Home again, home again, jiggety jig!

We're back! Once again, we have reluctantly returned from the fabulous land of Tasmania. We were up at 4 this morning...no, actually, I was up at 4 and Mike was up at 2 to catch our return flight (I don't know what's wrong with the boy!) so if this blog is a little sleepy, please forgive!
Wednesday we flew to Hobart and then drove 4 and a half hours north to Cradle Mountain National Park. Mike drove the whole way, and occasionally in more than one lane :o) I was only moderately terrified. At the entrance to CMNP is a tree stump with the following sign. We have no idea what it means, but found it rather charming!




We stayed in a fabulous cottage probably not much bigger than one Laura Ingalls would have grown up in. But it had a fully equipped kitchen, a gas heater, a bathroom with heat lamps, and the world's comfy-est bed, so we were more than content! Here are some pictures to make YOU wish YOU had come to Tasmania, too!! These were all shot from a moving car, so ignore the fuzz...

Eucalytpus trees















Tassie (pronounced Tazzie) farmland

















Cradle Mountain National Park from about 30km away.















Thursday afternoon we hiked around Dove Lake, at the foot of Cradle Mountain.



















Friday we hiked part of the 8.5 k "boardwalk" that runs from the visitor center to Dove Lake. It's literally many, many planks of wood covered in chickenwire raised over the vegetation to save the plants. There was a storm brewing so there was no one out but us and the scene was rather surreal.





Saturday we drove back down to Hobart and ate at our two new favorite restaurants. Hobart is a very cute town; it has what you need but not an overload of activity to drive you nuts. (ie Sydney!) This is how happy you would look if you came to Tasmania, too:



Tomorrow we'll report on our wildlife encounters. Anyone know what a pademelon is? We saw 6!
~Ruth Ann