Cradle Mountain redux

Garry and I have spent time at Cradle Mountain on two separate occasions. Each time we’ve stayed in the beautifully appointed Spa Cabins at Cradle Mountain Wilderness Village. I’m delighted to report that despite the passing of a decade, these cabins remain in excellent condition. Matt and Shelley certainly enjoyed their bush-clad surroundings.

Our next two days were spent Wombat watching and hiking two of the national park’s most popular walks. The four of us walked the Dove Lake circuit one day, while Matt, Shelley and I walked the Cradle Valley Boardwalk back from Rony Creek on the second day. The boardwalk was a first for me.

Surprisingly, the wombats were out in force in the middle of the day during our entire stay. Apparently, the cooler weather brings these crepuscular animals out during daylight in the cooler seasons. Another first for Garry and me. 

We also clocked another first-time experience while visiting the Devils at Cradle Sanctuary. I booked us into an evening tour of the wildfire park on our second night at Cradle Mountain. Our tour began with a session where we got to touch a Tasmanian Devil before venturing outside to help feed a hungry pack of devils.

Our final days in Tasmania were spent retracing our steps back to Hobart via the Highland Lakes Highway for a final night. Our route through the highland lake district was another new experience for Garry and me. We also stopped at a truffle farm to sample some of its wares. I boldly bought a Summer truffle on offer. Garry and I spent the following week finding recipes to make the most of this delicate ingredient.

On our final morning in Tasmania, before heading for the airport, we made a quick dash up Mount Wellington to the Springs Lookout. The spectacular panoramic view of Hobart, the Derwent River, and the surrounding harbour proved a fitting way to bring our island holiday to an end.

It's cold out West

We spent our final morning in Hobart wandering the bustling Salamanca Markets before heading out of town. We made three tourist stops on the road to Lake St Clair. Pulpit Rock lookout was our first stop, overlooking the Derwent River, followed by a second stop at Russell Falls. Here we also enjoyed a picnic lunch in a private, enclosed stone shelter.

Our last stop for the day was Tarraleah to take in the view of its two hydroelectric power stations. I’m not sure there’s anywhere else in the world where you can see penstocks constructed on opposing sides of a valley, each feeding water from completely different catchment areas.

Once settled in Lake St Clair, I took Matt and Shelley for a little platypus spotting around dusk. Sadly, these illusive monotremes didn’t make an appearance. However, we consoled ourselves with wine and cheese, followed by a hearty meal in the lodge’s only restaurant. Overnight the temperature dropped dramatically on the Central Plateau. The following morning we woke to the presence of snow capping the surrounding hills.

 

Easter Sunday was taken up with a full day of driving. We made our way across the island to Cradle Mountain, stopping to stock up at the supermarket in Queenstown (including a brief detour to experience the stunning Ironblow Lookout) and enjoying lunch in Strahan. While Strahan we were lucky enough to see the local timber yard sawing an enormous Huon pine log using an old fan-belt driven saw.

On our way out of Lake St Clair we also stopped to view stunning The Wall in the Wilderness. This extraordinary work of art consists of Huon Pine panels, each 3 metres high, carved into a series of relief sculptures. Each panel depicts scenes that capture the history, hardship and perseverance of the people in the Central Highlands.
 

The panels stretch for 100 metres. Half of the panels are mounted on one side of a central supporting frame with the remaining panels attached to the opposing side. Its artist, Greg Duncan, has spent more than 20 years carving this masterpiece. He's now retired and thus the incomplete elements of this giant work may never be finished.

However, our most amusing moment came just as we were leaving The Wall in the Wilderness. I received a call from the Lake St Clair Lodge. The cleaning staff had found an abandoned iPad in our cabin. Queue a red face from Garry. Thank goodness we were only 8km down the road.

Hooray for Hobart

Last September, while visiting New Zealand, Garry and I offered to take my brother Matt and sister-in-law, Shelley, on a tour of our favourite haunts in Tasmania. A few wines that evening may have been a party to the proposal. However, we all agreed it was a sterling idea and made plans for an Easter vacation.

Getting to Tasmania has become much easier for Kiwis since Air New Zealand introduced direct flights to Hobart from Auckland last year. I recall almost two decades ago; the airline briefly operated a weekly service from Christchurch to Hobart. The route was ultimately short-lived and was discontinued in 1998.

I mapped out a week-long itinerary that delivered a full circuit of the island state with plenty of time to rest and relax along the way. Our schedule included two nights in Hobart, a night at Lake St Clair, and three nights at Cradle Mountain, before returning to Hobart for a final night.

 
As luck would have it, we were able to book flights that saw both couples arriving in Hobart within 40 minutes of each other. In the end, despite landing after them, Garry and I made it to baggage claim about ten minutes ahead of the international travellers. We then collected our rental car, went shopping for some decadent wines and cheese accompaniments, and made our way into town.

I decided we should kick off our vacation in style. Hence, I booked us into the MACq Hotel on Hobart’s waterfront. Our rooms featured a bank of windows, and a balcony, offering uninterrupted views of the harbour, central Hobart, and the surrounding hills. The weather also played its part. We enjoyed relatively clear skies for much of our stay.

We spent the final hours of daylight on our first day enjoying a late lunch on the waterfront, before making our way to the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery to see its Tasmanian Tiger exhibit. Dinner that night was at the hotel’s Frogmore Creek restaurant. 

We discovered that the hotel's restaurant was operated by a local winery. After enjoying a few of their finest bottles we decided to pay them a visit the following morning and load up on extra bottles for the week ahead. There's nothing quite like a quick wine tasting after breakfast?

Our first full day in Tasmania was devoted to a day exploring Tasmania’s infamous Port Arthur penal colony. Once again, the weather played its part. Showers were forecast. However, in the end, we enjoyed nothing more than grey skies, calm waters, and relatively mild temperatures  - with just the odd misty drizzle patch. 

Matt and Shelley loved the experience. Both said it was a highlight of their entire vacation. For Garry and I, this was a repeat visit. However, it was still wonderful to relive memories of our first visit a decade ago. We also squeezed in a quick visit to the Tasman Arch, the Dog Line, and the Tessellated Pavement rock platform. Dinner that night was a superb affair of boat-fresh seafood at Blue Eye Seafood overlooking Hobart harbour.