Part 1

There's something romantic about starting a holiday with a journey. And not the kind that starts with a peakhour drive to the airport, followed by a 15 hour flight then finishes with war waged on a foreign country's initially confounding but fundamently superior public transport system. This hot-bed of stress that we call air-travel is not, in my opinion, a relaxing way to start a holiday - Although if you were to fly first class...

Station Pier in Melbourne.

Our cabin - bathroom on the right.

But our holiday started with a modest journey on the reliable ol' Spirit of Tasmania. We embarked in Melbourne for what was my very first overnight boat trip. We had gone 'posh' and had a two-bed cabin which I think was worth the extra dough. It was a very simple room with two beds a shower and toilet.

Leaving the pier.

Leaving Melbourne was lovely - clear sky and little wind made it very pleasant indeed to have a wine while watching Melbourne disappear. It takes three hours to leave Port Phillip Bay and head into the heaving seas of Bass Straight. This event occured sometime toward the end of our dinner in the Leatherwood Restaurant. Within a couple of minutes we went from the gentle throb of the engines to having to hold on to the walls as we made our way back to the cabin thinking the less alcohol drank the better! Geoff went straight to sleep... I was awake most of the night freaked out by the massive "slap" of the hull as the boat rode the (I thought they were anyway) massive waves. I kept looking out the window to check the size of these waves - I had heard that they can be breaking right up to the windows on the 8th deck where our cabin was - In reality they were probably 1m max... 

Into the belly of the beast.

Before we new it we were in Devonport waiting to disembark with our car. We were in the catagory of "first on, last off". We were happy enough to wait our turn though. We had a lovely drive through parts of the Western Tiers on our way to Longford where we setup camp for a couple of nights. While we were at Longford we visited Launceston and the Tamar Valley.

Ahh. The next morning near Sheffield, Tas.

Our first camp at Longford.

Our camp at Longford.

Duckies at Longford.

Cataract Gorge, Launceston.

Tamar Valley wineries.

After two nights at Longford we headed to our next camp at Gowrie Park. On the way we visited the Liffey Falls and Mole Creek caves. I also had my first run-in with the local wildlife - a copperhead snake...ewww.

The bushwalk to Liffey Falls.

Liffey Falls

Liffey Falls

"Big Tree" at Liffey Falls.

Gowrie Park was our base for exploring Cradle Mountain and the North West. At Cradle Mountain we did the Dove Lake Circuit very early in the morning and had the whole lake circuit to ourselves. By the time we got back to the carpark there were hundreds of people.
Here's some of my favourite Cradle Mountain photos;

 

And here's a little friend we found :-)

The carpark on our return.

What a difference a day makes...

Read on to Part 2...