Cradle Mountain to Hobart

Just our luck, we woke up to blue sky with some lingering early morning ground mist. A lot nicer than yesterday when we did our tramp.

It was cool, only 5C, when we started out taking the "long route" to Hobart via Queenstown (about 370 km). We thought this would give us a scenic drive through the mountains of the central/western part of the island. Shortly after leaving Cradle Mountain we were back into the low cloud and drizzle of yesterday which put a damper on the scenery. The road for most of the way was very twisty but a bit wider than the roads in New Zealand although still lacking any shoulders and in a lot of cases, guardrails.

We stopped to stretch our legs at Queenstown, a small mining town from the 1840's. As you approach, the lush green landscape turns into a surreal moonscape of eroded gullies and bare hillsides, a lingering legacy of the mining activities.

The town has a rough and ready pioneer town feel to it.

We stopped for lunch at the Lake St Clair National Park.

Looks like some nice hiking tracks here but we didn't have time. Just a quick look at the lake.

As I was walking down the path, I saw one of the three species of snakes in Tasmania. The venomous Tiger Snake. I had the wide angle lens on the camera and wasn't getting any closer for a picture of it's head.

Continuing on we passed several signs pointing to various dams and power stations but I resisted the urge to head down the gravel access roads. All of a sudden we saw some big penstocks and I just had to stop for a photo of the Tungatinah hydroelectric plant. A 5 x 25 MW Francis turbine plant with 290 metre head and Canadian GE units.

Less than a kilometre later, there was another plant discharging into the same river from the opposite side of the gorge. This is the Tarraleah hydroelectric plant, 6 x 15 MW Pelton turbines at 287 metre head.

This station had about 5 km long penstocks.

There are six more downstream plants in this cascade system.

From here to Hobart we drove through extensive rolling farmland full of sheep and beef cattle.

Hobart is a city of around 200,000 surrounded by hills and mountains. It has a waterfront that is home to a lobster fishing fleet and a number of other watercraft.

The older buildings are primarily limestone block and there is a vibrant area along the waterfront.

We were only a couple of blocks from here and spent a few hours walking about and having supper.

Cradle Mountain National Park

We only had one full day to explore the park so we made the best of the variable weather. There was lots of low hanging cloud and a some occasional drizzle as we headed out for our day of hiking. The park has limited vehicle access due to the narrow roads but does provide a shuttle service to the various trailheads. This worked out good for us as we were able to do a linear hike to an overlook and end with a circular hike around Dove Lake.

We started at Ronny Creek for the trek to Crater Lake. It started off in a light drizzle on a boardwalk over some wetlands with a very interesting landscape.

We climbed past some waterfalls in a mossy forest.

After about 3 km we were at the shore of Crater Lake.

From here we continued to Wombat Peak for a view of Lake Lilla and Dove Lake with the cloud shrouded mountains in the background.

Descending we had some nice overlooks as the clouds started thinning out with some blue sky starting to arrive.

We arrived at Dove Lake and did the circuit hike around the lake taking in the views of the lake and the mountains. We were pretty well done with hiking for the day after 14km. This was a brief unclouded view of Cradle Mountain.

On the way out of the park, we stopped at the ranger station and saw an echidna foraging next to the walkway.

We took another brief walk to get this photo of the waterfalls at the entrance to the park.

Back in our hotel room (which is on the ground floor), Chris says, hey, look at what is peering in our patio door. There was Wally the Wallaby! About two metres from our door...

He hung out here while we connected with Jenn on FaceTime and the grandkids were able to see him on the Wallycam.

Travel to Tasmania

It was an early morning start as we had to leave for the airport at 6:00 am. It was Sunday so traffic was very light and we got there in about 40 minutes and dropped the rental car off without problem. The Melbourne Airport was very easy to navigate and we were at our gate with lots of time to have a breakfast at Hudson's, the Australian Starbucks.

Virgin Australia were much easier to deal with than Jetstar with respect to carry on luggage and we had no problem boarding for the 45 minute flight to Tasmania. We landed at Launceston and quickly had our luggage in hand and were heading to our rental car. Again we got an upgrade and are driving a Camry Hybrid for the price of a compact.

Our destination for the next couple of days was the National Park at Cradle Mountain. Our welcome to Tasmania.....

It started out sunny but as we approached the mountains, it got overcast. We stopped at the Alum Cliffs near Mole Creek for a short walk to an overlook of some bluffs and a river gorge.

After this, the weather continued to become more overcast with occasional sprinkles of rain. We had two critter sightings, a wombat and a kookaburra. Unfortunately, the camera was not handy as we were driving.

By the time we got to Cradle Mountain it had deteriorated to continuous rain so that put an end to any outdoor activities for the remainder of the day.

We are staying at a nice lodge just outside of the National Park. We spent an hour or so trying to figure out the cricket final which was on the television. Just don't get it. six hours later, it is still on the TV.

We had a nice supper at the lodge and are hoping for a break in the weather for tomorrow so we can do some hiking in the park.

Melbourne Day 2

Another day that started out cool and heavily overcast but luckily no rain. We walked to an Argentinian restaurant for a mid morning breakfast before strolling the boardwalk along the shore in St Kilda. This area really reminded me of the Beaches district in Toronto.

There are always some interesting people on a boardwalk, even on an cool day...

We walked to the pier and the yacht basin.

Note the made in Niagara-on-the-Lake C&C 34 in the foreground!

The breakwater is home to a colony of little blue penguins.  The best time to see them is at dusk when they return to their rocky shore but we were lucky to see one that was swimming near the shore and another that was hiding in the rocks.

We hopped on the tram (free for seniors on Saturday) and headed downtown for a little more sightseeing. We took a different tram route this time and enjoyed riding through the upscale condo district just south of the CBD. We got off the tram at Federation Square and decided to visit the National Gallery of Victoria. One of their exhibits was called "Shifting Gear", a celebration of the Australian auto industry over the years.

There were some interesting cars on exhibit, with some interesting examples from Holden, the Aussie branch of GM.

They also had a section dedicated to the Aussie muscle car era in the late 60's/early 70's but most of them were 6 cylinder wannabes.

The winning F1 car of their all time racing hero, Jack Brabham, was on display.

After checking out the cars, we visited the remaining galleries in this very modern building. A wide variety of art on display.

The Melbourne International Comedy Fest is on and there was a free show in Federation square so we took the time to sit for an hour and watch the acts. Some "good for all ages" comedy.

This Japanese comedian made himself "disappear" into a balloon.

The sun had come out and we did a bit more of a walk about in the downtown.

Lots of weddings going on and carriages at the ready. Interesting that here they line up in front of Macca's (what they call McDonalds In Australia) and in Niagara-on-the-Lake they line up in front of the Prince of Whales. Maybe because the price of a hamburger is the same at both establishments!

After our  walk about downtown we ended up along the river at a really cool outdoor bar to rest our feet and have a cold drink. This bar must have been 200 metres long but only five metres wide! What a concept for a nice outdoor patio. Must have held at least 300 people.

Back on the tram we made it home and did some packing before heading out to a fish restaurant. This was highly rated but, we are not a fan of fish cooked whole and dealing with the bones in an un-fillited fish. Didn't enjoy it. Picked up a Macca's cheeseburger on the way home. The whole St Kilda area was packed with people in bars and restaurants.

We have an early flight tomorrow so we spent some time finishing our packing and ensuring we were under the luggage weight limit so we are ready to go by 6:00 am tomorrow morning.