Hellyer Gorge river walk

Toby has been saying “next stop Tasmania” for several days now, and last night it was finally true. We boarded the Spirit of Tasmania at around 6:30 pm and left the dock at around 7:30 pm. It was an interesting night, with both kids not wanting to go to sleep in our 4-berth cabin (bunk beds) and the vibrations, noise of the engine chugging along and some slightly rough sections of the crossing. It was reasonably comfortable, though, and we were driving around Devonport after clearing quarantine by 7:30 am this morning.

We had a lovely breakfast at Laneway Cafe, and Andrew said the coffee was very nice….always a good sign if you can impress a coffee snob. :D. Then we hit the road, taking a detour off the freeway to go through the township of Penguin where we saw a big penguin. We stopped in Burnie for some essentials (food, mostly….we can never get far with the kids if we don’t have food!) and then found a little playground to burn off some energy.

We stopped for lunch at Hellyer Gorge where we went for a nice little stroll along the Hellyer River. The kids had a ball throwing stones into the water. With rain threatening, we got back into the car and drove to Waratah. It was a little detour to look for petrol, so it was a great surprise to find a big waterfall practically right in town. It was stunning.

Finally we made it to our destination of Cradle Mountain Lodge where we are staying for two nights. After booking in we drove down to Dove Lake, a very beautiful spot. We couldn’t see many of the mountains around due to low cloud, and it started raining as well. Hopefully the weather will be a bit better for walking tomorrow.

Hellyer River

Waratah waterfall

Waratah water wheel

Dove Lake