Doherty's Cradle Mountain Hotel Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park

Cradle Mountain was our second stop and at the same time the place where we would spend Christmas. It couldn't have been more perfect. We stayed in a cozy cabin at Cradle Mountain Lodge with a fireplace, a spa and it was surrounded by the rainforest. A little creek close to our window put us to sleep at night with its gentle rush of the water we could hear. An absolutely amazing place! The day we arrived it was a bit chilly and rain showers guided our way now and then. We had some time to set...

We spent a few days in Hobart (the capitol of Tasmania) before traveling on to Cradle Mountain. Quaint, small city on the water...very friendly people. It felt like being on the coast of Maine or Rhode Island. We realized that Steve must really be changing on this trip after he turned down a tour of Port Arthur... the famous site of the largest penal colony in Australia!! All to just relax with the family??!! We rented a minivan (first time for us) to drive through the Tasmanian countryside o...

After sleeping like a bus, I awoke at dawn (about 6:45) refreshed and ready for my next adventure – the Gordon River Cruise aboard a state of the art and environmentally friendly Catamaran. Taking the tourist class option here, with only free coffee and tea, I was on the main deck of the boat that again, was less than half full, for a day of rubbernecking. The first destination was "Hell's Gates", the notorious entrance to the harbour named by the Convicts who were sent to Sarah Island,...

After waking up we had breakfast where people were very talkative and we even had an elderly lady looking after Mattie while we ate. Today is a marvellous day - clear skies and not too cold. The first thing we saw in Launceston was the Gorge. We took the chairlift from where we could see everything well. There were a lot of peacocks, a couple of small waterfalls and the famous bridge. After giving Mattie a feed (actually Roxy did that) we drove to Deloraine from where we went to Chudleigh to ...

We slept for 10 hours last night and we felt we could have slept more... It must be the fresh air! After feeding Mattias we went for our breakfast that was included in our accommodation rate. The breakfast was so good that it compares to the breakfast we had in Kuala Lumpur at a 5 star hotel. It was really awesome and you could have anything you wanted from all sorts of cereals, to cooked breakfasts and things like pastries and nuts. After the breakfast we went for a drive to the Dove Lake (a...

Cradle Mountain Lodge

Today I touched a Tasmanian Devil!!! Don't worry, it is not as dangerous as it sounds, actually! Tasmanian devils are one of the most misunderstood animals alive today. We went to a conservation center that is trying to save Tasmanian devils and other marsupial carnivores from becoming extinct or endangered. I learned so much about the devils and also about the Tasmanian tiger and the spotted tail quoll, which are all marsupial carnivores. Marsupial means they have a pouch for their babies an...

Today we woke up early to lots of mist and cold air - it was so cold and rainy last night that we actually made a fire in the stove in our cabin! We decided to go for a long hike all the way from Dove Lake inside Cradle Mountain Park back to the lodge - almost 9km. It was rainy and misty most of the way, but it was a cool, fun hike. We climbed up and over the mountains and along the long, long boardwalk over the rainforest. Along the way we saw a big wet wombat, which was great. When we got b...

Searching for Platypus We spent a lot of time yesterday looking for platypus - some other people saw one in the river right next to our cabin, but so far, no luck for us! We went for another hike - this time 7km around Dove Lake and right under Cradle Mountain. It is called Cradle Mountain because the rocks between the two peaks look like a sleeping baby in a cradle. It really does! The hike was cool - Dove Lake was made by glaciers millions of years ago and you can still see where glaciers w...