Is the pandemic over? Can we go out to play? It certainly is getting there. It’s May 2022 and we’re able to travel freely interstate in Australia and to most countries in the world now.

We’ll start softly-softly with a week in Tasmania. We booked 6 nights at the Shearwater Resort. The It is located on the north coast 20km east of Devonport, Tasmania’s 3rd largest city. We chose this location as an exchange for our Busselton Beach resort timeshare weeks. Because of the pandemic we had “space banked” a couple weeks. The Shearwater Resort seemed like a good option for our Tasmanian base.

Tasmania is the smallest Australian state and is an island separated from the mainland by Bass Strait. It has a cooler climate than most parts of Australia, so we packed our woollies.

Day 1 – getting there.

We were up early for the 6am Virgin flight from Perth to Launceston via Melbourne. With just a one hour stop over in Melbourne the flight was easy, but a little uncomfortable having to wear a face mask on the plane and in the airport terminals. We arrived in cold, rainy Launceston 2.15pm. After collecting our bags we arranged for a shuttle bus to take us to the car rental depot. We booked a small car from Bargain Car Rentals. We picked up a five(?) year old Hyundai Accent and commenced the one hour drive to Shearwater. The car was easy to drive and navigation, using google maps on my phone was simple. We arrived at the resort at 4pm. We checked into our studio unit with a nice view over the golf course.

After settling in we decided it was time for a drink. The resort had a bottle shop on site so that made it easy to pick up a couple of bottles of wine and a six pack of James Boag beer. Being in the North of Tasmania its Boag’s over Cascade. We’ll switch to Cascade when we travel South. We wanted to try Tasmanian reds so we settled on a couple of bottles of Pinot Noir. Then across the road to IGA for some snack supplies. We got back to the unit quite tired from the travelling and watched some TV with our wine and snacks before hitting the sack quite early

Day 2 Trees, Platypus and Football

My football team, Fremantle, were playing in Gold Coast on Sunday and I wanted to watch the game, so I didn’t want to travel too far from civilisation. I’d read that you can easily see Platypuses (or is it Platypi?) at the Tasmania Arboretum in Eugenana not far from Devonport. Being from the far west, this was a rare opportunity to see a Platypus in the wild. It was a scenic 30 min drive from the resort to the Arboretum. The grounds we’re very picturesque with trees of every shape and colour. There was a large lake in the middle and the lady at the kiosk gave us instructions on how to spot the Platypuses.

About half way around the park, it started to rain and Jane, not feeling well, returned to the kiosk for a hot chocolate. I pushed on like a trooper. It didn’t take long to spot my first Platypus. I spied a disturbance in the water and sure enough up bobbed a hairy brown shape. I had my 100-400mm lens with me so I got a nice view of it on the surface of the water. It was thrilling to see. I snapped a few shots and pressed on around the lake. I spotted another couple pf Platypuses and tried to take as many photos as possible. I was a little disappointed in the result as the light wasn’t ideal and they move quite quickly.

Jane finished her hot chocolate and chat with the kiosk lady and ordered an ice-cream for the drive back to Devonport. We were hungry, so we settled on Molly Malone’s Irish pub for lunch. I made sure they had the football on TV. The Guinness and Fish & Chips were nice, but the football result wasn’t what I’d hoped for. We dodged the rain and drove back to Shearwater. As Jane didn’t like the Tasmanian Pinot Noir from yesterday, we picked up good ol’ South Australian Shiraz on the way home. We drank the wine and had home made toasted sandwiches for dinner.

Day 3 – Cradle Mountain

The most anticipated highlight of the trip was a visit to Cradle Mountain. Cradle Mountain is a beautiful part of the world situated in the world heritage listed Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park.

Situated and hour and a half from our resort we thought this would be a leisurely drive up the mountain. It was anything but leisurely! The winding roads up and down the mountain was hard work but very beautiful. It was hairpin bend after hairpin bend.

We arrived at the Cradle Mountain Visitor’s Centre, paid our park fees ($25 each) and waited for the shuttle bus to take us into the park. No private vehicles are allowed in the park itself. Waiting for the bus we could see snow dusting the tops of the peaks. I checked the temperature – 2 degrees Celsius (feels like -5 the app said).

The shuttle bus dropped us off at the last stop – Dove Lake. The literature say’s allow 2-3 hours to walk around the lake. We quickly realised that’s not going to be possible today as the rain and snow started falling. Coupled with the icy wind conditions worsened and we could only manage about 20 minutes before turning back. We managed to snap some photos of the lake and mountain in between showers.

We caught the shuttle bus back to the Ranger’s Station and embarked on some smaller walks as the rain subsided. The rain forest was stunning and there was some waterfalls to see along the way. The highlight was meeting a quite friendly wombat coming towards us on the track. We could see why this trail was named the “Enchanted Trail”. He (or she (,or they)) seemed oblivious to use and went about its business. I couldn’t get my camera out quick enough to capture a clear photo.

The end of the enchanted Trail took us to the Cradle Mountain Lodge. Perfect! as we were ready for lunch. We had a pizza and chicken wings (a lunch standard for us) washed down with a local beer and wine.

We made our way back to the carpark and immediately switched the car’s heater on full blast. We were back at Shearwater as the full moon was rising in the east. A wonderful but tiring day!

Tomorrow we head South for a couple of days in Hobart.