Travels thru Tasmania........

(To begin this new post, we are currently in the Philippine Islands where the Internet and telephone service can be non-existent. So we'll keep up the posts as much as we can and I'll continue to send out notices about new posts as they happen. There will be 2 new posts as of today. I've that doesn't work, please let me know.....Dave and Michelle)

Day 5 – We arrived in the city of Launceston. This is the 2nd largest city in Tasmania. Our hotel was right next to the end of the fresh water Esk River that meets up with the salty Tamar River. The place where we stayed is designed with pirates, castles, and moats in mind. Our balcony over saw all of this and gave us the feeling we were a part of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We trekked up the Cataract Gorge which is where the Esk River flows.

There are walkways on both sides of the gorge. We decided to do the harder one on the way up and the “no so hard” coming down. The river reminds me of our own Stanislaus River above the central valley in California. It was picturesque with large granite cliffs making a huge river gorge. While exploring the gorge, we found a piece of paradise.

Prior to our expedition, Michelle reminded me to bring a bathing suit. I think I read that there is swimming somewhere up the river she says. After about ½ a mile of walking, there it was…..a huge fresh water swimming area, made up by damming the river, and next to it was one of the largest swimming pools I’ve ever seen. All of this was absolutely FREE!!!! Let me tell you, when traveling to tourist locations, nothing is free. So Michelle dove into the river and I swam in the pool. It was a glorious day. That evening we found the beer, that I would say, is the best in Tasmania, Boughs Draught. It’s brewed right here in Launceston, and we love it! We met some locals, shared thoughts, stories, etc. and once again, got ready to hit the road, heading up to Cradle Mountain, which is a state park that lies west.

On our way we needed to stopped to check out King Solomon’s Cave. We got there at the last tour, around 3:30 pm and joined up with a couple of students from the UK. It was an amazing tour, with mineral crystals building themselves into large beautiful cones hanging from the top of the cave. It looked as if Hollywood had come in and designed it. The cave is located in a rain forest. The moisture seeps into the limestone through the sand stone tunnel walls and becomes crystallized after centuries of drip after drip. The colors and patterns were so intricate and impressive. We were in shock by the fossilized beauty surrounding us. From here we continued through the mountains.

We experienced our first Tasmanian rain fall and it hit hard at a bad time. We were driving in the mountains trying to find our hotel. Luckily we met a couple on the road who were also lost, but going to the same place as us. We ran decided to caravan up to our hotel, the Lemontyme Lodge.


Well...we found it. Here we were in the raw exotic west of Tasmania, anticipating a rustic place to sleep in the bush. We were blessed with the largest log cabin in the Southern Hemisphere built with the protected Huon Pine of Tasmania’s rain forest. Lemonthyme Lodge turned out to be a 5 star cabin retreat, complete with en suite Jacuzzi tubs, wet bars, a secluded back porch overlooking the rain forest and our very own fireplace to relax with. Dinner was prepared in 5 star glamour. Luckily we brought our own wine and beer and had a ball at this romantic setting.

It is here that one is allowed to feed the animals. We came face to face with hundreds of platypus’s (wallabee family) and fed them melons from the Lemontyme kitchen. This is a nightly educational festivity for the guests. Unfortunately we got to Lemontyme late and had to leave early to continue our Tasmanian loop so off we went the next morning to Cradle Mountain National Park.

The rock formations here reminded us of the towering Yosemite. We did our hike around Dove Lake which was a 7 Kilometer trek that took more than 2 hours. The lake was crystal clear and warm enough to swim in, though we didn’t. It was so nice to be in the wilderness to enjoy the untouched terrain all around us.