Advertisement
Published: December 8th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Cup Day in Deloraine
Two wonderful ladies all dressed up for Cup Day We left the peacocks and the chickens, the possums and the hand-fed wallabies of Bicheno and began our drive towards Cradle Mountain, in the western part of Tasmania, stopping along the way in Deloraine. It was Tuesday, November 6, Cup Day in Melbourne and in the small town of Deloraine, the Deloraine Hotel was doing brisk business as people in their racing attire (ie, women with fabulous hats) arrived to watch the race on the telly. We found a quieter hotel, up the road from the downtown area to have our lunch. Entering, it looked for all the world like that kind of place that should be serving beef pie or fish and chips; it turned out to be a Thai restaurant with curries and noodles instead.
From Deloraine, we continued west heading for the small town of Moina. On the way we passed a rather majestic Mount Roland, its steep sides rising above farm fields and pastures of cows and sheep. Moina turned out to be a couple of houses and a closed gas station; from the town, we followed signs to the lodge where we would be staying, turning off onto a small dirt road leading up the
Sheep!
The Tasmanian country side was filled with sheep, and cows. Oh, and deadly snakes. 10 varieties, but I don't have any pictures of those. mountain…twisting, turning, twisting, turning…then BANG.
And there we were, on a dirt mountain road, somewhere between Moina and the lodge, with a flat tire. In front of a waterfall.
While Scott and our friend Brian worked on changing the tire, I snapped photos.
With the spare tire in place, we continued our journey, creeping slowly up the mountain, acutely aware of any noise (we later discovered that a large screw had not only pierced the tire, but irreparably damaged the side of the tire as well – we’d have to buy a new tire before we could continue our trip). We finally arrived at Lemonthyme Lodge – the largest “real log cabin in the Southern hemisphere.” The lodge itself was a large, two story building. The main floor held meeting rooms, a reception area and gift shop, and the dining room and kitchen. The second floor had a tv room and guest rooms.
The lodge and cabins surrounding it (where we stayed) were in the middle of a temperate rain forest: tall, silver-blue-green eucalyptus trees, man ferns, currawongs, and pedamelons. We were only in our cabin for a few minutes when a black currawong flew up
and landed on the balcony to inspect us. We named him Edgar, after Edgar Allen Poe. He was quite tame – tame enough that the next day he walked right into our cabin through the open door! Pedamelons are small – very small – kangaroos. They live in forests, and basically look a bit like a cross between a wallaby and a rat, and came out at twilight when the staff fed them kitchen scraps.
The flat tire on the rental care was a bit of a drag – it did mean that we weren’t able to drive to Cradle Mountain, and it meant that our friend Brian had to deal with tire details instead of enjoying the scenery. However – any disappointment was short lived as we headed out to hike to the various waterfalls in the area. The first one, a morning hike, took us to Bridal Veil Falls, and in the afternoon, all three of hiked up to No Name Falls. This was Wednesday, November 7
th – Election Day in the US where it was still Tuesday, November 6
th. About an hour into our hike, Brian got a text message on his iPhone: “Obama Obama Obama!”
it read. Opening up his CNN app, we discovered that Ohio had just been called (well, called by all except Karl Rove). And that, my friends, is how we learned who won the US elections, in the middle of a Tasmanian rain forest.
That evening we celebrated back at the lodge with a wonderful British couple, David and Tricia, who we had met the day before, lifting a glass to toast the newly re-elected president.
The next day we left Lemonthyme Lodge and drove the car (slowly) to Sheffield where a new tire awaited us, and waited for the car to be fixed at the local coffee and fudge shop (owned, as it turned out, by an American). Once the new tire was on, we began our final drive through Tasmania – driving on dirt roads that were marked as primary highways on the map, following the Great Lake south(which was amusing as Scott and I were both wearing Lake Michigan t-shirts), then through the Midlands while the entire time the sky put on a dramatic show.
Our last two days in Tasmania were spent back in Hobart, where we stayed across the bay at a bed
and breakfast called The Homestead, an old stone farmhouse and out buildings that were also home to a couple of peacocks, a herd of alpaca, geese, roosters, and ducks. Our last full day we spent at MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. It is the largest privately funded museum in Australia, presenting antiquities, modern and contemporary art from the collection of millionaire David Walsh.
The museum itself is located three stories underground, with the quarried rock providing the inside walls of the museum. None of the artwork is tagged – instead, each visitor is given an iPod with GPS. As you approach a piece of art, the piece shows up on the iPod screen, with audio interviews and/or commentary as well. We ended up spending five hours here – it was honestly the most interesting museum that I have ever been in.
That night, we took our friend Brian out to North Hobart to celebrate his birthday. We ended up at a Turkish restaurant (have a I mentioned the best Turkish Delight I’ve ever had was in Tasmania?) where we ate our last dinner together, and the next day we got up early, returned the rental
car to the airport, and flew back to Melbourne, where we said good bye to Brian, and continued our journey back to the US, flying first to Sydney, changing planes, and flying then to Dallas (the longest flight in the world, literally) then on to DC. We left Hobart on Saturday morning, and 26 hours later, arrived on…Saturday night. Back to DC, back to cold weather, back to dogs, a sick cat, and work, with memories of petting kangaroos and nose kisses with a koala and drinks in St. Kilda and hiking Tasmania and - best of all - memories of time with a dear friend, to keep us warm all winter.
And now, the biggest decision ahead of us: Lebanon or India next fall?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 45; dbt: 0.045s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb