We bid goodbye to our kind host Bumpy for his hospitality and I could notice his sadness on our departure. While we were on our way out of the hostel, the Chinese girl who danced with Bumpy the night before shouted that she had left something in the hostel. We had to return to the hostel and that allowed the girl to see Bumpy again to bid farewell to him the second time. The somber mood of departure did not last long because we would be visiting the most visited national park in Tasmania, Cradle Mountain National Park.
The drive from Strahan to Cradle Mountain was a long one along Murchison highway before turning east for another 26 km to the information centre cum shop and cafe. The journey was almost 2 hours and required park pass to enter which was settled by James. From the information centre to the car park at Lake Dove, our starting point for the hike up Marion lookup point for Cradle Mountain was about 5 km. It is a narrow tar road which only allows one car to pass through. All the bus drivers were given a walkie-talkie to communicate with the driver coming in the opposite direction to give way in advance. Passengers on private car can go to Lake Dove by boarding the free shuttle bus plying between the information centre and Lake Dove.
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| Cradle Mountain and Lake Dove |
We were given the option to hike up to Marion Lookout point to have a panoramic view of Cradle Mountain or to walk the 6 km round Lake Dover circuit. Hiking up Marion Lookout required more demanding physical fitness and the proper jacket and shoes as it was very cold and windy up the hill. All of us go for the tough one except Tim, Adrian Foo , Foo's wife, and the French mum and daughter. They had to do the walk round Lake Dove which also required certain level of physical fitness. The track is boardwalked for much of the way and it will take you beneath the towering spires of cradle mountain.
We started our climb from the car park on a track consisting of boardwalk followed by stony steps uphill. We passed by a pool called Wombat Pool but we did not see any wombat in it. Maybe too many visitors scared them away. But we spot a big Tasmanian bird which flew away when I tried to get closer for a closed up photo. The final part of the climb was the toughest and we needed to grab on to the chain railing by the side of the track to move up. There were a lot of hikers, young and old but they were very well equipped with their walking sticks and cold weather clothes. I was the last in our group to reach the peak due to the pain at my heels. The stunning view of Cradle Mountain, Lake Dove and Lake Crater was just marvelous from the rocky peak. After some photo session with the most beautiful landscape in Tasmania and some light snack we started our descent. It was very much easier going downhill but I had to endure the slight pain at my heels.
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| Lake Dove and Lake Crater |
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| Almost reaching Marion Lookout |
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| The most seek-after spot at Marion lookout |
Before reaching the car park, we arrived at a spot where the view of Cradle Mountain was just too good to miss. A Chinese couple from Tianjin volunteered to snap a photo for us and it was definitely a perfect shot. They looked well to do judging from their attires and their branded handbag but they were very humble and friendly. In fact we were not the only one they became volunteer photographers.
Sheffield or town of murals was our next stop. There are more than 60 murals depicting the area's rich history. Beautiful natural scenery have been painted on walls through out the town mostly buildings along the roadside. Besides the murals, the town is famous for its Fudge tasting. We visited the famous Fudge 'n' Good Coffee cafe on the main street after being told of its free Fudge tasting. The shop is housed in a 19th century building and besides fudge it is famous for authentic Italian coffee. The owner who manned the counter was very friendly and allowed us to taste as many types of fudge as we like. Very convincing sale person because we ended up buying some fudges to be taken home. We also ordered its authentic Italian coffee since we were given discount after buying the fudges. We found ourselves a small table by the window with clear view of the road outside. We managed to post some beautiful pictures of the town on Whatsapps using the shop's free wifi while sipping the famous coffee of Sheffield.
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| Sheffield, beautiful murals all over the town |
We returned to the bus slightly late and luckily I did not hear any complaint. Upon our arrival, James immediately started the bus engine and steered toward Elizabeth Town, 35 km from Launceston. We visited Ashgrove Tasmania Farm which has been producing award winning dairy products for many years. We visited the farm store to try out its many types of cheese. We did not buy any cheese as we seldom eat cheese but we tried its creamy cheese ice cream which is very sticky and nice. There were many visitors and the store was doing very brisk business.
Our final stop for the day was Launceston where we would be staying for only one night. The hostel we were staying was Launceston backpackers which is a one hundred years Victorian building. It has a large TV room , a large kitchen and separate dining room. The setback is only one male bathroom in the upper floors and not enough sockets in the dormitory. We did not have time to explore the second largest city of Tasmania on our own because we had to be ready early for our dinner at a Pizza Hut which was offering us 10% discount under the arrangement of the tour operator. James took us to the restaurant. Besides pizza we also tried the cheap draft beer which turned up to be water with alcohol flavour because it was too diluted. We chit-chatted with the topics mostly central around our tourist guide , James who told us a lot about himself and his job. Launceston marked the departure of 5 of our tour members who only did the three days tour. I was a bit regretful that I did not manage to bid farewell to Jennifer, the pretty British woman from Liverpool who is so sweet and easy going.
Day 6
We had completed our exploration of the wild wild west of Tasmania with consists mostly of jungles, mountains, waterfalls and lakes and from now we would visit the east coast which is renowned for its beautiful seasides, beaches and islands. Before we left Launceston for the east coast we visited Cataract Gorge which is only 1.5 km from the town centre. It is more like a recreation park with jogging tracks, suspension bridge, lake, and river gorge. The most attractive part of course is the river gorge which has lookout points on small hills and it also boasts of its world longest single span chairlift. There are also many wallabies, peacocks and colourful flower plants. We walked up to the lookout point to have a glimpse of the river gorge below before we walked the many trails to look for wallabies and peacocks which were easily spotted. Some locals were seen jogging or doing yoga in the park but the whole park is very peaceful and quiet. We only spent about half an hour as we had to embark on a long journey to Bay of Fire which is situated in the north east of Tasmania.
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| The deep river gorge between the hills |
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| On the bridge over the river gorge |
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| Cataract Gorge of Launceston |
We stopped at St Helen after travelling for almost three hours through rainforests and farmlands. St Helen is the largest town on the north-east coast of Tasmania which is also the second largest fishing port in Tasmania renowned for its catches of deep sea fish and lobsters. We visited the supermarket which has plenty of seafood and other Tasmanian farm produces for our lunch at Bay of Fire. We ended up buy our second AUD 8 roasted chicken and some big Tasmanian Cherries.
Bay of Fire is only 2 km from St Helen and it has one of the world's most beautiful beach which attracts a lot of caravan campers. James had a hard time finding a place to park as the whole place was full of caravans with their self-proclaimed campsites. The beach here is pristine white and the azure blue water was calm making it an ideal place for a swim. What is more peculiar about the beach is the big granite rocks which are turned into orange colour by the lichens which cover its surface.
We found ourselves a shaded place on the rock to have our lunch before Xin Yi changed into her swimming gear to experience her first ever swim in the South Sea. The water was chilly and she could not stay in the water for too long. Only a few of our fellow tour members went for the swim maybe because most of the us did not want the trouble of changing into swimming gear. After Xin Yi's brief swim or dip we climbed onto the coastal granite rocks to have a lookout of the sea in the north, maybe Bass Strait which separates Australia mainland from Tasmania.
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| At Bay of Fire, preparing for a swim |
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| Orange lichen covered Granite Rocks at Bay of Fire |
From Bay of Fire we proceeded to Wildlife Sanctuary of Bicheno along the most scenic coastal drive. We had to make it to the sanctuary in time for animals feeding show and James was like speeding all the way to the sanctuary. We reached the sanctuary on time for the quoll and Tasmanian devil feeding show. Even though we had seen Quoll and Tasmania devil before in Australian Zoo , we were still very excited especially the fierce-looking Tasmanian devil pulling kangaroo meat from the hand of the keeper.
The sanctuary occupies a big area with lagoons and forests. We also bought some animal feeds to feed the kangaroos and Tasmanian geese ourselves. It is quite entertaining to see the green Tasmanian geese coming forward yearning for more after they had finished the food I showered to them. We spent more than one hour at the sanctuary in the hot summer sun visiting wombats, parrots, snakes , emu and others but still did not manage to cover the whole area.
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| Lagoon in Bicheno Animals Sanctuary |
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| Tasmanian devil |
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| Quoll which can only be found in Tasmania |
After visiting the animals sanctuary, we headed south to Bicheno for our night's accomodation. We stayed at Bicheno Backpackers which consists of two double storeys wooden buildings which is easily recognisable from a distant . We were assigned a six-bed dormitory which were reasonably clean and comfortable. Bicheno is a very small seaside town with just a few shops. We joined the Bicheno Penguin Tour which started at 8:00pm. We had to gather at the ticketing centre in a shop not far away from our hostel. After buying our tickets which costs AUD35 per ticket, we were taken to the penguin site few kilometres away. Each bus will have a tour guide who will lead us and explain everything about little penguin. We had seen penguin parade in Phillip Island few years ago but the Bicheno penguin site is more primitive without any modern building. Our guide is quite knowledgeable and talked non-stop while taking us around the site to see the penguins either returning from the sea, resting in their cocoons or readying for matching. It was quite noisy all over the place as it was the matching season. The tour is very educational and it is a pity that some of our tour members did not follow the tour due to reasons only known to them.
Bicheno Penguin Tour
A penguin tour is the best way to see penguins up close and safely without disturbing them, or hurting yourself! The penguins are accustomed to our tour and lights, but loud noises and camera flashes will scare them away.
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