Woke at 5:15am and we were all set to go by 6am. Setting off in the dark is quite exciting, but the thought of nine and a half on the ferry, crossing Bass Strait for the first time – I guess you could say, we didn’t know quite what to expect. Arrived at the port at 7am and had to wait an hour before boarding, but the bay looked wonderful and there were seven hot air balloons for us to watch.
There was also a duck enjoying the Bay at dawn!
The ferry was enormous and after getting the lift to the 8th floor, we walked, what seemed to be the whole length of the ship and then across the width of it, until we came to the Reclining Chair section where we were booked into. What a view! Facing towards the back of the boat, we had seats in the second row of seats. We saw the churning water and felt a shudder and we were off. The trip across the bay was interesting and because it was a Sunday there were a lot of boats and jet skis. We particularly liked the bay from Dromana to Queenscliffe. Unfortunately, the person the the recliner in front of me, reclined her seat completely, hemming me in completely. I couldn’t even reach my handbag at my feet. At lunchtime, I was released and Russ and I went down to the next level and had lunch. Going through the heads was interesting, the photo is of Point Lonsdale.
Arrival at Devonport didn’t go completely as expected, as Russ must have had a senior moment in Melbourne when booking our accommodation. There was a mix up with the person when he was booking our ferry trip, and he ended up booking us into a Melbourne caravan park! She assumed we were going to Melbourne and gave him the name of the nearest caravan park to there. Eventually, we ended up at a free camp about 10 kms from Devonport at Latrobe.
The next morning we set off to Deloraine, an arty little town only 45 or so kms away. Set up for a couple of nights on the banks of the Meander River, with ducks, trees and a great deli in town.
Next day took a picnic to Liffey Falls, then took an “easy” walk! I went half way, down a long descent then decided to return to the car. The walk back was difficult for me and Russ said, on his return, that it was difficult for him as well. Hope we can trust their grading signs. The walk was picturesque, winding its way down through tall tree ferns, with viewing platforms at every stage of the falls.
We then headed to Pine Lake, driving and ascending on windy roads, with cliffs of crushed rock on either side. The rock had been crushed by ice, after the ice expanded. An amazing sight to see!! Russ went on a boardwalk and said it was like walking through a forest of bonsais. He saw many of these native pines, all at least 1000 years old. Quite breathtaking.
The stone flows were also very interesting and covered most of the area around Pine Lake. They were formed during the last ice age when water froze in the cracks in the rocks and split them. The pieces of rock then moved down the hilss to form “Stoen Flows”
This morning we have moved on to Gowrie Park, staying at the Wilderness Village. Next to our van was a TasmanianPademelon, also known as Rufous wallabies, a tiny wallaby, like a potteroo – extremely cute.
On the way to Gowrie Park we visited Alum Cliffs on the Mersey River. It was a 2 Km return, walk up hill 1/3 the way out and 1/2 the way coming back, but it was a wonderful view when you got to the gorge.
I have typed this on an Apple for the first time – it’s taken me three times as long – but I’m still learning!!
Today we drove towards Cradle Mountain, in search of a picnic area, but to no avail. We returned to our camp and had a lovely lunch.
The clouds have disappeared and to our surprise, we are surrounded my massive walls of mountain and the drives are windy and steep. we had no idea that our camping area is at the foot of these magnificent mountains.
Another thing, is that, from Sunday, the humidity has been in the 80s – very steamy – but today (Thursday), after a cool change, the humidity is a comfortable 40 percent.