Tasmanian tourism leader spreads his wings to Victoria

Rob Pennicott, one of Tasmania's leading tourism entrepreneurs, will use "boats like the world has never seen" in his first eco-tourism project outside the Apple Isle.

Three amphibious, rigid inflatable boats with retractable wheels at the bow and stern are being built in Western Australia for his venture into Victoria's Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park.

The vessels will cost Pennicott Wilderness Tours $850,000 each.

“I’ve got the lead on the world on these boats," Pennicott told the Hobart Mercury newspaper. "There will be a lot of interest from the boating fraternity, but they are under wraps until sea trials in January.”

The Brand Tasmania Council member has built up an impressive, multimillion-dollar business running high-speed journeys out of Bruny Island, the Tasman Peninsula and Hobart. 

The tours have opened up southern Tasmania’s spectacular coastal scenery to hundreds of thousands of tourists. 

“I like to think of our new venture off Wilsons Promontory as a Tasmanian export," Pennicott said.

"I’m a Tassie boy, and it has taken 10 years in the making to get to this point. I’m very excited about it. I’m over the moon to be given this opportunity."

The Victorian Government has approved the venture which will employ 30 people and inject $10 million a year into the local economy when it begins operations in October 2018.

The design for the new amphibious craft was selected because it will minimise environmental impacts.

The boat's footprints will mainly consist of wheel tracks on beaches, which will only last until the next high tide.

The vessels will be 11.5m long, weigh 10 tonnes fully laden and be powered by twin 350hp Yamaha outboard engines.

They will cruise at around 25 knots and — except for their wheels — are similar to existing Pennicott Wilderness Journeys craft, but more open, with only a small canopy at the stern.

Each boat will carry two crew and up to 20 passengers. The boats will run three-hour tours from a beach at Tidal River into Norman Bay, out to the Anser Group of islands, Kanowna Island, circumnavigate Skull Rock and head back via the Glennie Group and Norman Island.

Major export award for small family winery

Small South Australian winery Wines by Geoff Hardy has been named Australian Exporter of the Year at the Optus My Business Awards for 2017. 

The event is the longest-standing business awards program in Australia, and identifies and acknowledges the achievements of Australia’s best companies.

Wines by Geoff Hardy is a family-owned and -operated wine business and took out the award against other well-known Australian companies, including Australian success story aussieBum.

K1 by Geoff Hardy cellar door

“This is a remarkable achievement by our company and we are of course very honoured to be included in such great company,” CEO Richard Dolan said.

“We have a small and very dedicated team, which have all been essential to the continued growth we’ve had in our export markets.”

Wines by Geoff Hardy has seen huge developments in its overseas markets over the past few years, recording double-digit export growth each year for six consecutive years.

Between 2011 and 2016, the company’s export sales grew by a massive 885%. 

“While sales to China have played a major role in that growth, we have also opened new markets in India, Finland, Sweden, UK, Hong Kong and Canada with further markets opening soon in Peru, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan,” Dolan said.

“We still have plenty of scope for further growth in the UK and mainland Europe, as well as North America, where we have little to no representation. We are actively looking for new partners in these more traditional markets, together with other new and emerging markets in Asia.

“In addition to our success, the nomination of fellow South Australian family wine business, Patritti, in the same award category is great news for the broader industry - wine is one of our state’s largest exports and this shows that there’s still plenty of opportunities to grow out there.”

Wines by Geoff Hardy is made up of three South Australian wineries run by Geoff Hardy - Pertaringa in McLaren Vale, K1 by Geoff Hardy in the Adelaide Hills and Hand Crafted by Geoff Hardy. 

The company produces around 1.2m bottles of wine per year, with fruit sourced from a variety of premium regions across South Australia. 

Now you really can enjoy Breakfast at Tiffany's

Well over half a century after Audrey Hepburn starred in Breakfast at Tiffany's, which I'm reliably told is one of the most romantic movies ever made, the famous New York jewellery store has opened a café where movie lovers can enjoy a morning tea.

The new eatery, which opened over the weekend, offers an opportunity for customers at Tiffany & Co’s Fifth Avenue flagship store, including foreign tourists who account for a big chunk of sales, to get a taste of the glamorous lifestyle enjoyed by Hepburn’s Holly Golightly character.

Tiffany has struggled to appeal to younger shoppers, many of whom have shunned the type of traditional jewellery, such as solitaire engagement rings, that is the brand’s mainstay, Reuters reported.

The new Blue Box Café on the fourth floor of the Fifth Avenue store is "designed for customers who have always dreamed of having Breakfast at Tiffany,” the company said in a statement.

The eatery, decorated in Tiffany’s signature robin-egg blue motif, offers breakfast at $US29, excluding tax and tip.The menu is based on “American classics made with the highest quality, regionally sourced ingredients.”

And for later sleepers, the café also offers a $US39 pre-fixe lunch and $US49 high tea.

The fourth floor also houses Tiffany’s new luxury Home & Accessories collection.

“Both the café and redesign of the Home & Accessories floor reflect a modern luxury experience,” said Reed Krakoff, the chief artistic officer of Tiffany & Co.

"The space is experimental and experiential – a window into the new Tiffany.”

Founded in New York in 1837, Tiffany & Co. bills itself as the world’s premier jeweller and America’s house of design.

Meet a new travel gadget that is truly useful

I'm in love. 

I'm a huge fan of travel gadgets - particularly anything that can make life on the road easier. 

This one doesn't just work, it can change your life if you are heading into the wilderness, onto a small boat or anywhere it might be hard to find a power outlet. 

I've tried power banks before, of course. They might charge your iPhone once or twice before closing down. 

Meet the Cygnett USB-C ChargeUp Pro 20,000mah Power Bank, which can charge an iPhone up to 10 times and comes with three USB ports so you can charge multiple devices at once.

Compatible with all the latest devices, Cygnett USB-C Power Bank will provide higher (and fast) levels of power to HP Spectre x360, Dell XPS, Lenovo Yoga, MacBook Pro, Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy S8 and Nintendo Switch. 

It's a clever little bugger that automatically detects the device it has been plugged into and delivers the exact amount of power required - and is up to 75% faster than similar devices. 

The makers claim it will perform 10 smartphone charges, two tablet charges or a complete laptop charge before it needs recharging. It comes in black, or fashionable teal and looks and feels good. 

So that's the good news. You can probably travel overseas for a week with this baby without ever needing to look for a power point. 

What's the bad news? Well, it costs $169.95 for a start, making it little more expensive than those $20 power banks from K Mart or Shiploads. 

It's also bigger and heavier, perhaps the size of a small paperback, and of a similar weight. 

That said, it charges my iPhone in under an hour and I'm not going far from home without it ever again. 

www.cygnett.com/products/20-000mah-usb-c-power-bank-in-black 

PS: Cygnett. You are not getting your test sample back. 

Tasmania's sparkling wine festival spreads its bubbles

Effervescence Tasmania is the sparkling wine festival that keeps on growing. 

In addition to four days of festivities in and around Launceston next weekend, Effervescence is expanding its boundaries to include Hobart for the first time. 

Effervescence will kick off on Wednesday with a luxury cocktail event and degustation dinner at the new Atmosphere @ Frogmore Creek (below) on the Hobart waterfront.

It’s the first time a major Effervescence event has been held in the south of the state and event organisers are delighted that the event has grown enough to support a statewide presence.

Effervescence organiser and Josef Chromy winemaker Jeremy Dineen said: “While Effervescence is firmly anchored in the north of the state, where the majority of the sparkling wine grapes are grown, several of our key sparkling winemakers are based in and around Hobart so it is fitting to bring a small part of the festival to them. 

"The launch cocktail party and the Effervescence @ Atmosphere dinner will provide a small sample of what will be on offer for the rest of the festival in Launceston and the Tamar Valley over the weekend.” 

The official launch will be followed by a five-course degustation dinner, where the Effervescence team intends to prove that sparkling wine can be appropriate for every course.

Chef Reuben Koopman said: "The opportunity to bring a slice of Effervescence to the south and to create a sparkling-focused experience in Atmosphere was an exciting prospect." 

Effervescence Tasmania runs from November 16-19 celebrating the New World’s best sparkling wines across a long weekend of luxury and indulgence with special guest and sparkling wine/Champagne expert Tyson Stelzer. 

For full details see www.effervescencetasmania.com

Is your mixer premium enough for your craft gin?

At a time when spirits lovers are spending up to $20 a shot for premium artisan vodkas, are you paying enough attention to the mixers accompanying your craft spirits?

StrangeLove, a Victorian-based soft drink company, has just released a range of super-premium tonic waters.

The mixers have been developed in a way that has as much in common with spirit distilling than soft drinks, with some variants containing up to seven different botanicals.

And the premium mixers are catching on quickly with on-trend eateries such as Attica, Quay, Vue De Monde, Longrain, Town Mouse, Embla, Billy Kwong, Automata and Bacash joining the ranks of stockists.

“People are paying upwards of $20 for a shot of gin, so to even contemplate using post-mix on a spirit like that should be grounds for a hefty fine, public shaming or possibly a lifetime ban from the hospitality industry,” jokes StrangeLove co-founder James Bruce. 

“Seriously, there are some truly amazing, inspiring gins coming out of Australia, it’s about time there was a locally produced tonic water that did them justice.”

StrangeLove mixers are currently available in five variants -Tonic No. 8 (an Indian tonic water that went very well with my Dasher + Fisher Tasmanian gin), Light Tonic (which at 2.9g sugar/100ml contains the lowest sugar of any all-natural tonic water on the market), Dirty Tonic (a bespoke, cloudy tonic that contains wild cinchona bark), Bitter Lemon Tonic (a citrus tonic that pairs impressively with my Grey Goose) and Dry Ginger (a super-dry ginger ale with Sichuan pepper and two varieties of ginger).

Stafford Fox, StrangeLove’s national sales manager, says there has been global interest in StrangeLove, which retails in four packs at retailers including Dan Murphy’s for $9.99. 

 “I think export will be huge for us," he says. "These mixers represent a huge step up in quality for mixers in general. To be honest I am just looking forward to going somewhere that is not Albury-Wodonga on my next business trip.”

Full details online at www.strangelove.com.au