Norb's Around the World Odyssey: Mountains, murals, bees, fish and a tailless dog named George…………

Cradle Mountain from afar

Day one was good, day two was great; the sites of each day seemed to be better than the previous one and I didn’t know how Andrew was going to top the first two days of the tour but he found a way with Cradle Mountain. (Okay Andrew, I still think Montezuma Falls barely edges out Cradle Mountain only because of the anticipation of getting to the falls but looking at the photos, Cradle Mountain wins hands down.)

Cradle Mountain

As you gather by now our day started with a trip to Cradle Mountain. The weather was perfect; sunshine; a clear blue, cloudless sky; crisp, cold, fresh air; no wind, and a fair amount of snow that had fallen a few days previous. We drove up to the mountain along winding roads and because of the cold the road was spotted with black ice. I was glad Andrew was doing the driving. You could see Cradle Mountain long before we arrived at the entrance to the park. We stopped along the road at a lookout to get a few shots of the snow covered mountain. Andrew said he usually doesn’t stop at that location because in the morning the mountain is shrouded with mist. This should have been a sign that it was going to be a great day to see the mountain. When we got to the park, the road in to Dove Lake, which lies in front of the base of the mountain, was closed to any vehicle without 4-wheel drive. It was closed not due to snow, but the ice on the road. Our van didn’t have 4WD so we had to take the park shuttle bus. The road in s narrow, so narrow that the busses can’t pass each other in most areas, so they carry radios to let each other know where they are on the road; then one bus will pull over into a siding to let the other pass. Unfortunately the cars on the road don’t carry radios and that can get a little tricky, especially on the icy roads. Another hint that this day was going to special was the fact that some of the park rangers, who work there every day and see the mountain all the time, were on the bus with their cameras going out to view and take pictures. We stepped from the bus and started to walk down the path to the lake, only the path was covered with ice and it was more sliding and hoping not to fall than walking. Once leaving the bus we could already see the gorgeous snow covered Cradle Mountain. Andrew said that was the most snow he has seen. When we reached the shore the view was spectacular, breathtaking, incredible, magnificent, picture postcard perfect. The lake was still, like a mirror, with everything around it reflected perfectly on its’ surface; and other than the park rangers, we were the only ones there. Have a look at the photos and I think you’ll agree it is awesomely beautiful, but being there was a hundred times better.

Pademelon

We had two options: climb up to a lookout for a different view or walk around the lake. Both typically take about 90 minutes, but the climb involves actually climbing using some chains that have been installed to assist climbers. Normally that is what we would have done, but because of the icy conditions, this route was considered too dangerous so we opted for the walk around the lake. It was just Tina, Claudia, Andrew and me; the Zhangs’ opted not to go and would hang out until we got back. Andrew, who had been wearing shorts our whole trip, continued with his fashion choice, although he did add a hat and gloves. It was cold, there was snow and ice, I’ve got on pants and my rain pants on over them, and he’s wearing shorts. They do grow them tough in Tassie. As we started our walk around the lake we did run into a crowd, TWO people were returning from the nearby lookout. The path around the lake was snow-packed and in places very icy. The park has installed boardwalks in several places around the lake and those tended to be the worst spots. At times we were just sliding down the steps of the boardwalk trying not to kill ourselves. The trip around the lake took us 2.5 hours but it was a lot of fun and well worth the effort. The varying views of the mountain and reflections on the lake were fantastic. We even saw a couple of pademelons (small wallabies) along the way. One was sunning himself trying to get warm and almost posing for pictures. Our last views were from the boat shed; look at the photo, what can I say. By the time we arrived back at our starting point there was a crowd, and this time I’m not joking there really was a crowd. I’m so glad we arrived when we did. The only thing that could have made it better would be a rainbow, unfortunately I had seen the last of the rainbows in Tasmania…. and I haven’t seen one since :(

Cradle Mountain boat shed

Sheffield Mural Park

Sheffield Murals

We left Cradle Mountain behind and moved on to the town of Sheffiled, “The Town of Murals”. Each year around Easter the town holds a contest for murals. Artists submit their proposed mural, the town will choose nine and then fly the artist to Sheffiled. The artists have one week to paint their murals on large boards in the park. People then vote on the best mural and the winner gets to paint their mural on one of the towns walls or buildings; becoming part of their permanent collection. The town is covered in murals; upwards of 50. Unfortunately we took so long walking around the lake, that our time in Sheffield was limited and I did not get a chance to see most the murals in town. There was an antique/curio/junk shop that caught my eye after reading the handwritten sign on the anesthetic machine they were selling. Once inside I was hooked. This is for my friends in Kalamazoo. I saw this “Kalamazoo” stand and asked the lady “What’s a Kalamazoo stand and what do you stand in it”. She said “I don’t know” so I said “Why do you call it a Kalamazoo stand”, She said “Because that’s the name printed on it”. So if anyone in Kalamazoo knows what this is for please let me know. Anyway, that got me started taking to the lady and her husband (?). He wrote the notes on many of the items in the store and was a pretty funny dude and reminded me of an old hippie. He wanted me to tell everyone that Tasmania is a miserable place, the weather is horrible, the people rude, the service is poor and no one should come here to visit. I do think he liked his laid back life and wasn’t totally on board with all the tourists. Everyone else I met wanted people to come visit.

Do it yourself anesthetic machine

Kalamazoo stand

Honey Farm in Chudleigh

We stopped at a local honey farm and tasted about 25 different flavors of honey; Leatherwood, Blue Gum, Stringy Bark, Chili, Cajun, Pepper and a bunch of others. Some were good, some not so much. I’m not a big fan of honey, but they did have home-made honey ice cream. Of course I had to try me some of that, so I had some honey Blue Gum ice cream. Blue Gum is a tree, not a flavor of bubble gum. It was delicious.

Our final stop was at a ginseng and salmon fish farm. Not a big company, but a micro operation, basically a local man and wife. They started with growing ginseng, but since it takes ten years before you can start to harvest they needed something else in the interim, so they started farming salmon. We were running behind schedule, and they closed at 5:00 (as did most places), so we really didn’t have time for more than a taste of their delicious smoked salmon. It was very good. I would have liked to have spent some time talking to the owner about his operation, but we had to move on.