The Apple Isle

Well… it has definitely been a while. I think we all know the reason for that.

For those not following on Facebook, somewhere between border closures, lockdowns and quarantines, we managed a quick trip to Tasmania. Just in time too!

While I had been to Tassie before, it was not with Sherwin, or quite as adventurous as this trip. Of all of the people I have travelled with in the past, it seems more real, more fun, more exciting and more interesting when I do it with Sherwin. We are also very much built to be travel buddies, as we share interests (and lack of interests), excitement, and manage to always want to do the same things. I notice we are also great in group situations; where we communicate exactly how we feel with just eye contact.

My Travel Buddy:

Anyhow, it has been a couple of weeks since we went. However, I do a little travel diary for Sherwin I take with me everywhere, so I still have all my notes and the collection of items I collected and glued in there for the week long trip.

We flew in Launceston late at night and had a nice meal with a friend of a friend, who put us up for the night. We left early that morning for adventures. WAY too early as most of our trek through Cataract Gorge was in the dark. The cold, cold dark! Not great for a photographer, but plenty of track walking for an adventuos Sherwin.

As always, with a few hours drive ahead of us, we planned for a full day driving, with lots of stops. Driving to Cradle Mountain, we stopped at Tasmazia. A children’s park, which I now recommend for children, and childlike adults. We had a blast. We explored the mazes, went through all the miniature towns and ate, pancakes… which can only be described as the greatest pancakes I have every had in my many decades on this earth!!!

Driving through multiple towns, stopping every time and exploring, we got to Cradle Mountain in time to check into the Hotel. After, what seemed like 30 minutes of information download from the concierge, we escaped to our rooms, and then went for a walk through the “Enchanted Forrest”. It was at Cradle Mountain I became reacquainted with the freshness of the food Tasmania has to offer. A theme which reoccured over and over on our trip.

Some happy snaps of the food we experienced over the seven days:

While staying at Cradle Mountain is very isolating, and I recommend you bring your own supplies (they are scarce and expensive), the trip to the actual walking treks (which can take you multiple days to complete) and Dove Lake (as well as the other lakes) is well worth it. As always, we went our own way. We saw wild wombats and other animals, we got separated and lost and generally walked until we could no longer walk. A great experience. While the accomodation needed some fixing for the star rating they give themselves, it was a great couple of days.

We drove from there to Port Arthur (stopping at Oatlands, and some other places), which was an amazing drive. The scenery is ever changing and so green and lush. Port Arthur, from my last trip, I consider one of the most beautiful places on earth. And Sherwin did a very good job of finding us the best AirBnb. It was isolated, on top of a mountain, overlooking forrest and some of the coves/bays. About a kilometre from the next house, it was surrounded by thick forrest and lots of wildlife. With a good fire, two stories and just amazing amenities, it was hard to leave the house sometimes.

There is so much to do in Port Arthur, if you look for it, a few days there is simply not enough. We did the Historic Site visit. Again, we ignored the tours and went on our own path. Both eerie and quiet, we had a few chills at times - and not because of the weather. We spent half a day there - however, you could spend a lot longer. We visited the un-zoo nearby. It had changed over the years from a place where they focused on the preservation of the Tasmanian Devil, to a retirement home for them. However, we still got to see these weird little terrors in action. I still can’t understand how they are not extinct, given their clearly deficient survival skills. We saw lots of other animals, as always. And I got to meet our resident wombat, driving in at the AirBnb… which I thought was probably the best of it all. Wombats are my spirit animal!

Our local wombat!

Some pictures of the other land and sky animals we met on our trip:

At Port Arthur we were able to get on a boat tour. High speeds, freezing winds, bouncing on some scary swells, it was an amazing tour up and down the coast line. Seeing seals, was a special thing for me. Though smelly, noisy and weird, I still love them. We also saw pods of dolphins and a humpback whale. Amazing cliffs and caves, this place felt nothing like being in Australia. A few eagles and odd birds added to the adventure.

Some pictures of the sea (and eagle) animals we met on our boat tour:

Long story short(ish), back to Launceston with multiple stops, finally into a hotel and one night left in Tassie; where we went to a local pub, had a meal, then I taught Sherwin how to gamble on the pokies and keno. I think I created a monster. While Launceston is not a city I would consider a place to stay long, we enjoyed our short time there.

All in all, a great trip with a fun and adventurous companion. Where and when next is in the lap of the gods (or more-so; COVID and those responsible for getting us all vaccinated and giving us back our freedom). What and whenever it is, I hope it will be with Sherwin again.

I will, when less lazy, add some of my better photos on my Current Photos page -which was previously reserved for the "Trip of a Lifetime" I was on when I originally created this blog.

Cheers,

JC