The Honeymoon – 5th January to 15th January, 2014 – Tasmania
Part 1
January 5, 2014 – Strahan
With a day between the wedding and the honeymoon to catch our breath, regroup, entertain some out-of-towners and pack for ten days of unknown weather and adventures, we woke early on Sunday morning pretty keen to head off for some quiet relaxation and ‘us’ time. My brother Donald was leaving to drive back to Melbourne so he picked us up at 6am and dropped us at the airport where Ian had organised a nice surprise. We were seat numbers 1A and 1B. The first and probably last time I’ll ever be the first person on and off a plane. We were the only people in business so we virtually had our own butler for the trip.
We learnt early that nobody rushes in Tasmania in the stagnant Europcar queue at Hobart airport. We finally got our dear little blue Micra and after a stop for ‘travel lollies’ we headed off for Strahan on the west coast.
Near Derwent Bridge we stopped at ‘The Wall’. This is a fascinating look at one man’s artistic talent and obsession. In an enormous purpose built structure there are huge panels of local Huon Pine sculpted by Greg Duncan, depicting the history and flora and fauna of the area. It is awesome in its scale, detail and sheer artistry. We highly recommend a visit if you ever find yourself in the area – www.thewalltasmania.com
Sunday and Tasmania seems to be closed. Each small town we pass through appears deserted, we rarely pass another car on the road either. Strange, coming from Sydney with its crowds.
Through the desolate landscape of Queenstown we wind down to the pretty port of Strahan (pronounced strawn).
We stayed at the beautifully restored stately home, Ormiston House.
After a rainforest walk and a platypus hunt, (sadly yielding zero platypus sightings), we had a seafood buffet at View 42 overlooking the pretty harbour and watched the sun set and the Fairy Wrens play on the lawn by the floor to ceiling windows. I found it interesting watching people stack their plates. It seemed that the height of the stack was directly proportional to the size of their waistline, but I guess that’s how all-you-can-eat buffets work.
After a cognac in the lounge we went back to our lodging and sank into a magnificent four poster bed.
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January 6, 2014 – Cradle Mountain Lodge
The next day was damp but mild and I had a strange compulsion to want to walk for three hours in steady drizzle to view Tasmania’s highest waterfall,Montezuma Falls. Ian is up for anything so we set off down the track. There is a particular moment when you cannot get any wetter than you are, a saturation point and we reached it fairly early on when the track started to resemble a fast flowing creek rather than a walking track.
The pay-off was amazing though. The Falls were spectacular and best viewed from a wire suspension bridge across the gorge. I nearly broke dear Ian’s fingers as I inched along with my eyes clenched closed. I did open them to take in the incredible view and the sound like a freight train was awe inspiring and an indication of the volume of water cascading in front of our eyes.
Back at the carpark our car was up to its axles in a stream. Ian strode tentatively into the water and ended up bollock deep, with a couple of German tourists and me watching on bemused. I chose a different route, no deeper than my ankles which led to much ribbing and amusement from me. To be honest, the vision still makes me laugh. If only I could have got my camera out to photograph him, but I didn’t want to risk it in the wet. Ian could see the funny side too.
We thawed and steamed in front of an open fire at a lodge a few kilometres up the road while we drank coffee, then continued on to the National Parks Information Centre. Here the wind was gusting to 50 knots and threatened to take our breath away and challenge my upright status.
We settled in at Cradle Mountain Lodge in a lovely room with a spa and private balcony, showered, laid our clothes out to dry, and then retreated to the Lodge for dinner and a local red in front of a roaring log fire.
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January 7, 2014 – Cradle Mountain Lodge
After a delicious breakfast we drove to Ronny Creek for the beginning of a walk up to Cradle Mountain.
Across heath and up to Crater Lake reflecting the deep blue sky, then up a steep and rocky track to our first view of the iconic, snow scattered Cradle Mountain.
It is a spectacular sight with
pretty Dove Lake at its foot and the scudding clouds sweeping past the summit.
The peak is only visible about 60 days per year so we were very lucky to have
been there on such a magnificent day.
We descended via Wombat Pools and Dove Lake and then got the shuttle bus back to our starting point.
Back at the Lodge we joined an informative walk along a track guided by a local ranger who pointed out the indigenous flora and fauna. Later in the evening we encountered a wombat grazing outside the gift shop.
She was completely unfazed by my presence so I ended up on my haunches photographing her from a metre away. I could hear her teeth gnawing and chomping as she snuffled along. She resembled a furry footstool.
We enjoyed another meal in front of the big fire in one of the lounges. On the walk back to our room we encountered wallabies and another wombat. This one let me get close enough to give it a pat and then it toddled into the undergrowth. I was pretty excited! Although wombats look fat, they are actually mostly muscle so they are very solid and very powerful. Back at the room, I did that thing when you put too much bath gel in the spa and I was confronted with a wall of bubbles as tall as me! Nice way to relax after the big walk though.
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January 8, 2014 – Launceston
After breakfast and another rainforest walk, we drove north to Sheffield, where I caught up with an old work colleague, Ferri, who has moved from Sydney to a quieter location to pursue an artistic life in the ‘Mural Town’. Ferri Lee is a talented artist and amazing muralist.
We visited The Marble Shop too with its wall sized marble runs keeping the child within us both amused for a good half hour.
Did you know that Tasmania is the world’s largest producer of opiate alkaloids for the pharmaceutical market? It produces about 50% of the world’s concentrated poppy straw (cps) for morphine, codeine and other related opiates from about 10% of the world’s production area. We passed many fields of poppies in bloom. The massed flowers are stunning. It is amazing to think that this crop is vital for the legal and safe production of such important drugs.
We passed through Elizabeth Town (cool name!) and visited Ashgrove Cheese Factory and Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm (Yum) and on to Launceston and the City Park Grand Hotel, grand by name, grand by nature – it was gorgeous.
The days are long in Tassie in the summer so we had time to walk the Cataract Gorge and the afternoon sun was beautiful on the sandstone sides of the gorge.
There is a mass of flowering hydrangeas in the park at the end of the gorge walk and peacocks strolling by the picturesque bandstand.
We walked back to ‘Seaport’ where we were spoilt for choice for restaurants. After dinner we took some icecream back to the hotel to have with the fresh raspberries we had bought earlier in the day.
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January 9, 2014 – Coles Bay/Freycinet
We met an old friend of Ian’s, Arturo Thomas, for a very pleasant breakfast at ‘Inside Café’. Heading north out of Launceston, we turned west at Scotsdale to the Bridestowe Lavender Farm. Now I have travelled to many places in the world and I have to say that this lavender farm in full bloom is one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen.
I mean, it helps if you really love lavender like me, but it is acres and acres of curved rows of mauve perfection with a splendid old oak standing in one of the fields.
The smell is wonderful and the sound of humming bees fills the air. The café and gift shop sell all things lavender, including lavender scones, lavender jam, lavender tea, lavender oil…you get the picture. Ian said to one of the ladies in the gift shop “You must be very relaxed”. They replied with “Funny man.” Now we all know Ian is a funny man but not necessarily because he makes observations about the relaxation status of people who breathe lavender fumes all day.
Over to the east coast and a stop for a wine overlooking the azure water and the fine white sand of Binalong Bay and a drive out to the brilliant red lichen covered rocks at The Garden in the Bay of Fires.
We reached our destination in Coles Bay at dusk and settled in to Edge of the Bay Resort with its spectacular location literally on the edge of the bay with The Hazards forming a magnificent backdrop and the sunset providing unique lighting on the whole panorama.
We dined in the restaurant and took in the breathtaking scene complete with wallabies and birds right up to the floor length windows in front of us. The room with its private balcony had the same outlook.
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January 10 2014 – Coles Bay/Freycinet
This is a really difficult day to write about. Most of you probably know that this is the day Adelaide was finally able to make communication with us. Tasmania’s isolation makes it a stunning place for a holiday but a bit of a nightmare for telecommunications. She was able to let us know that my dad had been moved to intensive care and was failing fast.
Even thoughts of abandoning our holiday and going back to Sydney seemed futile although I clung to an irrational feeling that he would be perched up in a hospital bed cracking jokes and giving the nurses hell on our return. By that evening when we were in network coverage again she broke the news that he had passed away.
To have one of the happiest times of my life so linked to one of the saddest has been extremely difficult.
January 10, 2014 – The other bit…
We chose the Wine Glass Bay Lookout walk which climbs steeply to give wonderful views of Coles Bay. When you make the summit you look down the other side to the beautiful Wine Glass Bay.
This bay is used in a lot of promotional material for Tasmania such is its scenic value. It was really lovely. We chose not to do the walk down to the beach and across the neck of land and back to our start. It’s about 5 -6 hours and I wasn’t feeling the love. We took wine and cheese back to our room and drank a toast to Donald Thomas. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant. I felt the loss we all assume will be ours one day but even knowing that doesn’t truly prepare us for the kick in the guts that the loss of a parent brings.
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