Messages From Myanmar #20
Australian Vacation
Special - Part 5 of 6
13 September 2016
Photo Update Alert:
Day 13 - Sat., 08/27 -
An Epic Drive
We spent the morning in Lonny, seeing the sights. After purchasing
some homemade beef jerky and more Glucojels (because you just never know), we
departed Launcetown and, without getting lost, thank you, headed west to Cradle
Mountain.
It was a beautiful day for a drive and the scenery featured rolling
hills and more sheep than we’ve ever seen. Our directions were clear and our
fuel level decent, but we decided to top off the tank at Mole Creek. Which is
just as big as you think it is. This turned out to be the best decision we made
all day.
Aussies are (generally) very friendly, chatty people, and I got into a
conversation with a fellow who had been spending a lot of time helping his
neighbors recover from the disastrous floods that tore up northern Tasmania
this past June. We learned that one of the main roads to Cradle Mountain was
still closed and a significant detour was in our future.
No worries. The drive was awesome, with beautiful landscapes, lots of
mountain curves, and not a hell of a lot of room for error. Our revised directions
were perfect and we arrived at Pepper’s Cradle Mountain Lodge, in a windy
drizzle, well before nightfall. The lodge, adjacent to a national park, is an
enormous operation, and our cabin was quite a schlep by foot.
Since we were booked for only one night (insane, I know), we
immediately put on our hiking gear and hit the “King Billy Trail,” named for a local
variety of pine tree. They grow up to 40 m in height and the forest is loaded
with ‘em. The hike itself was pretty moderate and kind of mysterious; the
forest being full of ferns and fallen trees covered in moss. It was an
excellent walk for a cold and wet afternoon.
That evening: Dinner, build a fire, take a hot bath, go to bed. Big
day coming up.
Day 14 - Sun., 08/28 -
Freycinet
The drive from Cradle Mountain southeast to Freycinet Lodge, located
in the Freycinet National Park on the east coast, is roughly 350 km (218 mi),
some of it on the same mountain roads we traveled the day before. But a sunny
day (and noticeable improvement on the head cold front) made for a beautiful
journey through eucalyptus forests and past bucolic fields full of sheep and,
occasionally, a flock of foraging white cockatoos. After a magnificent morning’s
drive, we had lunch in Bicheno, a small village on the coast.
From there, it was on to the Freycinet National Park, where we learned
that our prepaid park entrance fee was superfluous, seeing as how it was the
100th anniversary of the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service and
entry was gratis the next two days. OK. Once we got our (free) park pass, we
arrived at Freycinet Lodge in time for sunset and dinner.
Day 15 - Mon., 08/29 -
Wineglass Bay
By this time, we were up for some more serious walking around. So, we
elected to hike to the Wineglass Bay Lookout, a journey supposedly 40 minutes
in length. For those of us approaching geezertude, a more relaxed pace was
appropriate, nay, unavoidable. Once there, it was picture postcard time again.
But the most sublime moment came when A.J. spied a small whale lollygagging
near the shore of the bay, a very rare sighting at this time of year.
Our next, less strenuous walk was an easy stroll to the Cape Tourville
Lighthouse, featuring a gorgeous, if considerably more distant view of
Wineglass Bay. And 1000 km to the east? New Zealand. To finish off the day, we
had ice cream at the only store in the town of Cole’s Bay and then meandered around
Honeymoon Bay, near the lodge, where we watched sea birds perch and Japanese
kids take selfies.
[Gustatory Sidebar - The eating
on this trip was generally very good, especially aboard The Ghan, where they
fed us three squares a day. But the single most spectacular dish was the
seafood bouillabaisse at Freycinet Lodge. Scallops, prawns, fish, clams, and
mussels in a creamy tomato concoction… oh, my.]
To be continued...
Rodger
No comments:
Post a Comment