East and South

Our destination for tonight was Cradle Mountain, about 150 km and less than 2 hours of driving from Eagle’s Roost Farmstay at Rocky Cape. On that basis we opted for 8:00 am breakfast and accepted Helen’s offer of a farm tour before we left.

We were up at 7:00 am and ready for breakfast at 8:00 am. As it was yesterday, it was ample and very tasty. Majella had Eggs Florentine and I stuck to the French Toast with its bacon, banana, and maple syrup.

After breakfast Majella fed some grated cheese to the wrens on the front deck and then we headed out. There was some sunshine this morning but It had rained through the night and the ground would be muddy. Helen found a pair of Wellington boots that fit Majella who took some time to get used to clumping about in them. My walking boots were judged adequate and I took care to stay out of the mud as much as possible.

First task was to feed the cattle, a jersey cow heavily in calf and her male companion. Majella and I carried buckets with dry feed and Helen carried hay as we walked down through the mud taking care to avoid the electric fences that Helen pressed down to allow us past. The cattle were enthusiastic eaters and would have wrested our buckets from us if we had waited longer to offer them.

Back up the hill we returned our buckets and Majella scattered grain for the chickens. Then we headed out the other gate toward the bush section of Helen’s 5 acres where we spent the next hour or so to walk down to the creek and back. The purpose of the walk was to collect the cards from Helen’s cameras to see what action there had been overnight but along the way we had extensive commentary about the bush and its inhabitants.

As a zoologist, Helen was well equipped to point out where and what animals had scraped at the ground or left a deposit. She knew what birds lived in the area and where they nested. We were surprised to learn that ducks nested high in a large tree but seeing one duck on a high branch and then seeing both fly away was convincing. We were more surprised to learn that when the ducklings are ready they must drop to the ground and then walk with their mother down to the nearby creek.

Since living in the area Helen has expanded her interests to the vegetation, especially the fungi. She was able to point out interesting plants and named many of the fungi as we went. She has worked through the process of ageing the larger trees and could tell us that some were over 400 years old and point to signs of how local people had marked them for climbing or other purposes.

It took us about an hour to walk around the property and back to the scented garden near the house where she collected the last of the camera cards. Back in the house we completed packing while Helen checked the camera cards and copied the more interesting videos from the past couple of nights for us to take.

After leaving Helen we drove out toward the point but did not get as far as the lighthouse. Majella was too law-abiding to enter the national park without a permit. We turned and headed west toward Mawbanna and Dip Falls which had been recommended by Helen.

By then it was approaching 11:00 am and we were ready for coffee which we found at Blue Hills Honey along Mawbanna Road. They had some intriguing ice cream flavours so Majella was able to add to her 2021 challenge with a leatherwood honey, cardamon, and almond treat.

In the Dip Falls area we walked to the Big Tree that Helen had told us about. Like the one we saw at Liffey Falls on Sunday it was a brown topped stringybark and enormous, reputedly the biggest girth in Tasmania at 17 m around.

The falls were impressive with a large drop over columnar basalt in two tiers. There were steps down to a viewing platform opposite the base where we had an excellent clear view. Majella counted the steps at 205 on the way back up.

At that point it was about 1:00 pm and we were further from our destination for the day than when we started. We headed back to the highway and east as far as Burnie. There we filled up with fuel and then headed south and east toward Cradle Mountain. We had thought we might find somewhere for lunch in a town along the way but we eventually realised that was not going to happen and ate some of the crackers from Sunday as we drove. I ate the last of the truffled cheese but Majella declared it past her age limit.

As we approached the turn off to Cradle Mountain we spotted a sign for a viewpoint, parked, and walked the 200 m uphill. There was a view over the Belvoir valley but Cradle Mountain was well hidden by cloud. We drove on and reached the lodge around 3:00 pm. Checkin was simple and we booked ourselves in for the complementary wild life tour at 5:30 pm.

Once we had found our cabin and dropped our gear we set off to tackle a couple of local short walks. The first took us over the road and then on boardwalks across a meadow where we saw a wombat grazing.

The boardwalk led to the creek and then along the creek, downstream to Knyvet and upstream to Pencil Pine Falls. We walked both through gnarled trees covered in moss and looking like something out of a fantasy movie set. As we walked back across the meadow there were two wombats grazing.

Back across the road we followed the Enchanted walk up the creek, across a bridge, and back down to the lodge. The first part on the far side of the creek seemed less enchanted than our walk to the falls but the downstream walk was through lush green forest and deserved the title.

As we approached the lodge it began to rain, gently at first and then heavily. By that time we were under cover and entering the bar for drinks. Majella had mulled wine and I had a glass of red. She had decided we could wait there for our tour, so we ordered a bowl of chips to eat while we waited. Majella figured that would be sufficient to supplement the complementary platter of cold meat, cheese, and crackers that had been in our room – part of our Qantas special. When we had eaten our chips we walked around to reception to wait for our guide.

There were just 6 of us and the guide in a 12 seater bus for the tour. One of the passengers was persuaded to sit up front and operate a spotlight on one side while the driver managed the vehicle and the spotlight on his side. Our guide was informative and we managed to spot pademelons, Bennett’s wallabies, wombats, and a possum along the way. We also got stories about the animals and the Austrian, Gustav Weindorfer, who had fought to have the Cradle Mountain area preserved. For the spotlights to be effective the front windows needed to be open and we had sat ourselves in the front row. We had a good view and very fresh air.

Back at the lodge we found our cabin and enjoyed our platter with our Goaty Hill Pinot Noir in front of the (gas fueled) fireplace. Once we had thawed out we did not mind that it was 5ºC and dropping outside.