Home Again

Not much more to say. Sam and I spent Saturday, our last full day, just hanging out around the house. Took a mid afternoon trip out to get the car washed and to fill up the gas tank.

Stopped briefly at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, but it was only a brief visit since we got there just 20 minutes before closing time.

Long trip home on Sunday. Uneventful, although we did miss our connection from LAX to Seattle and had to fly standby on a flight 45 minutes later.

Great to be home -- but what a great trip!

Cradle Mountain

Sam and I spent one night at Cradle Mountain Lodge, the same place that Cooper, Sam and I stayed five years ago.

Marion's Lookout is the hill on the right.
Cradle Mountain is the double-peaked mountain
in the background on the left.

We drove there on Thursday, arriving late in the day, then got up early and checked out. We wanted to get an early start so we could have as much time hiking as possible. We rode the shuttle bus into Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, to the parking lot at Dove Lake. We briefly considered a hike to the summit of Cradle Mountain, but its description as a difficult, full-day hike scared us off a bit, so we decided on a hike to Marion's Lookout instead. It was billed as being moderately difficult, about a half day trip, with good views from the top.

The views were indeed great. The last bit of the hike involved a bit of a steep scramble, but overall wasn't too difficult.

At Marion's Lookout.

From the viewpoint, a trail headed off across the plateau in the general direction of Cradle Mountain. We still felt good, so decided to at least walk a bit of the trail since it was pretty flat. At the base of Cradle Mountain, the trail started up but not too steeply. We figured we could go partway up at least, where it seemed like we could get some good views. But partway up, the summit seemed so close we figured we might as well go for it.

If we had known we were still an hour and a half away, and that it involved climbing rocks up through a boulder field, we might not have done it. Well, I might not have done it at least.

Hiking across the flats towards Cradle Mountain

So in the end, we hiked/climbed to the top of Cradle Mountain anyway. And tired as I was, I'm so glad we did! This was probably the highlight of the whole Tasmanian trip. Spectacular views off across a seemingly endless series of mountains.

The hike down was perhaps even more difficult, and we were pretty tired and sore by the time we made it down. After that, a drive back to Launceston and home, rather than spending another night on the road.

Alpine vegetation.

Lots of rocks to climb over on the way to the summit. Can you find Sam?

Finally -- resting at the summit.

View from the summit.

Trowunna Wildlife Park

Left Thursday for a whirlwind tour of Cradle Mountain. Drive there via Mole Creek, passing the Mole Creek Holiday Village where I stayed on my own trip to Mole Creek a few weeks back. 

A little devil. Yes, they are cute.

Remember the giant mole (aka Tasmanian Devil)? That was at the Trowunna Wildlife Park. Although I skipped it on my earlier trip, Sam and I stopped at on our way to Cradle Mountain.

Feeding time. Tonight we are serving haunch of wombat.

Great place! They are kind of a combination wildlife rescue / research facility. They specialize in Tasmanian Devils which they raise in captivity. They are now into their 11th generation of devils going back some 30 years. Although they have had a few cases of the virus which is devastating the Tasmanian Devil population in the wild, they have managed to work through that and have a population that is healthy and uninfected.

Wombat Sam. (It pooped on him right after this picture was taken.)

They also rescue wombats, mainly the babies of mothers who have been hit and killed on the highways. The babies initially have a high level of human contact (they need that nurturing that they would otherwise get from their mothers), but gradually get moved into areas with no human contact and then are released into the wild.

Koalas too, but not too many.

And several birds, although these are injured ones that will never be released back into the wild. Although the birds do breed, and their progeny live in the forests around the reserve and think of it as home. I had never heard of wedge-tailed eagles, but they have some.

Time for dinner?

And kangaroos. They just roam free on the property, which visitors are free to roam.

Northeast Coast

Sam and I took a two night trip up to the far northeast corner of the state.

Top of Mt. Barrow. See how warm Sam looks?

On the way, took a side trip into the Mt. Barrow State Reserve. A narrow, rutted dirt road heading through dense rainforest and up the mountain. The picnic area at the end of the main road was nice, but not that interesting. The road leading up from there was posted as requiring four-wheel drive, but that didn't stop us. Up and up we went, with the fog and mist getting thicker by the minute. Finally emerged at what seemed to be some kind of summit, but with no visibility it was hard to tell. The road continued off across the flats, but the road had been so bad to this point, we had no desire to follow.

Making friends with the alpacas.

Stayed in a cabin in the town of Branxholm. Nice comfortable place. Alpacas in the field. Reportedly a platypus pair in the river, but we never saw them.

The "Derby Tunnel."

Spent some time exploring the area around Branxholm. Followed a road sign the for "Derby Tunnel." This took us on rutted dirt road. Explored it by car and then, when it narrowed to little more than a wide path, by foot. Finally found a cave mouth partially hidden by vegetation. Looked like it went way back, but having no lights we were only brave enough to go back 50 feet or so.

Spent most of the next day in Mount William National Park. Hot, hot sun on the beach. White sand, big rocks and lots of seabirds.

Climbed to the top of "Mount" William, the highest point in the part at 214 meters.

Drove the loop of Forrester Kangaroo Drive. Saw several jumping marsupials. Not really sure if they were kangaroos or not, but we weren't picky.

Musselroe Bay Conservation Area

After a second night in our cabin, it was back home. The drive took us back through rainforest. We tried to explore the Blue Tier region, but the road would have been tough even for four wheel drive. We stopped an hour into the road, well short of our destination, and settled for a short walk to see a nice waterfall.

More from Musselroe Bay. We walked a mile or so down the beach, which was empty except for us.

Nature photographer.

View from the summit of Mt. William.

Back in rainforest for the trip home.

Sam's Arrival!

Tired but happy.

The Neighborhood

I guess I haven't shown any pictures of my house or the neighborhood. I guess I haven't taken many. Here are a few.

Our house.

Front porch.

Looking through the front door. That's my bedroom just past the entryway.

View from the porch. It's blocked a little bit by trees, but still very nice. That's the Tamar River, and beyond it is the edge of downtown Launceston.

A view from the walk into town.

The stairs down to the King's Bridge. The Cataract Gorge is in the background. Sometimes it feels as if  you tripped you would fall into the river.

Not quite ripe!

Back in Launceston

Morty's Food Hall

Got back into Launceston Thursday afternoon. Here it is Sunday morning already and I'm not sure I could say how I have spent the intervening time. I guess that's what it means to be on vacation.

Dinner Thursday night at Morty's Food Hall. Hard to describe. It's like a food court, except that it's not in a mall, not overrun with kids on cellphones and you can get wine and beer. I went for grilled trevalla (a kind of fish) from the restaurant that was a combined fresh fish / pizza place.

Aurora Stadium on the right. The old railroad tracks divide the grounds, and UTAS is just out of sight on the left.

Did nothing in particular Friday. A much needed car wash to get the layers of road dust and grime off my poor little car. Explored the park along the opposite side of the North Esk River. It holds Aurora Stadium, home of the AFL Tasmania Hawks. Also the Launceston campus for UTAS (University of Tasmania). Also the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.

UTAS school of Architecture and Design

Inside the school of Architecture and Design

Friday night went to see True Grit. $16 for a ticket and $10 for popcorn!

Saturday just went driving in the hills around Launceston.

Looking forward to Sam's arrival!

Best spuds in Tasmania!