Day 166 of Non-stop Traveling

Mt. Buffalo Vista


Beechworth Street Scene


Seymour Kid


Mansfield Sunset


Clare Sunset



Can you believe that it has been 166 days since we have left Byron Bay on Sept 10? I can’t, unless I look back at my notes and then at the map to see where we have gone. Day 166, and 40,000K later, whoa, no wonder we are tired. But enough, let me catch you up with this last weeks travels.

We sadly left Clare, SA. It is one of our most favorite towns. It is a decent wine region, producing about 10% of Australia’s wine and we love this town. It has wonderful boutique wines, a working town full of graziers, sheep and cattle therefore lacking much of the pretension of many of the wine regions we have been in, and we have been in many, believe me. But move on we must, so we left Clare with heavy hearts, thankful that it was raining because that made it easier.

From Clare, we headed down to Murray Bridge, down thru Pathaway, home of Lindemans wines, maybe they should call the town Lindemans! That is about all there was, vine for wine. Then on thru Narracorte, crossing the border into Victoria and weaving our way to Hamilton at the base of the Grampians where we called it a day.

From Hamilton we went back to Ballarat where we had quickly been twice before, realizing that there was more to see so we stayed at the campground we had been at before for two nights, spending one seeing the beautiful city of Ballarat, and the next day revisiting two of our favorite towns, Daylesford and Castlemaine.

We had a few days to kill so we decided to revisit places that struck us in a good way at sometime during our travels so we went back to Mansfield. This is another great town, sort of the gateway to the snow fields at Mt Buller, but full of its own character. This is known as the high country, full of cattle and sheep on the high plains before the Alpine ranges begin. It is also home to The Man From Snowy River. If you have seen the movie, then you know what the scenery it like, just breathtaking. We spent the day visiting the historic Sheepyard Flats on the Howqua River. They had started to mine gold here, but it just proved to be too difficult for the amounts found, but there are some remnants remaining. Then we drove down to Jamieson to the brewery for a late lunch.

Now we do a bit of backtracking. From Mansfield, we drive north thru the King Valley, another wine region where the Brown Brothers Estate is, along with many boutique wineries. We picked a few cellars to visit and left with more bottles to add to our collection. Up though the valley we drive to Wangaratta, where we head south on the Hume highway to Nagambie for two nights.

There isn’t much to see or do in Nagambie, but it was the closest place we could get lodging because we wanted to go to the Seymour Sustainable Farming Expo that was being held over the weekend. I suppose the closest I can compare it to is the Big E in Springfield MA each autumn. This expo in Seymour was huge, and took us two days to see it all, and even now I think we missed parts. If you want farm machinery, this was the place to be. Toys I didn’t even know what they were used for. But there wasn’t just big farm machinery, there were things for the hobby farmer, wine grower, alpaca grower, chook, sheep and goat and more. Lecture topics ranged from veterinary care, to cutting up the carcass and getting the most dollar value out of it by futher processing of the meat. There were lectures on sustainable home building and just so much more. And yes, we shopped. We now have a new fence pounder, puller, straightener which is cool, but even better, a gizmo for tying down the hay bales so when we get the bales from the field to home we don’t loose any on the road. It was a really good show, and we are very glad we dawdled along the way so we could spend some time there.

That was yesterday, now we are in Beechworth for one more night before we move on. We have been to Beechworth before, so this is our second stay for us. This town for us ranks right up there in books as a keeper with Clare. It is on the edge of high plains and the Alpine Range, and is a historic gold mining village and is just a very nice place to be. Today we were going to do the scenic gorge drive, but we found out when we got there that the drive is closed due to extensive flood damage. So, after breaking out the map, we decided to drive down to Mt Buffalo NP. It was the best way to spend the day. The water was roaring down the face of the mountain, creating all of these beautiful waterfalls, the clouds were doing special cloud things and the temperatures were quite decent which was nice. We weren’t freezing or cooking, so we really got to enjoy the views. And the views! As you will see from Steve’s photos, you look over the Alpine Range. A perfect day.

Tomorrow, we head north crossing the border into NSW, driving up thru Yass, onto Cowra and Bathurst, then just a small jog down to the Jenolan Caves, on the west side of the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. We didn’t get to see them when we were up in Katoomba when we first rocked in, so we are going to see them now. Steve promised me.

Time Does Fly By

Hawker Sunrise


Flinders Sunset Tree


Streaky Bay Dunes


Haystack Rocks


Streaky Bay Tinnie



Wow, I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by since my last blog. It was two weeks ago! I have some catching up to do.

When I last left you we were enjoying a beautiful day out on the True North celebrating Australia Day with all of the Australians. The True North is a premier class boat or yacht that specializes on adventure cruises around Australia catering to 36 passengers with a crew of 30. We were on the Ture North for a photo workshop with 100 other photographers out at Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth for the day. What made the day even better as when we were coming back into port, we could see the fireworks of both Fremantle and Perth happening. It was a great way to spend the day.

After spending another full day in Fremantle, we headed back down the coast to Dunsborough, trying to catch up with our allusive car registration. We had paid the fee online, but were trying to get the sticker for the windscreen. We finally were able to pick it up on Saturday, and then we were invited to a barbeque that night at one of the owners of True North at his house in Eagle Bay. What a night it was, we were not only invited for dinner, but to stay the night at the True North Ashore, the house being as splendiferous as the yacht. True North Ashore is for sale if anyone wants to buy it for a cool $5,000,000. You get a view of the bay, a huge house with a waterfall inside, a sauna, plunge pool, Bose sound system, great kitchen, on and on. It was not our style, but we did have a lovely night there. The excitement that night was waiting for the cyclone to hit the area we were staying in, but lucky for us, it petered out to a fizzle, so we had no worries and the next day we began our long drive back east.

There isn’t much to say about the drive back across the plains of WA except it is a long, and very boring drive and we were very glad to finally arrive in Ceduna at the border station four days later. After stocking up on groceries, we headed south to Streaky Bay which had high recommendations from many people we had run into. We can see why, it is a charming seaside town with a few cafes, shops and a pier with a shark cage about the size of an Olympic pool so you can swim safely in the water off the pier. You swim in the cage, not the sharks. We had a lovely two days in Streaky Bay, just driving around seeing the sights like the Woolshed Cave, Murphys Haystacks which are islebergs and High Cliff.

From Streaky Bay, we packed up and continued around the Eyre Peninsula, stopping at the sculptures placed along the Ocean Cliff Drive. Then onwards, we were going to camp at Tunby Cove, but it was deadsville, so we drove on to Cowell, but by then the heavens opened up, so we ended up in Whyalla at the Best Western for the night.

Because the weather forecast was for rain the next few days, Steve got in touch with Neil and Elaine, friends we had met through Jim and Polly Curran, and they invited to stay with them, so off to Adelaide we go for the weekend.

Sunday was spent with new friends we had met through our friend Kate in Tasmania. Maggie and Bob are the warmest and most generous folks. We had such a good time with them seeing their gardens and taking me to the local seed savers meeting where I got to meet more wonderful gardeners. As we left Maggie and Bob at the end of the day, we not only had fresh eggs and plums, but two new friends.

From Adelaide, we went back up north to Hawker, the hub of the Flinders as the sign says. When we were there back in September it was oh so green, and John at the caravan park said that he thinks that it is more dramatic in the summer, so since we had time, we though we would go back. Only two days earlier there had been flash flooding in the area, remnants of Cyclone Yasi that had devastated FNQ. Needless to say, we chose the right road to get to Hawker, even though the floodways were covered with water, brush and silt, they were passable. It was all worth it because John was right, the Flinders are so amazing at anytime of year. We spent two nights in Hawker, just about the only tourists in the area we had the place to ourselves. The next day we drove to Blinman, at the northern end of the Flinders and stopped in town, where we were the only people. The guy at the general store was very nice and said that Feb and March are the slow months in the outback. We asked if the road to Parachilna was open and he said yes, the grader went through yesterday and because we had a 4x4 we should be able to make it with out any worries, besides it was only 30k. Off we go, and yes the road had just been graded, in fact it was better than many of the roads we had driven on in WA, but the flash flood certainly did rip it apart, but we drive on, eventually meeting up with the grader, now we were crossing floodways that really had water running across them, but there was no turning back at this point, and we did make it finally to the other side, hopeing for lunch at he Prairie Hotel, which is supposed to have the best roadkill café, yes, that’s right, they serve up roadkill, camel, kangaroo and emu, but it too was closed for the summer, so back to Hawker we go.

Now we are back down in Clare, our most favorite place we have found yet. We are staying at our favorite B&B and relaxing, visiting vineyards and getting ready to continue on still pointing east towards Byron

Happy Australia Day!

Sugarloaf Sunset


Bunker Bay Dawn


Bussleton Pier


Margaret River Vineyard Ghosts


Karri Forest



I have to say, one thing about Western Australia is that the distances are vast. What looks like a three or four hour tip on the map is in reality six to eight. We have to keep remembering that this state is half of the Australian continent. So, getting from the SA/WA border to the west coast of WA is like driving from the east border of Texas to California, on a two lane road with only roadhouses and Norseman, Esperance, Albany then Denmark, Walpole, and…..before you hit the Indian Ocean. But I digress.

After leaving Albany, we head northwest, to Denmark, and Walpole. Just before Walpole, we get to the Giant Tingle trees. These are huge, ancient Karri Trees, a species of Euculaptys that is native to this particular area of WA. These trees are amazing in size, huge butts, and then straight up into the sky. This is also the site of the first tree top walk in Australia, and our third walk in Australia. Tree top walks have improved dramatically since this one, but it was still really good to do.

Onwards we drive, checking out Mandalay Bay, where the famous shipwreck of the Mandalay happened. Apparently, about every ten years when the beach is right the ribs of the shipwreck are exposed. We arrive for two nights at a rammed earth cottage in Pemberton. Very cool, not only did we have the sound of chooks in the morning, but ducks that came up to the verandah and a local dog that liked to hang out and get cuddles from us. From there we did a day trip to Cape Leeuwen, where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean.

From here we drove north to Margaret River. Now, this wouldn’t have been a first choice, but since we are now in the habit of stopping at wine regions, and our friends Scott and Frank had said that if they were ever to get to Australia, that this is where they would go, we had to check it out. Well, on first look, we were a little let down, but after two days, we really enjoyed it. It didn’t quite have the intimacy of the Clare, but was better than the Barossa in that it was more boutique than industrial. We picked out a few places that we thought would be good, following our usual criteria, the name and the wine labels. Why not? Our first one, Deck Chairs opened two hours later than when we got there, so we moved on to Mootown, very nice, the on to Margaret River Chocolates, well, that knocked our socks off. No Boutique there, more like the Lindt in Stratham. Then to a distillery which we were underwhelmed by, and finally Island Brook Wines, which was our favorite because we sat with the grower, vintner and tasted his wines and had a great time . We were going to have lunch at a micro-brewery, but it turned out that was like having lunch at the Budweiser Brewery in Merrimack, so we gave that a swerve and had a pie on the beach in Yallinup.

Our next two nights was in Dunsborough, in a restored railway carriage turned into a cottage. Very different, not bad, very unique, at least they had chooks, alpacas, ponies and a sheep, and it was quiet!

Now we are in Fremantle for a few days. Steve had a photo printing workshop in Perth, I wandered around town, today we are on the True North, a big boat that does a lot of first class travels in remote places like the Kimberlys. Today we are anchored off Rottnest Island off of Perth for a day’s worth of photo lectures and a photo shoot on the island. Hopefully we will see the fireworks celebrating Australia Day over Fremantle or Perth before we dock tonight.

The rest of the week will be spent here in Fremantle and Perth, then back down to Dunsborough, hopefully to intercept our car registration, then we start the drive east, taking our time seeing the Eyre Peninsula, revisiting places like the Flinders Ranges, Adelaide, Daylesford, saying farewell to our friends in Melbourne and onwards.

Greetings From Western Australia

Great Australian Bight


Nullarbor Skies


Esperance Pier


Lucky Bay Sunset


Frenchmans Peak Sunset

 
As we last left you, we were riding on the ferry from Devonport, Tasmania back to Melbourne, Victoria.  We had thought we would take the night ferry, but it was booked out the day we wanted to leave, but there were two berths left on the day ferry, so that is what we were on.  It was a calm journey and that was good.  The ferry docked at 6:30 pm, and by 7:00 we were out of the city and on the road to Ballarat, a lovely old goldfields town that we had visited earlier in our travels.
 
After a good night's sleep, we got back into the car and pointed ourselves to the Barossa Valley in South Australia.  When we were in SA earlier we had missed the Barossa Valley, and because it is one of the premier wine regions of Australia, we figured we needed to see it.  Well, it is the home to many of the wine labels that we are all familiar with, Jacobs Creek, Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Yalumba make up the big vintners, with a handful of boutique vineyards tossed in.  We missed the intimacy that the Clare and McLaren Vale wineries had.  The Barossa is truly wine manufacturing with acres and acres of vine.
 
After two days in the Barossa, we truly hit the road.  We headed north through Port Augusta, then west across the Eyre Peninsula to Ceduna, the last town in SA where we camped for the night.  Next day we started the long drive across the Nullarbor Plain and in ten hours reached the WA border at Ecula.  Along the long Nullarbor drive, there were pull offs where you could get out and view the ocean.  The sands and water and cliffs were amazing and it was nice to get out and stretch every so often.
 
 Each Australian state has quarantine stops where you are pulled over and must relinquish all seeds, fruit, vegetables, plants and everything else that is an agricultural product.  Now we did this entering SA, and Tasmania, without any problems, but at the border in WA, they stopped us, and searched.  There were dead leaves on the floor mat, and those were taken, even Steve's carrots were taken! I explained they were necessary for his sugar levels, and she said we could get more down the road.  Yes we could, 7 hours of driving later!  So, we had no fresh anything until they next day when we entered Norseman, bummer.
 
We camped in Ecula, at the edge of the Great Australian Bight, we had a beautiful sunset that night, and the sun rose at 4:30 the next morning.  Since there was nothing there but a roadhouse, we packed up again and hit the road, driving west to Norseman (which is named after a horse!) where we were finally able to buy carrots and some grapes.  From there we turned south and drove for another two hours to Esperance, where we hit the wall.
 
Esperance is a charming seaside town with the most amazingly colored water, a real  aqua with the whitest beaches!  After spending the night in town, the next morning we walked along the esplanade to the jetty, looking at the porpoise and Sammy the local Sea Lion.  After the all important coffee, we drive out to Cape Le Grand, about 60K east of Esperance to camp for the night.
 
When you see Steve’s photos, you will think that they have been enhanced, but no, this is what we were looking at, you can see just how amazing it is.  And the beach was like walking on cornstarch or talcum powder the sand was so fine.  We drove around the park seeing the sights, feeling that we were very lucky to find a campsite at Lucky Bay.  We think that we were at the best place ever.  The next day we packed up to leave but before that, we wanted to climb Frenchmans Peak for a view of the coast and all of its coves and bays.  Steve made it to the top and I waited halfway, yes, you can call me chicken.  After that, we drove back into Esperance to stock up on essentials, then drove west yet again towards Albany. 
 
I think this stretch of the road was the worst yet as far as length and sheer boredom.  Thank goodness for audiobooks.  We have worked our way through Unbroken by Laura Hildebrand, and are now on The Count of Monte Cristo.  That book alone should see us back to the east coast.
 
So here we are in Albany, WA, in the southwest corner (sort of) of WA.  Right now it is a good sized town, but there are big plans to make it bigger and trendier.  The town is famous for its beaches, surfing, history and whales.  We are just happy to be in civilization again! 
 
PS:  We want to thank everyone for their e-mails of concern for our safety upon hearing about the devastating floods in Queensland and now Victoria.  We are safe, as are all of our friends.  The floods are absolutely devastating, not just in property loss, but loss of tourism, the loss of major agricultural areas.  The Lockyer Valley is a huge salad bowl of growing and all the crops have been lost, so buying local, if you can find it, is the only option.  Many of the store shelves, even in urban areas are empty, not just because of the loss of farmland, but the road and rail infrastructure has also been destroyed.  After suffering 10 years from the worst drought ever, now their farms have been destroyed by the locust plague and flooding.  BUT!  The Australians have the will power and strength to get through this, they help each other and rely on each other in the Australian “spirit” they will get through this, and not expect the government to pull them out.  They are the most amazing people.

On the Road Again

Kelvedon Beach to Freycinet


Tasman Bridge and Mt Wellington


Binalong Rocks


Goshen Fields


Hobart Botanical Garden Boy
 
It seems hard to believe that our six weeks are over in Tasmania!  Where has the time gone.  We’ve been busy traveling around the state and eating and drinking well.  Let me do a recap of what we have done since I last wrote on Boxing Day.
 
Boxing Day was a quiet day for us, we phoned home to wish everyone Merry Christmas, dined on fresh local oysters that are excellent, and a good local grown steak as well as an excellent Tasmanian wine.  Australia closes down for the week between Christmas and the New Year.  There are the after-holidays sales, but nothing like what we are used to.  It was only the larger chains that were open, everything else is shut up tight for the week.  Hard to  wrap our heads around and get used to coming from a shopaholic nation. 
 
Hobart hosts a seven day Taste Festival that focus’s on Tasmania's best cheese, wine, beer, fruit, and food.  It is a free function, and a great way to try the various wines.  You can try the wines, buy a glass or buy a bottle, try many of the restaurants and enjoy the fine, for once, fine Tasmanian weather.
 
New Years in was at home, watching the fireworks from the deck of the house.  It was nice because the city does a 9:30 fireworks show for the kids, then a midnight show for the grownups, or those still awake.  Both shows were excellent, but nothing could be as good as the show that Sydney had that we saw on TV.  It was just amazing!  The harbor had 4 barges with fireworks, then the bridge is also used.  Like I said, it was amazing.  That is the place to be to welcome in the New Year.
 
The next day we traveled up the east coast using Swansea as our base, going back to the Freycinet Peninsula and hiking up to the lookout to see Wineglass Bay in the sunshine.  It is as beautiful as the pictures show.   The next day we drive up the coast to St Helens, Binalong Bay which is the beginning of the famous Bay of Fires.  This area has the bright orange lichen covered rocks, the most pristine white sandy beaches and the most  aqua blue water that we have seen in Australia.  And hardly anyone was there!  We had the beach to ourselves.   From St Helens, we head inland stopping for lunch at Pub in the Paddock, along with everyone else.  We were disappointed, maybe being there on a Sunday during the holidays with everyone had something to do with it.  We were driving through some of the most beautiful dairy county, then up the mountains, down the mountains, up the mountains and down the mountains, finally out at Launceston.  Phew.  Then onto Campbell Town taking the back way to Swansea and home the next day.
 
We decided to get a new cell phone provider.  We found that the only places that we could get coverage in Tasmania was Devonport, Launceston and Hobart.  The rest on the state, nada.  I know, we are leaving Tasmania, but we are heading west tomorrow eventually crossing the Nullarbor Plain to Western Australia, and we thought that having a cell phone that would work would be good.  Day one of the experience was the store was closed because it was two days after New Years and so a holiday.  The next day, we got a bum sim card, but finally, day three, we have service.
 
On our last full day was asked ourselves what hadn’t we done, that we would like to do while we are still here.  We took a Peppermint Bay cruise.  We traveled down the harbor, looking at the harbor side towns, to the D'entrecasteau channel, where we hovered alongside the rocks edge.  The crew dropped a camera over the side of the boat so we could see the life under us.  It was amazing.  The camera was 13 meters down, and we saw sharks, little harmless sharks, fish, different seaweeds and all of this without added light.  The water was so clean and clear, a pride of Tasmania. 
 
Now we are on the Spirit of Tasmania II, sailing towards Melbourne, for part four of our adventure.

Christmas Down Under

Buttongrass Fields


Hell's Gate


Fish Farms


Strahan Rainbow


Mt Zeehan
  
It’s Boxing Day today, the day after Christmas and Australia's major shopping day of the year.  You know, those post Christmas sales are a big thing.  But before I tell you about our Christmas, let me fill you in about our last week.
 
On Monday we drove out to Strahan, on the west coast of Tasmania, also known as the wild west coast.  Strahan is the only remaining town on the coast, on the Harbor of the Gordon River.  It is surviving on its tourism and the fishing industry both at the moment doing quite well, even with tourism being down because of the high Australian dollar.
 
Have I said  before that despite Tasmania’s relative small size, it is not terribly easy to get from point A to point B.  We left Hobart and drove north, through New Norfolk, then up through Hamilton which is in the highlands, then through the lakes region, back into Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park, to Lake St Clair, which is at the bottom of the Overland Pass walk if you were to actually walk the overland pass.  But we were driving through the park, and the scenery is just amazing.  We are driving along, enjoying the wilds, and after another hour I see what looks like mining!  We pass out of the park, and its like entering a moonscape.  We are entering into Queenstown, a dying, if not already dead mining town, known for its copper and tin.  What a mess.  The road wove down through the old mine and was a narrow, steep, curvy, no edges, just cliff on one side, and nothing on the other.  Honestly, I couldn’t look up or down on this road, I just wanted to get it over with. It was horrible!  So was Queenstown.  We just filled up on petrol, and continued winding our way down into Strahan.
 
Strahan is a very cute tourist town, on the Macquarie Harbor, kept going because of the tourism of the famous Gordon River Cruise and the Wilderness Railway.  We didn’t do the railway, but we did lash out and do the Gordon River Cruise and it was excellent.  As our Christmas present, we did it first class and that was a treat in itself.  It was a six hour tour, out through Hells Gates, which is the entrance of the harbor.  Called Hells Gate not because the entrance to the harbor is such a challenge and dangerous (which it is), but because the convicts were entering hell coming to the penal settlement on Sarah Island.  Anyway, we then go back up the harbor, learning about the fish farms which was fascinating.  Because the Gordon River and six other rivers empty into the harbor, the harbor is actually full of fresh water, which sits above the walt water because of the density, so they can grow fresh water fish, in the harbor.  You can tell the water is fresh water because it is stained tan from the Button Grass that grows on the highlands.  Like I said, it is fascinating.  Then we did a little rainforest walk to learn about the particular eco system of the Gordon River, lunch of local fish and wines, the a tour of the penal settlement on Sarah Island.  It made Port Arthur look like a holiday camp.  What an excellent day. 
 
We leave the net day, taking the scenic tour up thru Zeehan, than Burnie, over to Devonport, then down to Launceston via Exeter, then Back to Hobart.  Steve reckons it was about 500 K, and it took us 8 hours.  Like I said, the roads….
 
So now we are up to Christmas.  We had a great day with new friends in Cygnet, dinner out in the garden.  It was requested that I make a pumpkin pie.  Very hard to do without sugar pumpkins or canned pumpkin, so I winged it, and made a butternut/sweet potato pie that had rave reviews.  Even from Steve, who doesn’t like pumpkin pie!  It was a great day, the weather held, even got a little warm, the food and company was great, what else can one ask for.
 
 

More Tasmanian Adventures

Cradle Mountain Peaks


Tasmanian Sheep


Cygnet Sailboats


Dove Lake in Sun


Dove Lake Boathouse

We were warned by everyone when we said we were going to Tasmania that it would be cold, we figured that was just because everywhere else is Australia would be in the 80’s plus, so anything else than that would be cold to them.  Well, they were right.  Tasmania has been cold, and we are grateful for the warm cloths that we brought with us.  We have been here for almost four weeks, can that be right?  And just about every day we have had rain showers, and maybe two days that have been above 65F.  Granted, that is warmer than what you all experiencing, but cold for us.
 
We are seeing some magnificent places.  Don’t ever think that because Tasmania is an island state, that it can be seen in a few days.  I wonder if we will see most of it by the time we leave on the 10th.
 
 Last week we drove up to Cradle Mountain, listed  #5 on the World Heritage List, and after being there you can see why.  It is just amazing, such raw beauty!  The weather of Cradle Mountain is that one day out of ten will be fine.   Not great odds if you only plan to be there for a day, but because we had planned for two full days and two half days, we hoped that it would be good.  We “took the scenic route” twice on the way up to the Park.  Road signs here make the ones in NH look good.  Anyway, we arrive, check in, and take the shuttle bus from the Park entrance  down to Dove Lake.  The bus is really good, because the road is one lane, curvy and hilly.  It has lots of lay-by’s but you get a running commentary about the park and its uniqueness which makes it all the more interesting.  As we arrive at Dove Lake, we disembark figuring we would wander around until the next bus, but instead we hiked around the Lake, catching glimpses of Cradle Mountain, the waterfalls crashing down the mountain sides, the moss filled trees and forests.  Two hours later, we finish up in the drizzle and wind and sleet, and wait for the next bus to take us back to our warm room and a bottle of red.
 
The next day, we do a few ‘short walks’, only a K each, the Pencil Pine Forest, and the Enchanted Walk.  Totally different from each other, and both beautiful in their own way.  Then we set out on a two hour hike, in the drizzle, along the boardwalk, that takes you through the forest, heathland, scrubland, along a stream and back to the bus stop.    The next morning we awoke to blue sky and sunshine, and knowing how fleeting it can be, we checked out of our hotel, and headed back down to the park.  Amazing!  We were able to see the entire Cradle Mountain.  Yes, it was beautiful, but I think it is by far more dramatic with the clouds rolling in and out.   We were very lucky to see the Mountain.  In fact, one of the us drivers told us of a couple who had started out doing the Overland Pass, a 2-3 dayer, and turned around after five hours because they got tired of the snow they were hiking through.
 
Wednesday, we drove down to Cygnet, south of Hobart, to visit with Kate, the woman who helped us get this place for the six weeks we are here.  We had a lovely visit, met some great gardeners, and we will be spending Christmas with Kate, and I am to bring a pumpkin pie.  This will be interesting, because there aren’t any sugar pumpkins here in Australia, live or canned, so I am going to wing it and hope for the best.  I figure if I mix butternut squash and sweet potatoes, with the correct spices, we should be right.
 
Speaking of Christmas.  You wouldn’t know that is is a holiday happening in just a few days.  So far we have heard a total of 5 Christmas songs on the radio!  The Christmas trees for sale look like white pine tree tops cut from the forest, we have seen a few discrete decorations, and this weekend the frenzy of shopping, but honestly, there is none of the commercialization that there is back in the states.  It’s kind of refreshing in a way.
 
Tomorrow, we are off to Strahan, on the Gordon River, on the west coast of Tasmania.  We are signed up for the River Cruise that has very high marks.  Can’t tell you much, so I will report about it when we get back.  Then after Christmas, is Boxing Day, when we will celebrate Christmas with just the two of us, and phone our families at home in the cold and snow.  After that, the boats should be coming in the harbor from the Sydney to Hobart Race, and Hobart is hosting the Taste Festival, where the top producers of wine, beer, cheese, produce all get together to talk food.  I can hardly wait.  As you can see we are busy.
 
Merry Christmas to all of you, we will raise our glasses of Tasmanian bubbly in toast to family and friends, good health and good cheer.