Tasmania
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2007
1
12
37
Trip End
Aug 01, 2008
Tasmania, Australia
Friday, February 22, 2008
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 on our way to Cradle Mountain. We were very excited and geared up for the drive. After driving with Steve for the first hour...I thought this might just be the end of a beautiful thing. He had never driven on the left side of the road before and refused to let anyone pass him! I was banned from screaming or nagging every time he crossed the center line or accidentally fell into the side ditch. I finally let go of all restraint when he dozed off at the wheel and woke up...asking ...what? what?
With two carsick kids, a wife on the edge and Steve wondering what all the fuss was about...we finally landed at Cradle Mountain Lodge in Tasmania
Strahan Village on the way to Cradle Mountain
. We loved Cradle Mountain on the spot...reminded us of Sun Valley. Old Lodge, beautiful trails and great wildlife. We immediately went in search of the infamous Tasmanian Devil and found a sanctuary for the endangered animal. The devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial (they carry their young in a pouch) in the world. It has an extremely loud and disturbing scream at night and can get really vicious when it is eating...thus the name "the devil". It was quite a sight to see the devil's go after Steve's sunglasses that he dropped in the pen. Tried to capture that on film...
The rest of the weekend was spent hiking, relaxing and playing games.
We flew from there to Melbourne for a few days. Fun walking and people watching city.
We were ready to leave Australia and head to Bali!!!
