Professional Photos

We are picking up the professional shots on Tuesday afternoon, hopefully. While I *KNOW* there will be some shockers I'm looking forward to seeing the magic that is Phil's work.
Vanessa

Photos!

We've posted some photos online at Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/camds/sets/72057594100245648/show/.

Let us know if you have any to contribute (thanks already to Mum, and Susan and Craig for babysitting our camera).

Cradle Mountain to Strahan

It's the last few days of our honeymoon and we're starting on the down hill run.

After all the snow in Cradle Mountain we still ended up doing the hike around the base of the lake in Hail, Rain and Snow. Despite what many of you may believe I managed to get Ness out and walking around the mountain in snow! I have photos to prove it. In the end we spent about 4 hours out wandering through the wilderness and despite the nasty weather conditions it was worth the view. The weather cleared long enough for us to get some great views of the peaks covered in snow.

Sunday saw us reluctantly pack up camp from Cradle Mountain Lodge and headed for the West Coast of Tassie. Fortunately the snow had all but gone from the day before so the drive down the mountain wasn't a hassle (even though I had the Rav 4 I wasn't looking forward to driving in snow). We arrived in Strahan after we decided to miss Queenstown. The village is a REAL tourist town. It's so setup for tourism that every cafe/pub/shop/restaurant is hooked together so no matter what place I wander into in the town I can charge it to my room! Unfortunately that doesn't mean that it's good!

The activities have been worth it, even with the weather being quite cold and wet. We took the last afternoon run of the Wilderness railway from Strahan to Queenstown, which travels through some of the thickest rainforest and up climbs of 1:20. The scenery was gorgeous even if it was overcast and sporting some scars from all the mining past.

Today we booked ourselves out on a cruise through the harbour and up the Gordon River, as a last treat we booked into the Captains lounge which made the whole experience quite decedent. The whole trip was spent on the upper deck being treated to endless Tasmanian wines accompanied by cheese tasting and some more unique Tasmanian landscapes. Again we didn't have the best weather but from the headed deck in the reclining lounges it didn't seem to matter.

It's a bit sad that it's coming to an end, our next stop is the Tamar Valley before heading back to Launceston for the flight home on Wednesday. The one thing I won't miss about Tassie though is the endless line of towns with less than 500 people, I have to admit I do love the city and the chance to pop in somewhere and get a coffee in the morning. The scenery has been beautiful and the experience has been great one of the best holidays I've been on, but a small part of me will be happy to be home on Wednesday.

See you all soon.

The Honeymooners

Blogging in patches

Blogging is pretty light, unfortunately most of the kiosks are dialup and expesive!

Cradle Mountain

Lots of people gave us advice on what to pack before we left for Tassie. Some advised not to pack too much warm stuff because it could still be quite hot, others made it clear that there would still be cold patches. No one however told us that it would be snowing!!! Last night as we dined by the log fire it started to snow and today we're greeted with about an inch on snow on our balcony! As a result we've been to the shop this morning for some snow jackets (and a beanie for me!).

We're staying at Cradle Mountain Lodge, for a couple of days which is just divine! The room is excellent, there were only spa rooms available when we booked complete with remote controlled fires which has been a real chore.

The rest of today will be spent lounging around the fires before we brave the snow for a mountain walk.

Launceston to Cradle Mountain via King Solomons Caves

After a brief trip to the centre of Launceston to stock up on some more memory for my camera and a delightful breakfast at Pierres we embarked on our next leg. Originally we'd planned to go straight to Strahan but with a lack of accommodation we tried our luck at Cradle Mountain and managed to get a good deal at the Voyages resort up there.

The drive itself was fairly uneventful, especially now we've discovered that you don't get a warning sign for the traffic unless you need to be doing less than 40km/h. We hit countryside that I would more typically associate with Tasmania, more mountain trails with the road meandering up into the lush rainforest.

We stumbled across King Solomons caves on a the way. It took us a little of the main drive for the trip to Cradle mountain but it was well worth it. It's a dry cave system with formations the instant you wander inside. They provide an excellent guided tour through the cave system.

We finished our journey up to Cradle Mountain and discovered that it really does get cold up here, booked ourselves in for a walk on Saturday and nuzzled back into our cabin by the fire :)

Hobart Honeymooning

We made it to Hobart relatively unscathed; a few annoying passengers but mostly standard flights. We got here at 9, made the hotel by 945pm and headed upstairs to our noise-affected room. We knew when we booked that the band would be playing below until at least 12; turned out to be 1; and we weren't in as much of a party mood as we had expected. Gee it was loud!

(BTW we are staying at the Customs House Hotel)

Sunday we wandered around Salamance, Battery Point and Hobart Central before heading out to Moorilla Winery on a cruise. We tasted wine and cheese, but the highlight was the antiquities museum - great roman mosaics and other artefacts.

We had dinner at Mures Lower Deck - good fish, disappointing chips and potato cakes.

Today it's cold and raining. We're currently in Hudsons with coffee, magazines and planning to go to a movie. Maybe the museum too. In the end, it's impossible not to be relaxed ... there's so little to do!!

-Vanessa and Cameron

THANK YOU!

Thank you to everyone who came to the wedding on Friday night. We had a great time and hope you all did too. After all our stress we really didn't understand how much fun we would have!

If we didn't get much time to talk to you, we're really sorry ... it was so hard to get to people - we kept getting grabbed for photos or drinks - so over the next few months we will be taking the time to try and see everyone to catch up properly, check out photos and relax with a few (more!) drinks.

Thanks again - especially to both mum and dads, Maggie, Linda, Craig and Bec, and the bridal boys and girl!

The Newlyweds

One week to go!

7 days. Starting to get a little nervous now. However, paying for the wedding (thank mum and dad(s)) is bring me back to reality. We did pick up our rings yesterday and I love them!!

This week we got our first wedding presents - a lovely book from Belinda in Canada (we will miss you bee!) and another from Cameron's parents (which is still wrapped - amazing I know).

I think at this stage everything is under control ... but it's hard to tell.

Neither of us can believe that we will be married next week. It's so close, yet so far away ...