No. 3 Tinkle: The Pavilion at Moorilla Estate Tasmania
When MTM and I got married, we had our priorities in order. 1. Elope and avoid the ginormous price tag of a formal ‘do. 2. Spend a ginormous pile of money on the honeymoon trip.
We read every guide we could get our hands on to plan our jaunt Down Under, consuming so much have-to-see information that we put together an itinerary that resembled the following Circuit of Stupidity juxtaposed onto United States geography:
- Fly to Washington, DC. See as much as possible in three days.
- Fly from DC to Boston. Get on a boat and ride to Nantucket. Spend three days.
- Fly from Boston to Chicago. Spend one day.
- Float down the Mississippi River in a steamboat all the way to New Orleans. Two days. (I know it would take more in real life.)
- Spend two days in New Orleans. Decide to see much of South Louisiana as part of those two days.
- Rent a car and drive along the Gulf Coast to Jacksonville, Florida. Two days, which includes stopping to hike both days.
- Fly from Jacksonville to Cuba for three illegal days.
- Fly from Cuba to DC and head for home.
By the time MTM and I landed in Hobart, Tasmania (Cuba in the above scenario), we were questioning our sanity. Why on earth did we think we could see half of an entire continent in a little over two weeks’ time? Our car labored to carry our weary bodies to Moorilla Estate, the final stop in our “See Australia or Bust” tour.
When we walked over the ridge to our Pavilion, the Derwent River carved a wet gash in front of towering mountains. What they called a cottage was bigger than our house, a two-bedroom wonderland with a working kitchen and a fully stocked wine cellar. The master suite occupied the lower floor of the place, and I traipsed past the inviting bed to use the toilet.
And stopped. Open-mouthed.
The bathroom had the same sweeping river view, with a languorous soaking tub built into a solid sheet of window glass. The heated floor was warm luxury to the pads of my bare feet. Two sinks occupied the back of the space, crowned with a wall of mirror that reflected the view while I brushed my teeth.
The toilet was angled along one wall, its placement ideal for studying the flora and fauna or watching the moonlight reflected in the rippling river at night.
I might still be in that bathroom today if only I could’ve convinced MTM to stay.
This post is part of the series My Top 10 Tinkles. If this is your first visit to this urinary extravaganza, please click here to start the series at the beginning. Thank you for reading my blog, for sharing it, and for spending time here.
Now, that sounds nice.
It was to die for, Ted. I can never afford to go back. When we were there, they had four pavilions that went for $125 per night. Now, they are hundreds per night, and they’ve added more of them. It was an enchanted place.
Now that’s a bathroom.
How am I going to top this one with numbers two and one?
Thanks for coming to my big swearing in this morning.
From your description of the bathroom I probably would have wanted to stay too.
I have fantasies about that bathroom, eight years later.
I like it. I feel like going to the bathroom right now. Ahh!
You sound like Ruprecht, Howard.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhr7dx_dinner-with-ruprecht_shortfilms
Wow. Can I be your valet when you travel?
Ha. I don’t take enough luggage. I carried on for our honeymoon. In all our photos, I am wearing the same three outfits.
This place sounds so wonderful I’d want to pitch a tent, but I’d be afraid to ruin the scenery. Your description is absolutely wonderful. I want to live in that bathroom.
I don’t have a picture of the bathroom, but I will never, ever forget it, Lori.
How’s your pink hair? Did you post a picture?
Yes, I posted a picture and it isn’t so much Pink as it is uh, well, let’s just say I said an expletive when she took the towel off. I’ll post a picture again today since it’s a lot calmer. You cannot believe my sweat induced pinkness yesterday – the dye came off the hair when I was working out and both sides of my face, my ears, my neck and the front and back of my shirt were pink. How embarrassing! I did get one compliment from a gorgeous young man (who was in GREAT shape) as I was going in to workout, he was coming out and said, “I love your hair.” (Keep in mind my hair must have been glowing for him to see me from inside the building!)
I don’t understand why people who know me were in the least bit shocked, I mean, I do this all the time. Hair is the only thing that’s changable. 
I love it, Lori.
Sounds nice. ISUA rating *****
MTM and I went to sleep laughing about your ISUA rating system last night, Bill. Thank you for that.
I wanna go to Cuba. Sorry, got distracted… squirrel!!
I’ve been reading Ross Kressel’s blog about his semester in Cuba. Here’s a link:
http://rosskressel.com/wordpress/
I have been following that one. Must have gotten the link from you. Love the cars in the most recent post.
That sounds gorgeous! And only number three – I cannot imagine the wonders that await.
You’ve heard me carry on about both of them plenty of times.
Now that’s where I want to pee next! Lord, you had the right idea to ditch the fancy wedding–do an amazing trip, instead!
Hugs,
Kathy
I’ll never regret it. I didn’t miss a thing.
You have had some amazing travels, Andra. This must have been an incredible trip, although you’re right, a lot to see in a shorter timeframe. Still, I’m sure you got as much out of it as you could. And that included appreciation for a marvelous loo! A toilet with a view! Now that’s a good one!
D
We want to go back for our 10th anniversary. 2014. I hope we can save enough pennies by then to do it.
Love the sound of that. You were gluttons for travel punishment though, weren’t you?
Yep. We tried one more trip like that one (Argentina) and got caught in an airline strike and said “Screw it.” We’ve never overbooked ourselves like that again.
Wow, how bad was the airline strike? How long were you sidelined there?
First of all, my advice for anyone traveling to Argentina is DO NOT, under any circumstances, fly Aerolineas Argentinas. DO. NOT.
We booked three different in country legs with them. Ended up stranded at the first stop, Mendoza, for 8 days and couldn’t get out. Bought a ticket on LAN to get back to Buenos Aires in time for our flight back home. Never got our money back from AA. Luckily, I bought all those tickets through Amex, and they refunded the money to me.
Eight Days!!?? That’s like a whole trip’s time. I’ve never been that way. Only to Europe. Glad Amex took care of you.
It is a great (and very affordable) place to go for Americans these days. I accidentally ended up down there again last summer.