunch time whiskey tasting but decided that we didn’t really want to sit for a long café-style lunch. Actually, I think I just liked the name. Every time we drove past the Hellyer turn-off near Smithton (about four times), and despite knowing full well that it is pronounced “Hel-i-er”, I just had to say “Hell, yeah!!”

So, we decided on a picnic style lunch to use our packed provisions. As we drove through Burnie, we saw a possible park for a picnic, but, oops, that was the turnoff we just passed. OK, keep going. What about the Round Hill Lighthouse (lighthouses featured somewhat on this trip – a story for another blog post)? Is that the road in? No, that’s closed, and we can’t see any other entrance road.

OK, this road looks promising – near the beach just near Heybridge. Blythe Heads, just around from Tioxide Beach. Yes, much better. Some nice picnic tables. Some lawn and a playground. Facilities if we need them. Apparently even a penguin colony if you were here in the evening in breeding season! And the weather is lovely for a beach picnic.

We settled in for our bacon and egg sandwiches, snacks, and drinks. Then, enjoying the sunshine, walked the few steps down to admire the beach. A myriad of beautifully coloured shells on the sand – small and intricate. Even some cuttlefish washed ashore. Inspected some shells to keep as souvenirs when, uh-oh – that feels like rain! Quick! Run!

Have I mentioned that the weather in Tasmania in September is extremely changeable? A very sudden heavy downpour with blustery winds was quickly upon us. Despite my usual preference of putting everything away tidily where it belongs, this was “quick, chuck everything in any bag! Just get it into the car!” Things were a bit wet and thrown willy-nilly into the back seat of the hire car. A quick look back to check everything was gathered from the picnic table, and we set off.

Unpacking later, we realised one casualty of our hasty retreat. Where’s my small green plastic bowl? It seems it remains somewhere on that picnic beach at Blythe Heads. I hope someone finds it before it becomes unwanted plastic in the environment.

That handy IKEA plastic set is minus a green fork, an orange spoon, and now a green bowl. But that won’t diminish our enjoyment of picnic lunches on holiday.