From the mountains to the country side

Cradle mountain in the back

Lucky for us, the sky cleared up on out third day of this Tasmanian tour and we set off early to walk around Dove Lake at Cradle Mountain National Park. We had four hours at our disposal to either hike a nearby summit or just do an easy walk around the lake. In normal circumstances, I would have gladly done some ascending walk but as I was still feeling under the weather, I chose to go around the lake at my own pace. In other words, I stopped often and took many pictures. Here are some of them.

This was called Ballroom Forest

As I was coming back towards the starting point, I came across many more walkers and was quite delighted that we had had an early start making way for a peaceful walk. I had also assumed that I’d have another hour to wait at the bus for those who had taken the more challenging walk, but finally they had shortened it so I was the last one on.

Before we left the national park, we went to the ecotourism centre, and I read up on the local flora and fauna. I mostly enjoyed the ongoing photo exhibit, which had some really beautiful shots of the area. We also went up to the area where Gustav Weindorfer had settled with his wife. They fell in love with the area and had purchased some of the land to welcome visitors. Eventually, his dream came true and the area stretching from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair, became a scenic reserve and wildlife sanctuary in 1922.

The view from where Wendorfer settled

 Also, as we made our way North, our guide pointed out a post office tree. Located between Lorrina and Sheffield, it was known as the “Middlesex Post Office,” between 1912 and 1914. The Lorrina Postmaster would come there to deliver and pick up mail and apparently, for many years after, one would stop by the tree on their way into town to pick up letters to be sent. As a tribute to that era, they have recreated the tree at the local post office in Sheffield.

The original one

The one in Sheffield

Sheffield also has a thing for murals. Many of the town’s building exterior walls are adorned with artwork. Some of them are really cool, and well some a bit less so. Here is my favourite one.

As we made out way towards Devenport, we stopped at the Narrawtanpu nation reserve. I was mostly excited about coming up close and personal with my first wombats. I had seen some before, but only in the dark. They were minding their own business nibbling here and there. And if we got too close, they would run off as even though they sort of look like a kind of bulky bear like creature, they’re pretty fast! The park also had a bunch of kangaroos, so we also got pretty close to them. I was also quite excited as we finally had some sun and blue skies. Finally, a break from the tuque and the gloves! Clearly we were now in a different territory: i.e. farmland country. As we were driving, our guide also took us past his parents’ farm. And when we stopped at a local chocolate factory, he met up with them as well. I guess that as he lives in Hobart, he doesn’t get to see them very often. As for the chocolate, I had a delicious hot chocolate with chilli. It was quite filling that I didn’t really bother with dinner that night.

Wombat!

And to think that before April, I had yet seen any Kangaroos,
by now I had seen hundreds.

After dropping off the French members of our group who had now completed their tour, we headed to the local Adventure Tour home. This place was a two-storey home, and it felt as though we were visiting someone’s home while they weren’t there. That’s how homey it was! As the Swiss and German decided to play some drinking games, I chose once again to get some rest in the hope of regaining my voice more fully :).

St Columba Falls

The next morning, which was day four of our adventure, we headed off to Launceston to pick up the new members of our tour, 2 guys from Hong Kong and 3 from Korea, who had signed up just for the east coast part of it. After meeting our new friends, we headed for lunch at St Columba falls. But before that, we stopped in Legerwood where trees have been transformed in sculptures paying tribute to fallen soldiers from that town. The trees were originally planted in 1918 as tribute to the soldiers, and were transformed by a chain saw artist about 10 years ago when the trees were found to be no longer safe. The sculptures portray the soldiers in action, with their loved ones or doing whatever job they did before heading to war.

One of the tribute trees

After lunch, we stopped by a cheese factory. I had fun tasting the cheddars as we started with young cheeses and moved on to the older and more flavourful one. I bought some to bring back to my hosts in Melbourne as I knew they’d enjoy it. As we’d gotten there, we were following a bunch of cattle that were slowing the traffic down and had to avoid stepping in their dung as we stepped off the bus. Alas I forgot about it in my hurry to get way back on and did my best not to spread the fresh shit over the bus’ floor. Luckily it wasn’t too smelly and our last stop for the day was the sandy Bay of Fires. So such as a cat with a litter box, I managed to get the dung off my boot and we also used some sand on the floor to help pick it up.

The animal traffic

The bay itself was pretty cool. It was named Bay of Fires as Europeans observed the fires made by the Aboriginal. We had fun climbing over the reddish rocks, apparently the red is form lichen, and taking pictures. One of the Swiss boys even went for a swim!

That evening, our home was located in Bicheno. Our guide told us of Wauba Debar, an aboriginal who was stolen from her tribe as a teenager to be owned by a sealer. She saved both her husband and another sealer during her storm. And when she passed away, locals buried her as a hero. Bicheno is also a good spot to see Fairy Penguins. Even though I had seen a handful of them in Kangaroo Island, I as quite keen to join the intimate tour offered by a local company. Melissa & I, as well as a Korean couple, went on the tour at nightfall as the others prepared dinner. Unfortunately, a random couple walking on the beach chose to be offended when one of the guides asked them to leave the area. This, combined with the full moon that discourages the penguins with its brightness, made for not many penguins. However, amongst the ones we did see, some came quite close while others stayed on the rocks below seeming to be having quite the conversation. Our guides had many things to say about the penguins that should no longer be called Fairy penguins as it is deemed offensive by some. My favourite fact was that no penguin is black and white, but rather dark blue and white. Also, before I left for my trip last year, my aunt Molly told me to go see the penguins. I believe she had seen the ones at Phillip Island near Melbourne where it’s quite crowded. Even though this was in a different location, I felt this would be a good personal tribute to her memory as she passed away in December as that this recommendation had been part of our last conversation before I left.

The sunset that night