Wednesday, April 4, 2007
As
we reached the top of the ‘Cradle’ on Cradle Mountain, the trekking
party sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Susan, celebrating her 60th in style!
On
the day, it was a long 14km, 7 hour trek in windy, muddy, drizzly
conditions in a stunning environment – but we made it! The cloud and
drifting mist added to the atmosphere.
We enjoyed the simplicity
and unspoilt nature of Tasmania – the small villages, fresh food, clean
air and soft water. We came across a bunch of high school students
socializing in the mall in Launceston – and, they were polite and
well-mannered. A rarity on the mainland.
We had expected
Tasmania to be as green as a Granny Smith apple, but found the Eastern
part of Tasmania and Launceston in drought and more like a dried and
forgotten apple core – like most of South Australia.
In the town
of St. Helens we had a Fawlty Towers/Dickensian kind of experience. We
were staying in a B&B run by John and Jill.
If it weren’t so fascinating, we would have packed our bags and fled the place.
From
the time we arrived, Jill, a large person with a mountain of teased
hair, was sitting at a table in the dining room, surrounded with a mess
of papers and books (It seemed as if she hadn’t moved from her seat the
whole time we were there and was still there the next morning when we
emerged for breakfast)
While our bed linen and bathroom etc were clean and tidy, the large light hanging over the bed was covered in cobwebs.
John,
the cook, was a big bald man, with a squint and a big hairy belly and
was naked apart from a very short pair of shorts, opening some oysters
purchased from a local oyster farm.
Jill: ‘Them oysters need some lemon on them.’
John: ‘Yairs, oysters taste better with some lemon.’
Jill: ‘Have youse got a lemon for them for their oysters?’
John: ‘Yairs, I’ll cut up some lemon for the oysters’
Jill: ‘yes, have some lemon with them oysters…..’ and so on for about 5 mins.
Most of the B&B’s and cabins we stayed in were excellent in Tassie, but you sure meet some characters on occasions.
While
Tasmania has a dark past and ‘other side’ to it (Port Arthur, treatment
of Aborigines in the past and symbolized in the present day by the huge
logging trucks that bully their way around the narrow country roads),
the experience overall was very pleasurable. Some of the highlights
were:
The architecture and number of beautifully preserved buildings.
The 11.5 km walk on the circuit that included Wineglass Bay, Hazards Beach on the Freycinet Peninsula.
The taste of an apple plucked straight from the tree – crispy, juicy, ecstatic!
The conservatory and Peter Cundall’s Vegie patch at the Botanic Gardens in Hobart
A long 12km day walk around Maria Island.
Seeing a Platypus in the wild
Salamanca Market
The magnificent old & tall trees with a presence that makes you feel like kneeling before them. The Tahune Air walk.
Walking along pristine beaches with white sand and clear sparkling water.
A meal of barbecued octopus at the Touchwood Café in Stanley.
The exhibition of Huon Pine furniture in Hobart Museum.
Russell and Nelson Falls and the Franklin and Gordon Rivers. Thank you Bob Brown and all the other activists.
And lots lots more.
It was a magical 3 weeks and we only lost one sun hat, an old library book, pair of sunglasses and a pedometer.
