Blogs from Cradle Mountain, Tasmania, Australia, Oceania - page 4

DAY 127 Scratch, Scratch, Scratch, we both sit up in bed hearing this sound and both exclaim “oh No, not those bl**dy Possums again”. I flicked the torch on as Andy jumped out of bed only to find a little pink snout lifting the tent flap and pressing up against the mosquito screen. Andy flicked it on the nose and it seemed to go away, however we could still hear the patter of feet and scratching in and around our house! Andy said its “3.00am, I am sick of this, why could they have not put a piece of Velcro all the way along the bottom of the flap? It would have saved us a few sleepless nights”. Andy got the two camping chairs and both were folded and laid across the back of the tent ... read more

Day 124 We woke up at our free campsite to another beautiful morning, it was warm and the sun was strong. I got up and went to make tea, I asked Caroline if she wanted her first cup and she asked me what time it was, 7.20 I said, “give me another ten minutes!!” I sat outside at our table, piping hot tea steaming in the morning air, checking e-mails and uploading the blog for Kangaroo’s in bullet proof vests. We have had an e-mail from Vicki and Norm who have been reading our blog and are in the throws of planning their trip for six weeks in Tasmania. We had also had an email from Roz the daughter of Lionel and Janet who we first met at Singapore airport and then at their lovely beach ... read more

We got up a little later today as we weren’t doing our own breakfast - well staying by a bakery what do you expect! Yummy croissants and coffee for breakfast! We left by 9am as didn’t want to get to Cradle Mountain too late. We stayed in the campsite next to the National Park ($30 a night - not too bad ) and the camp kitchen here was lovely, big open wood fires, a real mountain feel to it! Would be lovely in the winter with the snow outside! Cradle Mountain ( 1545m ) is inland southwest of Tasmania, it’s dominated by it’s glacial mountain landscape and is the Natural Symbol of the state. It’s a popular place with skiers too. We caught a shuttle bus down to Ronny Creak, they run every 10-15mins. We went ... read more

After 90-95 degree in the Whitsundays, we were in for a surprise when we landed in Tasmania. Wearing shorts, tanks, and flip-flops, we were met in Launceston by 60 degree temperatures! Launceston is in Northern Tasmania, about 3 hours north of Hobart (the biggest city). We arrived late to Tasmania, and after 5 nights on a boat, we were all excited to have a good night sleep in a stationary bed. Getting up bright and early the next morning, we set out on our drive west out to Cradle Mountain National Park. From what we saw, Tasmania is mostly countryside. We didn't make it down the eastern coast or to Hobart, but the north and west of Tasmania is full of beautiful expansive landscapes. From Launceston we drove west and stopped first in Sheffield. Sheffield is ... read more

We followed the winding, hilly road to Cradle Mountain, we got a rare break in the weather after we arrived and made a mad dash to Dove Lake car park for a view of the mountain, the weather in the National Park is so fickly it can be go from raining cats and dogs to sunny to windy to freezing cold with in half an hour. The sun was still shining even though it was freezing cold so we walked the 600mtrs around the edge of the lake to “The Boat Shed” , we were about half way there and the cloud came over in seconds and it began to rain ice balls so we made a mad dash toward the little timber shed on the edge of the lake. Sam and Dannielle climbed through a ... read more