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
