We had a tightly planned day but the aim was to drive from Barrington to Hobart, which would take roughly 4 hours. We had some extra stops to make because I reworked the things we had to drop on Day 3 into today's plan. Today is also the last day we have the car. Once again, just because you planned it doesn't mean things go to plan.

We left Barrington Church B&B for the last time at 8am in the morning and regretfully skipped the host's breakfast. We took another punt at a different Mount Roland “lookout” but again, the weather was not cooperating.

Deloraine Town Cafe

For breakfast, we had to go back to Deloraine for a Scallop pie. The pies we had yesterday were great quality, so I was willing to take a punt on their Scallop pie as well. Surely they would have some at this hour. Success! I ordered a Scallop pie (AUD 9) and almond croissant (AUD 5) to share, not the most healthiest breakfast.

The Scallop pie was quite good. I could see sizble chunks of scallop which was swimming in a lightly curried and creamy sauce that was pleasant and not too overpowering. I enjoyed this pie.

We made another run for Melita Honey Farm (again I still didn't know about the tax avoidance at this stage). A decided he needed to buy some souvenirs and thought this would do the job. He bought a beeswax candle, and I decided we should have a small one too.

It was time to head south and leave the area for good.

Great Lake

We would detour to go past Great Lake. There is a lookout near Breona at the north side of the lake -

Heading south around the lake took you to Miena Dam, where there was another lookout. It was not very interesting and all you saw was a manmade dam.

Ross

The next stop was the historic town of Ross, which was 1 hour east of Great Lake.

Ross Bakery

First order of business was lunch at Ross Bakery which is famous for its Vanilla slice and dubious ties to Studio Ghibli. Apparently, Miyazaki got his inspiration here for Kiki's Delivery Service, which has since been disproven online. Look, straight up, it looks NOTHING like the bakery in the movie so I don't know why people believe what they're told. But the bakery continues to pander these stories. There's Kiki merch throughout the store.

Anyhow, we were here for lunch and I wanted to see if it was worth the hype. We ordered -

• Scallop pie (AUD 9.9)
• Steak and mushroom pie (AUD 6.1)
• Vanilla slice (AUD 6.4)

Was it worth it? Nooooooooo. Whilst there were large chunks of scallop, the filling did not taste as good as Deloraine bakery's. These guys were really coasting on their name and stories. The Vanilla slice was also difficult to eat (I got sugar all over the table) and a bit bland, not sure how that is even possible. A enjoyed it, however…

The prices were not wallet friendly. I was happy to get out of these. #ipinions

Ross Bridge

This bridge was built by convicts in 1836. It is a grand sandstone bridge and is the third oldest bridge in Australia. Whilst the bridge was not big, it demonstrated excellent crasftsmanship and is still in use today where modern inventions such as cars and trucks would travel over it daily.

There were some interesting and intricate designs over the arches.

Ross Female Factory

Strange name hey? No, a female factory is not where they manufactured women, but it where they imprisoned women. So whilst female convicts were locked up, they learnt skills that would be useful in society (sewing, cooking, cleaning, laundry). Female convicts would aim to be deployed as domestic servants out in the community after serving some time in the female factory. After serving her sentence and keeping her record clean, she would be on the path to freedom. There were some stories posted up of specific women and it sounded they had difficult lives. I imagine living in Tasmania, at the arse end of the world in the C19th would've have just been plain awful.

Not much of the prison remains today, but the Overseer's Cottage still stands. This is where the main museum exhibit is. Outside, it looks like everything that could have been excavated already had been excavated and there was not much to see.

Hobart

Mount Wellington/kunanyi

Time to head to Hobart. The next stop was the top of Mount Wellington (kunanyi), the large mountain that towers over looks Hobart. It is quite a mountain standing at 1,271 m high, but there was no need for us to climb it ourselves. It was very accessible by car. Unfortunately the weather was not great so we spent the time to go halfway up and ended up calling it quits. The fog was undeniable.

We stopped at The Springs and was able to find a vantage point -

Willie Smith's Apple Shed

It was getting on in the afternoon and A really wanted to head down South to Willie Smith, a cidery for some apple pie and cider. It seems he had neglected to look at the opening hours properly so we drove the 30km down just to be told that the restaurant had closed 15mins prior. Wow, thanks, A. He persisted and bought a cider, which in my opinion, tasted very average (although I only had the tinest of sips, being the DD). I was not happy and I had to drive us back into town. I love apple pie.

Killin’ Time

After that, it was time to check into our hotel the Tasmanian Inn in Hobart. Then we had some time to kill so and I was on the hunt for Tasmanian Pepperberries and mustard so we went to the upmarket supermarket again - Hill St Grocer in Sandy Bay and West Hobart. The former gave us a glimpse of Battery Point and Sandy Bay, the posho suburbs of Hobart. I was able to find what I was looking for in the latter and we had bought some pickled mussels from the former so we had to go back to the accommodation to put that in the fridge.

Because there was still time before dinner, I insisted we take the car through the car wash. We had driven it for 7 days throughout the state and whilst we kept the interior clean, the same could not be said for the exterior. Nowhere did it say we had to clean it but I was quite embarrassed at the thought of ditching the car in its current state. So we went to the Coles servo and drove the car through the automated car wash (AUD 15). I had never done this before. We also paid for 3 mins of vacuuming time for $1.

Pot Sticker Dumpling House

For dinner, A wanted some Chinese food and found something that looked like it fit the bill online. We drove into the dead quiet CBD and parked on the street with no problems and for free. Ha, which other capital city allows you to do this? The restaurant was a really small place and we had to place our order using our phones but at least they did not charge us for this. We ordered:

Well, let's just say this would be good if you lived in Hobart and you had very little choice where you could go for Chinese. The Dumplings were teeeeny (looks big in the photo) and the lattice was crunchy but disappointing as there wasn't enough of it. The beans were more oily than anything else.

Honey Badger Dessert

For dessert also consulted Google which lead us to walk over to Salamanca Place, which we would visit later for its famous markets. The row of sandstone buildings looked nice. There were a good amount of restaurants and bars but did not look busy. I suppose it was a Wednesday night after all.

The menu seemed quite trendy and there were words I did not understand. Panookie? Croffle? I had to Google them like an old person.

We ordered a Berry Croffle (AUD 20), which was a cross between a waffle and a croissant. I liked both of those things so how bad could it be? It really was a cross between a croissant and waffle. The innards certainly looked soft with lots of layers, like a croissant. It wasn't bad but I don't think I would order this again. The ice cream and toppings were nice but I expected more of it for $20.

The hot chocolate was nice and welcome on this chilly night. #ipinions