Cradle Mountain and Nook

On Wednesday 21st December, Harv and Poppy Fred went to get us some "wheels"...and came home with a 12 seater BUS ! I kid you not ! The children were some-what horrified that the seven of us were travelling in such a huge vehicle but it meant that we were on the road again ! Woo hoo !



Our BUS !




VERY roomy !

We went up the middle of the state on the Bass Highway. Not to bad a trip with stops to Oatlands, Campbell Town and Conara and Ross. I dont think I have eaten as many pies in my life til I came to Tasmania. The bakery at Ross came highly recommended...although I failed to see why. The pies were expensive and nothing to write home about. There were some pretty finches that invited themselves to lunch tho...so that was pretty unique.

On the whole, the road trip to Nook Farm was about 6.5 hours with a few stops. Not bad. My best friend Heidi's parents, Rhonda and Bruce Scott, were our hosts for the next two days. They had a "woffer" (aka a backpacker who stays and works on their farm in return for board) from South Korea, called Blair. Within minuets of our arrival, Rhonda had me back on the road again to Davenport. It was totally not what I expected. Davenport was a like a tiny town...not a city! Still, all the usual amenities were there and it was only 15mins outside of Nook. The children and Harv stayed on the farm and went exploring. More than once Harv commented that it was "a little piece of heaven". We got up close and personal with a brand new baby calf that was born the day before we arrived. Cute as.Harv  was besotted with the land, the animals and vegetation. It was SO lovely just catching up with the Scott's. Harv managed to help put an oven back together and we had lots of laughs and giggles and enjoyed each others company.

Around 8:30pm we decided to go and see the Fairy Penguins. But before that we had to have a quick stop off to the local pharmacist to stop me sneezing so violently !! Ack ! Had to have the works - tablets, spray AND eyedrops! :O

Harv had thought he knew were to go to see the penguins and we invited Blair along for the ride....and hour and a half later - NO penguins but a detour via Ulverstone to McDonalds for 50c ice cream cones. :( Bummer dudes.

In the morning after a hearty breakfast of homemade raspberry jam on toast with Milo, we were off on the road again. This time we headed to Cradle Mountain. It was MAGIC ! Apparently there are only 30 days in a year that you get a clear view of the mountain - today was one of those rare days! Hooray for us !

The shuttle ran every 15mins, so getting to Dove Lake was a cinch. Thank you lovely lady in Russell Falls who sold us a ticket that allowed easy entry into the Parks ! She ran the "numbers" twice when she realised how many of us were in the "party". She was so kind to figure out how to get us into the Parks cheapest. :)



Cradle Moutain in the background. We are on the banks of Dove Lake. (Josh taking photo)




Sharing a "moment" !



I had some misgivings about walking around Dove Lake (x2hr walk) since my knee is still so sore. I had worn good walking shoes and a supportive bandage around the knee....but we forgot about the ruggedness of the walk in some places...steps are the killer !! Sooooooo....we posed for some awesome photos of the mountain and walked to Glacier Rock and took more photos. sorry Harv, I know you were disappointed.

Back on the shuttle bus and this time we stopped at Ronny Creek and did the walk to Weindorfers Forest walk. It was just GORGEOUS ! The walk was SUPPOSED to take 15mins....but I hobbled so the others indulged their mother and we had a half hour walk instead. Thank you team ! We saw a mummy wallaby with a joey still in her pouch. So cute.  It was truly beautiful and wondrous. I commented that all  wombat skatt we saw was on flat rocks...so maybe they were toilet rocks?! I kept breaking into a Primary song: "When ever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky...." When the walk got steep I had to give up the music. Ha ha ha ! We are truly blessed to live in such a beautiful world though.

Walking through the forest.

The windy road back into Nook made my stomach churn. It was hard going for poor ole Harvey who had to navigate a bus down hairpin turns!! Steep drops on one side did nothing for my nerves...I was glad to be back on the nice little hills again. It was sad to see the amount of roadkill on the roads tho. Poor wallabies, possums and occasional Tasmanian Devil.

After a delicious dinner at the Scott's (roast and fresh raspberries for dessert), we attempted to see the Fairy Penguins again...this time with success! Yay ! They were SO CUTE !! Unfortunately though, we were not allowed to take photos because the flash of the camera is disturbing to them. The volunteer people told us that there were 18 pairs of chicks. Due to erosion of the beaches, they had to "help" the parent penguins climb up from the beach with little ladders. The mum's and dad's would come out of the water and call their babies and the babies would call back. It was gross watching a feed of regurgitated fish come out!? Thankfully the chicks appreciate their parents work and all they had to do was look adorable! Some of the chicks were in the "in between" stage of losing their downy feathers and growing in their real feathers. Odd looking. The really small babies just looked like pom-pom balls of grey fluff.

Back at the Scott's again, we had a big sleep listening to the bull bellowing and frogs croaking and ducks and roosters making night time noises.

Farmers Josh, Harvey and Bruce ..."hamming" it up!



Back end of bull as he thundered past !

 In the morning we helped Farmer Bruce move a bull from one paddock to another. You don't get to do THAT every day in Perth !?!

We were on the road again by 8:30am. Harv decided that we would explore the east coast this time so off we set for Sheffield, Mole Creek, Deloraine, Avoca, Bicheno and then back to Hobart. A NINE hour road trip this time! LOTS of windy road with steep drops! EEK ! Our stop in Avoca was for lunch and I was determined NOT to eat pies again...so we had chicken instead. The man who served us decided to add up on  the till twice! It was nice of him - but I told him that when you feed seven on the road it can get a little expensive. He was very kind though.  Both times it came to $48.80...which is what I expected to pay...but he decided that it was WAYYYY too much so he said, "Tell ya what lady, you give me $35 and we will call it quits!". I was quite happy to pay the real costs but he waved it away and gave me change....I thanked him profusely and I said to Harv that I dont think he made much profit from us! What a blessing tho.

Napping....poor things!

So it was an ADVENTURE. Not one I am keen to repeat in a hurry, but I was so proud of my brood. They were all happy campers who pitched in when required and were all good sports about the hours we spent in the bus together. I am loving all this quality time we are spending together and hope that as they grow up and leave home, they will all carry happy memories of our time we are sharing now.