Struck By Inspiration

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I know it has been a while since I last wrote, but this work thing gets in the way of travel and life just gets busy. But I am here now so here goes.

As a special wedding anniversary fast approaches we knew we wanted to to do something different, so I have been dreaming of long white sandy beaches, turquoise waters, palm trees, long days lolling in the sunshine drinking G&T with the condensation dripping down the side of the glass, sounds like my perfect type of bliss.

Well we are not going to get any of that. One night while Andy was out a friend of ours emailed me a video of wombats playing in the snow, and inspiration suddenly struck me, Tasmania, Cradle Mountain. Perfect. I posed the idea when Andy came home and suddenly we were in planning mode.

This morning we had an early start, Andy was out of bed at 4am and I followed shortly after, no really I did, I was wide awake, ok just awake, but the excitement was too much to keep me sleepy and in bed and yes Andy did bring me my cup of tea to ease me into the day. All we needed to do was to have a wash, get dressed zip the cases up, load the car and by 5am we were on our way to the airport.

A cool morning at 11 degrees, but knowing it would be colder where we were heading, our packing consists of thermals, fleeces, heavy winter coats and hiking boots. No sunscreen, bikini's, shorts or anything like that. The journey was easy, we parked and soon we were checked in and relaxing with a small skinny flat white.

We wanted to arrive early at the airport, so that we could relax, have a coffee and soak up our holiday environment. I mooched around the shops, much to Andy's fear, but I don't think I could have squeezed anything else into our luggage anyway, we were almost bursting at the seams.

We boarded on time at 7.55 for an 8.15 take off, first leg Melbourne. As soon as we were on board it was on with the entertainment to check out the movies for the flight. We both made our choice and just after the safety announcement we both disappeared into our own world of film.

Breakfast was served and went down well, despite having had muesli for breakfast, well that was 3.5 hours ago and I was hungry already, plus we did not know when we would next eat. Scrambled egg, bacon, sausage, yoghurt, pineapple muffin and 4 tic tacs, that would keep us going for a while.

We had a pretty smooth flight, and just as our films were finishing the pilot announced that it was almost time to prepare for landing, I looked out the window to see a huge blanket of white fluffy cloud, which soon dispersed, despite a smooth flight, we hit a couple of bumps going through the now patchy cloud whilst we were in a holding pattern, we landed earlier than the scheduled time.

All in good time we made our way off the plane, one of the cabin crew saw our coats and said you will need those! In the airport we mooched around, and waited the short 1.5 hours for our next flight to Launceston. This time we are on a much smaller turbo prop to whisk us over the Bass Straight to Tasmania.

Unlike our first flight, this one was mostly empty, we bumped our way back up into the sky the sight of Melbourne gave way to the Bass Straight and in a short time we could see Tasmania in the distance. We had just enough time for a small snack, a chat with the flight attendant who was very interested in the FitBit's that we were both wearing, I think we have convinced her to buy one.

We landed just before 5pm, grabbed our luggage and the hire car. This time we have hired an SUV, we wanted an all wheel drive because of our final destination on this trip, no 4 wheel driving for us but the ability to deal with weather conditions, they have been rather snowy where we are heading

Our stop for the night was at the Auldington Hotel in Launceston, a charming boutique hotel, an old Tasmanian building that has been beautifully converted, the rooms are modern, clean and very comfortable. More importantly there is not only a reverse cycle air conditioner, there is a fan heater and a spare blanket in the wardrobe, no danger of getting cold in this Tasmanian climate.

After a rest and a soak in the bath (something I don't do very often), we decided to go out and eat, choosing the Italian restaurant Calabrisella after a recommendation. Not much to look at on the outside but the food is freshly prepared and delicious! I would definitely recommend it.

It had been a long and tiring day, after dinner we stopped at Coles to pick up a few bits for the week and then headed back to the hotel. Our room was lovely and warm, we turned the tv on to look for a movie, we lay in bed talking and then we wondered some facts about Tasmania like, how big Tasmania is in comparison with England.

It transpires that Tasmania, the smallest state in Australia, is roughly 3/4 the size of England yet is bigger than half the countries in the world covering 90,758 square kilometres and has population of 500,000. England covers 130,395 square kilometres so in short, Tasmania is 70% the size of England yet England has a population of 53.01 million, 106 times larger than Tasmania.

We pondered that, but the length of our day was creeping up on us, and we couldn't comprehend the difference in population, it seems ridiculous that there are so many people in such a small country as England.

Despite the two hour time difference, we are ahead of W.A. and by 10pm lights were out, the TV was off and sleep was most welcome, it didn't take long to slip off.

Until tomorrow, goodnight



KJ

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Photos

Struck by Inspiration
A view out if the window of the turbo-Prop

Struck by Inspiration
The Qantas A330 out bound to Melbourne

Struck By Inspiration
View from our window aboard the aeroplane

Struck by Inspiration
2+2 inside the Dash 8 Turbo-prop

Struck By Inspiration
View from our window aboard the aeroplane

Struck By Inspiration
Tasmanian Number Plate

Struck By Inspiration
Our room at the Audlington in Launceston

Struck by Inspiration
The ground is a long way down

Struck by Inspiration
Caroline making the place looked lived in.

Comments

[Wendy Epps]

UK population is getting daft. Your figures put it in perspective. Don't worry about coming back, we can't fit you in :-)). Just back from Norway & that has the same appeal. SPACE!