While a trip to Tasmania this Mother’s Day is off the cards, you can spoil mum with some gifts that are uniquely Tasmanian.
Tasmania Tourism has come up with a selection of Mother’s Day gifts inspired by or made in Tasmania, just in time for winter.
Rug up
Launceston-based Waverley Mills, keeping us warm since 1874, produces beautiful blankets, scarves, throws and rugs in wool, recycled-wool and wool-cotton, perfect year-round for home styling and essential in autumn and winter for toasty nights. A bold new contemporary range is designed by entrepreneurs Rina Bernabei and Kelly Freeman, of Australian design studio bernabeifreeman. While we can’t offer Mum a hug from Tasmania right now, this might be the next best thing.
All that is gold
For one month only in late autumn, the highlands light up in a brilliant spectacle of gold and amber, russet and red. This is the annual “turning of the fagus”, when Tasmania’s deciduous beech, aka Nothofagus gunnii, changes colour and then loses its leaves. The phenomenon has inspired Tassie-based Claudia Jewellers to create the Nothofagus Collection in vibrant yellow gold, coppery rose gold, and cool white gold.
Master the Art of Sparkling
Josef Chromy’s acclaimed Art of Sparkling Experience is being offered from the comfort of your lounge room in a special one off event on Friday 5th June. Mum can have the experience of being a winemaker for the evening, be taken behind the scenes of Josef Chromy winery and taught the Traditional Sparkling Method complete with tasting trials. To participate order an Art of Sparkling pack home delivered from anywhere in Australia. The pack includes two bottles of Josef Chromy NV Tasmanian Cuvee and Sparkling Rose, plus a ‘build your own wine’ style kit complete with your own bottle labels.
Salamanca Skin Care Co.
Since 2015, the entrepreneurs behind Salamanca Skincare Co. have run a stall at the local Salamanca Market on Saturdays, selling a range of artisanal skincare and gifts inspired by Tasmania’s natural beauty and scents. The range has evolved to include small-batch hand-poured soy wax candles, lavender heat packs in pure linen, bath soaks and fragrance diffusers. A little TLC, Tassie style.
Smitten Merino Poncho
Everyone loves a poncho. No such thing as the wrong size, and who needs sleeves anyway? The Smitten Merino Poncho is a superfine, lightweight, crease-proof companion that can be carried in a handbag, ready for any sudden turn in the weather. Perfect for lounging, brunching and dressing up. The warm hug of merino wool is a great substitute in a time of social distancing.
Bruny Island Cheese Company
Some of Tasmania’s stellar makers, growers and providores are filling hampers in time for Mother’s Day. Choose a produce pack from the likes of Bruny Island Cheese Company or, if your Mum has a bit of a crush on the Gourmet Farmer, order directly from Fat Pig Farm.
Clover Hill’s cellar door experience is now available online
Think of it as a greatest-hits album. Wine Tasmania has launched a one-stop wine shop online, making it easy to choose mixed packs of favourite labels for your Mum via the new website, directly from wine producers. A dozen top winemakers are featured in this month’s campaign. There are plenty of virtual Tassie tastings, too, including events by Clover Hill, Lark Distillery, Joseph Burton Wines and Vintage Tasmania.
The Tasmanian Gin Kit
We’ve found an intriguing isolation activity, and at the end you get to drink it! If your Mum loves a G&T, then this DIY gin kit delivers all the tools needed to turn a simple bottle of vodka (yes, vodka) into your own botanical-infused artisanal gin. The kit lovingly created by gin enthusiasts includes ingredients for two native botanical blends based on unique Tasmanian ingredients and used by award-winning Tasmanian distillers. In 24 hours you can become a distiller yourself. Not quite water into wine, but not far off. Hallelujah!
‘Wild’ Chef, Sarah Glover
Tap into the intel of island cooks and their unique knowledge of seasonal produce and Tassie deliciousness. Among our Mother’s Day cookbook picks: Wild Adventure Cookbook, by Tasmanian wild child and chef Sarah Glover, explores alternative cooking techniques over open fires in simple, nutritious dishes. And Rodney Dunn, co-founder of the acclaimed Agrarian Kitchen in the Derwent Valley, has a selection of cookbooks exploring paddock-to-plate goodness in words and images.
Smell Tasmanian
If you can’t be in Tasmania, you can at least smell like you are. Infused with native botanicals, Koskela candles evoke Tassie’s wild places, with notes of rugged mountain, temperate rainforest and coastal heath.
Crowd-funded Cooking Secrets
Neighbourhood Creative are developing a crowd-funded selection of books that capture the best recipes from Hobart’s culinary scene for an easy $20, with profits shared by the project’s designers, editors, photographers, illustrators and writers to keep creativity alive in the southern capital. Straight out of the oven, Hobart’s master baker Pigeon Whole Bakers has mixed and kneaded a cookbook of bread and pastry essentials, a mini masterclass for all baking hopefuls. Sonny wine bar will be sharing their craft of handmade pastas, simple seasonal snacks and wine pairings. Hobart’s favourite corner-perched gastro-pub Tom McHugos have selected carefully curated seasonal recipes.
Piece together a puzzle
Pass the time with a thousand piece puzzle of Dove Lake avaliable through WildBonde. Be able to experience the scenic beauty of Cradle Moutain for hours, days or maybe months.
