Sometimes on a Sunday morning in the warmer months we like to head to a beach. You have to make the most of it while the weather is remotely warm and the water temps aren’t so arctic. On a Sunday recently, we decided to head toward Carlton Beach, not knowing we were about to spend a whole day exploring.

First stop…coffee. Dodges Ferry locals are now spoilt for choice with the opening of Beach Bums, the new offering from the crew who started Lost Freight. Next door is Park Cafe. How lucky are these folk! After a coffee we head to Carlton Beach for a walk. It’s overcast and blustery, with a few hardy swimmers in the water sans-wetsuit. It’s hard to miss three big paragliders chasing the wind – and we enjoy a chat with them on the beach (yes the parachutes are expensive, no they don’t run into each other and get tangled, yes they’re quite experienced). More wandering and we find ourselves on the river surrounded by not thousands, but hundreds of thousands of small crabs. We carefully creep along the river watching them scurry away and burrow into their sandy homes.

Enjoying our impromptu road trip, rather than head home, we push on to Dunalley, past the beautifully deserted beach at Connellys Marsh. We hit Dunalley just as the bridge is being opened – we stop to watch the middle piece of the road of the bridge twist on its axis to let a sailing boat through.

Having seen an oyster farm in the distance on our way into town, we follow the signs to Blue Lagoon Oysters to pick up a dozen or two. There are two types of freshly shucked oysters to choose from – the Pacific oyster (fresh, salty, younger) or Tassie Gold Pacific (slower growing, rich and creamy). This is also where you can pick up a native Tasmanian oyster, the Angasi, which is only available in cooler months, from May until September. We chose the Tassie Gold, and a side of lemon and a vinaigrette and head off to find a bayside spot to enjoy them. One of our kids is totally into oysters, the other thinks they’re gross – so three of the four of us enjoy them. To me this is the definition of luxury – incredibly fresh oysters enjoyed overlooking a beautiful part of Boomer Bay.

Marion Bay was our next stop, to take a little breather on the beach and reminisce about Falls Festival and how much fun we’ve had there in the past (can someone please resurrect a party on this site?). We even saw a sneaky echidna who, right­fully, ran to the safety of a nearby bush and pretended to be a rock.

The final stop for the loop is Bream Creek Vineyard. Back in August they opened their brand new cellar door, a beautiful space with epic views down to the vines and Marion Bay in the distance. We took a seat in green hued, timber and terracotta space and enjoyed a wine tasting ($20pp, which is waived if you buy two bottles at the end), with a delicious meat platter ($28) with salami, porchetta, terrine, sloe paste, local mustard and pickles, with a side of bread and oil ($10) to pick at. We did want to finish with a piece of Basque cheesecake ($10), as who can resist that, but they were all out. The wine tasting covered about 6-7 of the core Bream Creek range, driven by viticulturist Fred Peacock, and then also a few additions that the cellar door manager had open – a sparkling Rose, a late harvest sweetie, a Pinot Gris. In the moment, we also opted for an additional tasting of their 2017 Allenby Pinot Noir, which retails for $185 a bottle – a bargain at $10 for a generous taste. While this deliciousness was happening, the kids were happily entertaining themselves in a fenced outdoor area (would we call it a pen?), enjoying the quoits.

The perfect end to our impromptu day out, which will now become our new “Visitors Loop”, the itinerary you wheel out for visiting friends and family