pepper bush adventures - day tours

Pepper Bush Adventures.Day 15 of our trip “down under” on the Quoll Patrol full day tour led by Craig, who picked my wife and I up from “Peppers Seaport” hotel, Launceston in his Nissan Patrol 4wd.One of the highlights of the day (and it was high, around 1500mtrs ?) was our ascent of Jacobs ladder, a sharply winding and precipitous road in the Ben Lomond national park, north eastern Tasmania.Being driven by someone with many years experience we did not feel we were taking much of a risk even though the view from the platform which gave us an eagle’s eye view may have contradicted that opinion. After some refreshment and lots of photographs we began the descent and continued the drive over Roses Tier and down through the stunning Tombstone Creek Forest Reserve to our next stop, his exclusive private land and home to the Quoll Patrol.Here we indulged in his well advertised campfire bush tucker dinner with Tassie wines & beers, which more than lived up to its reputation. As dusk neared anticipation heightened and soon a rustling under the building announced the arrival of the first visitor…the eastern Quoll, a beautiful animal about the size of a small domestic cat, and as darkness fell Craig produced a large spotlight which illuminated the comings and goings of quite a number of animals.Species seen including Quolls were:- Brush-tailed Possums, Wombats, Pademelons, Bennett’s wallabies, and, representing the birds, Welcome Swallows, Tawny frogmouth and Pallid Cuckoos.Unfortunately all good things must end and after a wonderful day Craig dropped us off at our hotel, two tired but very happy wildlife junkies.Thank you Craig for the memorable experiences and the care and attention you so obviously put into organising it.

I did two days! Craig and Janine Williams are superior home-gorwn Tassies with heart and a vast knowledge of the trees, birds, animals, sights, wines, and scenic hikes. It's a joy being in Craig's presence. As we drove he constantly pointed out trees, explained the history of the landscape, the culture, as well as sighted animals and stopped so we could photograph them. Because of Craig, we saw and enjoyed and photographed many animals in the wild: platypus (which is very rare to see in its natural habitat), quolls, wallabys, and wombats. Wonderful. Craig in an informative entertainment center by himself. If you're into birds, he'll help you find them. Want to fish? He'll show you where you can catch them. Want to see Tasmanian Devils and pet kangaroos and hold a wombat, he'll take you to a sanctuary. Want to explore wine country? He'll take you. These are full and intimate tours (I did it with my brother). AT the end of the day, Craig took us out to his cabin in the wilderness and cooked us a meal (Wallaby burgers! Tasmania Salmon and local wines and some beer and salads. All Tassie food. I can't say enough about Craig and Janine. If you want to learn the most you can about the beauty of Tassie, enjoy the animals, and learn about the people and this wonderful place, THIS IS WHERE YOU GO! When I was done, I hope we left as friends. This is a journey not a tour. And this trip has fun and soul. You will get everything you want and more! You want to see Tassie, these are the people. You also get put up at the Beulah B&B in Scottsdale which is excellent with full breakfasts of homemade jams and great Tassie home cooking by wonderful and engaging owners. Have fun!!!! Do it!

Craig has loved the Bush since he was a small boy, and he has an extraordinary knowledge and insight into its flora and fauna. Our adventure with him was among the most exciting times of our trip to Australia, and should not be missed by anyone with an interest in the wildlife of Tasmania. He took us, via diversions into leech-infested woods and the magnificent heights of Ben Lomond, to his cabin in the middle of a wood miles from any other habitation. This building is an ongoing project, and it would be well worth staying overnight. There he cooked a magnificent meal using local ingredients, accompanied by as much wine as we cared to drink. All this occupied several hours, but the real excitement started once the sun set and from underneath the cabin the quolls came out to play, the possums ran up and down the trees, and the wombats shuffled whilst the wallabies bounded across the meadow. It was an amazing experience. On the drive back to Launceston we discovered why there is so much roadkill in this part of Tasmania. At 11pm we were the only traffic, yet every few yards some new animal made a suicidal dash in front of the 4x4. A unique experience.

Our experience with pepper Bush Adventures was top notch. Our guide, Craig, spent three days hi us, showing us all around the northeast area of Tasmania. Craig really knows the wildlife, their habits, habitats, and behavior. He was adept at finding the shyest of critters and even cooked a wonderful dinner at his own cabin in the bush one evening. After dinner he hooked up powerful batteries and we spotlighted animals as they came out for the evening. Even better, he managed to find duck billed platypus, a very shy creature that, though not uncommon in Tasmania, is very hard to find and get an port unity to photograph. We have great memoirs and photos of Tasmania thanks to Craig and pepper Bush.

We did the full day Quoll Patrol with Craig and it's a memorable experience. We are very experienced wildlife travellers, and this ranked right up there with the best wildlife guiding experiences in the world. He can cook a bit too...I wasn't sure about the beginning of the day, which started with the Tasmanian Devil sanctuary, not really my thing. But once Craig got into his own patch in Scottsdale and Ben Lomond, his was great. Very sensitive to the environment and its many interesting features, good on the small details as well as the main attractions. Once we got close to his cabin he left us to walk in the bush while he got the dinner going. There followed about six courses of lovely stuff as it slowly got darker, more wildlife cam out, and Craig got on to his Tasmanian Tiger stories. As a way of getting to really remote Tasmania, this has much to recommend it, and Craig was a great guy to spend time with as well as being a very expert wildlife guide. Worth the money (it's not cheap).

We did a two day with Craig which included visiting Ben Lomond, Tombstone Creek Forest Reserve, Mount William National Park, Bay of Fires beach and the Tamar Valley. We saw a wealth of wildlife including quolls, possums, kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons, wombats, platypuses, birds of prey and blue tongued lizards. Unfortunately echidnas proved somewhat elusive but we saw them later on during our trip. The highlight of the tour was definitely the sumptuous bush tucker dinner cooked in the open. A huge amount and variety of Tasmanian food and wine, deliciously cooked and washed down with local wines whilst watching the quolls, possums and wombats scampering about. A fabulous experience.