Tasmania

Ah, Tassie. F was getting over a cold and I got really sick, but even in my congested, drippy, sore throat haze I was aware enough to enjoy this sight...glorious snow capped mountains rising in the distance. OK, so they aren't the Rockies but they sure are pretty.

As we drove up into the mountains the temperature dropped to 3C/37F and the rain pelting the car started to get thick and then turned into snow flakes. Which proceeded to stick to the sides of the road. Travis was literally vibrating with excitement.

The scenery reminded us of home in many places, waterfalls, rugged peaks, and rocky outcrops, even though it's all on a smaller scale. Large sweeping vistas were peeking out around most corners, and I here I have to admit I started having a hard time concentrating as we kept going up and down little passes and my sinuses were on the verge of exploding.

Our first stopover on our round-the-island adventure was the Cradle Mountain Wilderness. It was pouring rain and VERY cold, close to freezing, our first day there. I'd packed as best I could, and with the addition of some recently acquired mittens for F and gloves for me we started out on a short hike part way around Dove Lake at the foot of Cradle Mountain.

Now that F's an accomplished walker we decided he certainly can start hiking. So off we went, weather and all. This was F's first official hike by his own locomotion (ie not in a backpack).

Hiking was VERY VERY popular.

Hiking with wee ones you should know that 1) they notice the most amazing and mundane things that you stopped noticing eons ago 2)it's so much fun you don't care it's as slow as molasses in February (in Alaska, not Australia). At this age F could care less what our destination is, it's all about the process, and what we're passing along the way. Every twig, pebble, and blade of grass. And on rainy day hikes, finding Every.Single.Puddle.

Hike #2 was a twilight hike to search for wombats. Oh nelly, and we found wombats. They were everywhere! Like koalas, we have not seen wombats in the wild before. Seeing Aussie animals in the wild is very exciting for us Yanks. I'm sure we're made fun of, sort of like how I gently laugh at the people who stop to take pictures of the elk. This hike was on a boardwalk, which made for really easy toddler hiking. Wombats are marsupials like kangaroos, but their pouch opens to the rear so they don't scoop snow or dirt into their pouch when they walk.

So, it's twilight, the light is low, and I'm thinking, boy it would be nice if there was a wombat close to the path so I could maybe get a shot that didn't look like a tiny brown spot in the brown grass. Then my batteries die. And the spares are back at the car, 15 min away. I sigh to myself, Travis and I consult about the cold and the late hour, and decide to go around one more turn. Lo and behold, a wombat! RIGHT THERE! I'm about 50 yards ahead of the boys, and I'm hoping my camera will turn on and the wombat won't be scared away by wild and crazy FFM.

I make wild, but silent, arm gestures to try to communicate that the boys should approach quietly, and it works. New word 'om-at' is delivered.

The wildlife continued, and on the drive back after the hike I spotted a flash on the side of the road. My quick thinking husband flipped a U-turn and I'd spotted a Tasmanian devil. Another marsupial, and T tells me the only carnivorous one. Back in Brisbane we watched one having lunch one day at the Australia Zoo, and they're tough customers even if they're not very big.

After two days of rain and snow we awoke to crystal clear skies so we made one more visit out to the lake. Like other famous mountains people can wait years for a clear day at Cradle Mountain. We met two couples at breakfast who had been out 5 times at different times of year and had never seen the entire mountain.

F's wondering why we didn't hike again on the sunny day...to appease him we threw some rocks into the lake instead. We were off to our next town, Launceston, and needed to get on the road. Partway to Launceston we took a break and let F play at a park and he ran around in the fall leaves. Fall in April is still the strangest of the upside down seasons for me.

The gorge at Launceston. And the bridge. Which was bouncy. Which F figured out how to bounce. T found this humorous, I did not.

After a short stay in Launceston we headed on to Hobart. Home of a Cadbury factory. YUM YUM. They hand out lots of free chocolate at Cadbury. And hot chocolate. It's very nice.

We did some day driving trips from Hobart, one to the Tasman peninsula. One of our favorite stops was at the 'tessellated pavement.'

Let me back up for a moment. We're famous for buying maps with what we call 'red dots' on them. Red dots are simply points of interest that the map maker has decided to put on the map. Often they are red, this map they happened to be purple. There's usually no description, just a name or a word. One stop was called "Female Factory" and it ended up being an old women's jail. We've done this ever since our great trip along the east coast where we found such amazing things as Lucy the Elephant. Sometimes the dots are duds, but usually they're winners.

Anyway, there was a dot called tessellated pavement. We had no idea if this was a natural or man made feature, but it sounded interesting. And there were heaps of other dots along the way. So we headed out. Tessellated pavement is a natural rock formation that looks like this:

It's pretty cool, but since I don't think too many of my readers are geologists I'll leave it at that.

The tide was going out as we walked down the path, leaving heaps of tidal pools to explore. I spotted a starfish and some kids nearby found another one. F enjoyed throwing empty mussel shells back into the ocean and got really excited about holding the tiny orange starfish that were scattered everywhere.

Our last day in Hobart we had a late afternoon flight, so we checked out of our accommodation and found a nifty train museum. The first part was an entire room filled with little train scenes that operated by pushing a rocker switch right at kid height. Heaven for little boys.

The next room was a GIANT room with an exact replica of a mountain range in Switzerland. The lights dimmed up and down to replicate days and nights, there were thunderstorms, and even fog that rolled in over the lake. Chairlifts and trams took skiers up to mountain peaks and boy scouts went for hikes. F kept trying to climb the wall.