We take this time to spend with our seven children, and now six Grand children (the sixth arriving just three weeks ago), so always a lively and rewarding time. After much time in preparation, what with the Christmas puddings - the much valued handed-down recipe from Helen's Mum - endless shopping and wrapping, after careful consideration of everyones needs - we are ready to relax and enjoy a short break with family. May yours be a safe and joyous one.

Coincidence or What!
Things happen some times and it seems very uncanny. Last week we had, as always, lovely guests, this time from Port Macquarie and Ron is a retired float plane pilot. Breakfast on the deck had finished and we were out talking in the sunshine when the sound of an approaching aeroplane stalled our conversation. We watched attentively as a small plane circled us high above and then came in to land - on the Tamar River opposite The River House! Ron turned to me and asked if this was a daily event, but nothing could have been further from the truth - I have never seen this happen before in the seven years we have been here.  And Ron hadn't arranged it!  How's that - the only time we have had a float plane land in sight of us here ( I always called them sea planes before meeting Ron) and a retired float plane pilot is our guest!  I learnt lots about float planes, thanks Ron. What might happen next?

Queen Victoria  Art Gallery
This unique Victorian building, first officially opened as Launceston's Museum and Art Gallery in 1891, was officially opened as the refurbished new dedicated Art Gallery in September 2011. And what a great and beautiful building this is with its magnificent Atrium and collection of important works. This is the second site, with the Inveresk Museum at the 19th Century railway workshop, housing the natural science and history collections, making it the largest regional museum in Australia. Both sites have tempting cafes and there is the addition of Blue as an extra choice in the Inveresk Museum grounds; there is much to enjoy here.

Seaport.
Some  kind guests brought back a new flyer which gives great information on what is available in this area, especially for easily accessible quality dining options. Importantly there are now  seven tantallising restaurants all in one spot and just twelve minutes easy drive down the road, making the choice even harder, but so easy to get right.

And Now for the Lemon Slice!
Thank you to guests  who have been enquiring after our lemon-slice recipe and showing a mammoth degree of patience. But here it is, in time for after Christmas, when you are wondering what to eat after the mince pies and Christmas pud have gone!

1/2 cup butter (4oz)
1 packet sweet (morning coffee) biscuits
1 cup coconut
grated  rind of one lemon
1/2 can of condensed milk
lemon icing

Crush biscuits, add coconut and lemon rind.
Melt butter, add cond. milk, mix and pour over the above ingredients.
Press into "greased" tin and cover with lemon icing.
Sprinkle with coconut - Helen uses shredded.

Cut up into squares and place in fridge for a little time.
Hope you enjoy and Merry Christmas to all.  
Helen and Carl.

BIRDS
What a noisy time of year this is; the birds started singing before a hint of Spring had appeared and their volume and number just gets better. The great news is surely about the Swallows which have successfully raised their chick(s), nested in one of our sheds, into the flight zone this year - avoiding the marauding of the Grey Thrush Shrike so far, and hopefully completely. Striated Pardolotes have nested once again accessing one of  the smallest holes imaginable. Our Robin numbers (particularly Flame and Scarlet) have increased this year which goes against what is being reported in other parts of the State, sadly, but lets hope they expand out from The River House. We have been very pleased to see that the Blue Wrens have made a come back this year after a noticeable limited visitation last year, always a delight. And true to  Heather's prediction, the Kookaburras have raised their chick in our river-side trees in full view of the house and the photo captures what may be a maiden flight. So many birds, never a dull moment; we  even attracted a lost duck which noisily visited us the other day, hopefully to find his/her (couldn't see the tail feather!) friendly flock. It could be all due to September being one degree warmer than average and this could herald a more that usally interesting season coming up!

RECIPE
We are always pleased when guests enjoy our tasty (and healthy) offerings and happy to post requested recipes, when I can extract them from Helen's secret box that is. But this one is easy 'cuase its mine - the lemon slice will take a little longer to get hold of but I am very hopeful for the next blog in November. In the meantime RICOTTA   HOTCAKES WITH PEAR ADDITIONS.

This is an amalgam of recipes but always works nicely.
Ingredients: Low fat fresh ricotta 150g.
eggs 2 separated
low-fat milk  1/2 cup
caster sugar  2tbs
vanilla essence 1 tsp
self-raising flour  1/2 cup
berry mix  200g ( frozen with fresh strawberry/raspberry additions works well)
low fat yoghurt

thinly sliced pear .

1.Place ricotta in large bowl and mash well with fork. Add egg yolks, milk, sugar and vanilla - stir through. Sift flour over and gently fold until just combined.
2. Beat egg whites with electric beaters until soft peaks form. Gently fold into ricotta mix.
3. Place sliced pear into heated fry pan (with olive oil already added and on medium heat) - I use a large pan and do four at a time. Cook for a few minute til brown then flip.
4. Carefully place a large tablespoon-and a half- over the pear to try to keep it central. Cook until bubbles rise (or before bottom burns!) and flip carefully to ensure pear retains position. Cook for a shorter time but til brown. Remove and keep warm.
5. Place berries in small saucepan, sweeten if desired.
6. Serve hotcakes with berries and yoghurt. Yum!
Hope these work for you and you enjoy!
  

July saw us planning and developing a new garden on the River side of the house. I recycled an old satellite dish last year into a bird bath and we have developed a bird garden around this. It is on the Southern side of the house which brings challenges to add to the ever present consumption of most green things by the wallabies. We hope we have chosen wisely and have placed a wire fence around this to give protection from attack for the first year. The bird bath attracts Fantails, Robins, Eastern Rosellas, Wattle bird and more, so we are looking forward to seeing what else arrives for a drink and a splash.

Wine in the Tamar Valley
August is a wonderful month for  wine experiences in the Valley.  The Tamar Valley Wine Route has been recognised as one of the ten best wine routes in the world by  UK site Essential Travel, the only one listed in Australia. I believe our 170 kilometer journey will be increasingly recognised for the magnificent location and produce that it provides. Come and experience it yourself, giving yourself at least two full days for this part of your sojourn here.

Two wine tasting events are scheduled for August and promise to be a most enjoyable educational experience once again. Tomorrow, 6th August, is the day for the annual Tasmanian Wine Fair in Launceston at the Hotel Grand Chancellor where over 270 wines from 27 producers will be offered for tasting; amongst them once again is the highly respected and always entertaining d'Arry Osborne from d'Arenberg wines.

On the 27th and 28th August the Taste of the Tamar is on once again. This sumptuos event is also held at The Grand Chancellor  in Launceston and promises to be a great weekend. We are hoping to make a visit this year and it will be our first if successful; we have always been away on the days that this has been on, so we are looking forward very much to this experience. This is certainly an additional reason to visit the Tamar in August, as the Spring bulbs are flowering beautifully. We  look forward to seeing you here.

Our Learning Holiday
We were able to take a short break in early June and stayed in Fiji on the Coral Coast. We had a magnificent stay at the Fiji Hideaway Resort and Spa and blissfully relaxed in their beautiful tropical environment. The Hideaway is very nicely comfortable without being over the top, the facilities very clean and the service very friendly and helpful - a confirmation of the importance of our customer service offered at The River House. We thoroughly recommend the Hideaway and hope to go back not too far in the distant future!  But in the meantime, we have come back refreshed and inspired for another season in beautiful Tasmania.

Complimentary Wifi
While we were away we had a thunderstorm causing a power surge which took out our wired internet service to the gallery PC. We did not realise this until our lovely guests from Hong Kong reported this to us - thankfully wifi was still working. Apologies Louise once again, and to all your party, that we couldn't fix the problem while you were with us. This is all fixed now ( for your next visit Louis) and we also took the opportunity to extend the wifi range so that all guest rooms now have complimentary wifi. We do not understand why other establishments charge for this service, but so long as supply charges to us do not blow out ,wifi will be complimentary at The River  House.

East Tamar Highway Developments
We had hope to be able to report after we returned from holiday, that the Highway would be totally completed with full signage. But unfortunately not - very close, but there are still sometimes daily changes to what parts are open and which not, so travel carefully. You still need to look for the Dilston exit sign and then signage for The River House as you get closer. And as always,please  ring if needed.

Very soon it will be the middle month of winter and the bulbs, which are starting to show themselves above ground, will be in full bloom. Magnificence once again!

The New East Tamar Highway -  Dilston By-pass
Work on the new highway continues to steam ahead, with changes daily as it progresses ahead of schedule. The changes require an extra bit of care while travelling through this region, but the contractors continue their safe record of clear signage and directing.  The road is at the stage where both double lanes are almost ready for use and this could happen any day now.  If you are travelling this way you will travel for a short while on the new section of the East Tamar Highway until you meet the "Dilston turn sign" - at the moment an electronic sign. Turn here and travel along what was the old highway, past the houses in Dilston on the left hand side  and turn left into Dilston Road; 400 metres up this road is Rostella Road on which you travel a further 400 metres until arriving at The River House. As always please give us a call if we might help further.

A New Find on the Wine Trail.
The recently updated website for the Tamar Valley Wine Route is a great addition to information about the wines and cellar doors in our Valley. A recent find by us is Bass Fine Wines which is located  4 minutes from Launceston CBD along  the road you migh travel to visit us. This is a shame on our part, as the winery has been operating for many years and its owner and winemaker, Guy, has been making his own wine and that of many renowned Valley labels for over a decade. So shame Carl and Helen that a wonderful resource located so close to The River House was not explored before! Guy kindly broke from his busy schedule to take us through the centre of operations and then gave us a tasting of some of his very approachable and very affordable current releases. This is well worth a visit and a great place to start a tour, or just call in whilst passing!

In the Kitchen
In the last blog I gave you a photo of our Apricot Jam, together with Helen, but forgot to include the recipe for the jam. So here it is.

450 g of Apricots   450 g sugar     a little water

Wipe and stone fruit - cut into quarters .sprinkle half the sugar over the fruit and stand overnight. Boil with the water and the rest of the sugar for 20/30 mins - stirring  regularly -  until a smidgen sets on a cold saucer. Bottle in sterilized bottles and enjoy on home made bread!

And while I am on jams - here is the recipe for our Plum and Port Jam which has been long enjoyed at The River House and beyond.

1kg plums, stoned   1/2 cup of water  1/4 cup port   1kg sugar
Combine plums and  water in large saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for about 15 mins or until plums are tender. Add sugar, stir constantly over the heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil uncovered for 30 mins until jam jells on cold saucer. Add port close to the end of cooking time. Stir to ensure no sticking of jam. Pour into hot sterilisede jars and seal. Makes about 4 to 5 cups. Yummy.

Easter
This part of the Christian calendar is later this year but no matter how you celebrate this, it is always a special time. We have a full house here and if we can find some ricotta cheese (shopping was not successful today) we will be having ricotta pancakes, berries and yogurts for our Good Friday breakfast. But for those able to get away on Easter Saturday the place to be will be at Goaty Hill Wines to enjoy Jazz in the Vineyard with a local band, a picnick basket and at least a sip of Goaty's excellent wines. Hope you can make it.

And a Happy Easter to All.

Its Blackberry time and recent guests have enjoyed the addition of freshly picked Blackberries to their fruit salad at breakfast time. Our yield of Apricots has been very poor this year so Helen brought in outside supplies to make her delicious Apricot jam, whilst enough tomatoes have ripened to allow replenishment of her homemade Tomato relish.  It is good to see the garden earning its way with plenty of apples soon to be harvested.

Thank you to past guests who have contributed to Tripadvisor and it certainly inspires us to keep working hard at providing an appreciated service. A recent  suggestion of upsizing the TV in the Riverdeck room was a great one and you can see that we have added a larger HD LCD in this room on the Riverdeck page.

As I look out the window the return of the Flame Robin adds a change of colour to the plethora of birds that share our property. We even had a visiting Peacock this week, escaped from next door but now peacefully back in its pen. Some mid size birds that always surprise me, though they are daily visistors, are the doves  - the Bronzewings and especially the Spotted Turtle Dove. I have managed a photo of the first but not the second one, as yet, but constantly on the prowl.

Events on the calendar for Northern Tasmania are Targa (from the 5th April) and AgFest (5,6,7th May)  -  two major events worth visiting this part of the State for.  A great break to enjoy the action of one of these events and then relaxingly explore the food and wine of the Tamar Valley with its stunning vistas, whilst staying at The River House.

News from The River House

Well, finally things are coming together! It has been a busy twelve months here and finally the blog is up and running. Its purpose is to keep you informed about things happening here, as well as happenings that might impact on your stay with us. Additionally we will highlight attractions and events in Launceston Tamar Valley that you might be interested in.
Renovations at  The River House
The most visible, new aspect, that you can see is the new website. Although the old one was still functional it needed a face lift – so we totally redid it! And after five months of research and creative work it is done – well almost. Just a few pages to add, which I hope to do over the next month. And we hope you like it and that it gives the information and images that help you decide where to stay on your next trip to the Valley. Let us know if we need to add more.

We have also completed our fourth guest room, the King Suite which you can view and read about on the site. We are taking bookings slowly on this room just to make sure we offer the same quality of service, and to make sure this happens we are only taking direct bookings for this at the moment. So give us a ring, send an email, if you would like to stay in this room; we are sure you won’t be disappointed!

The river-view deck has also been roofed over the last twelve months, still allowing the light in but giving protection from showers that seem to come now again!  With the addition of a new outdoor heater, this will allow us to extend the outside breakfast-eating  season substantially.

We have made other changes, such as taking out the hall entry door into the bedroom of the Apartment, a larger fridge in here also and the removal of the gym room – had to become part of the King Suite! With smaller tweaks here and there as we are always looking at how to improve our “hardware” and so improve our service to you.

Happenings Out and About
The road works on the East Tamar Highway continue and in the end will move the highway a little further away from us and provide  easier access. At the moment there is minimal disruption when travelling to and from Launie, although there are ongoing small traffic changes. Travel time is very much unchanged and we still can be seated in a great restaurant within twelve mins from here. The Highway is predicted to be completed by Sept this year which, with new signage, will still make The River House easy to find and arrive at.

The Windermere Café now is the Tasting Room for the distinctive Native Point wines, as well as providing all the great refreshments and meals as before. Native Point has its vineyard in Swan Bay, just down the road, so to speak, and produces some great whites and magnificent pinot noirs – very much worth tasting. A great addition so close by!

And Festivale is on everyone’s lips again, being only a week away. Launceston’s great food and wine festival spread over three days in one of Launceston’s beautiful parks. Come eat,  drink, listen to great music and share time with others having a fantastic time.
And we still have accommodation available for next weekend if you are needing a restful place to lay your head.

And we still feed the wallabies!