17th October 2009

After the car had conked out when we were about to board the ship, we worried all night that it wouldn't start in the morning, luckily it started no worries.

We started our trip by heading south to Sheffield and followed the signs to Promised Land to visit Tasmazia and the Village of Lower Crackpot.

In the distance we could see Mt. Roland.


We saw a sign to No Where Else, and we just had to go and see for ourselves.














It was still early when we got to Tasmazia and it hadn't opened for the day so we took a drive down to the International Rowing Course at Lake Barrington, I'm not a rower but it was something to see, it was huge and very impressive.

Tasmazia and the Village of Little Crackpot is well worth a visit, it is a fun place with 8 mazes to master and a very cute model village to wander around. My favourite was the witch crashing into the lamp post.









We then went to find Paradise because my Uncle Donny had said it really was 'paradise', I was disappointed and thought it was average, on the way we stopped off at Mt. Round Lookout, beautiful view.


Then it was back to Sheffield for pies and vanilla slices for lunch.

Off now to Cradle Mountain, along the way we stopped at Gowrie Park and took the O'Neills Creek nature walk, we walked as far as the creek and back. We saw a gorgeous pink robin, I wish I had my camera. Beautiful scenery all the way to Cradle Mountain except for the area's which had been burnt out. We arrived too late to go to the lake so we booked into the Cradle Mountain caravan park,$27 a night. It's a lovely caravan park and great showers too! We had dinner at the lodge and set up the bed in the stationwagon for our first night on the road.


It was surprisingly comfy. I didn't realise how tired I was, I fell asleep at 6.30pm and slept for 14 hours!

16th October 2009

So excited, today we leave on the Spirit of Tasmania for our 2 week Tassie adventure. Our first holiday without the kids in 23 years!
5.15pm - LOL, wouldn't you know it, the car conked out in the lane to board the boat, Glenn had to get out and push. Luckily a nice bloke stopped and gave us a jump start, so back on track again for a great holiday. We had to wait in line until 7pm to put the car on the boat. So many cars, bikes and campers in a small place, the fumes almost made me sick. Dinner on the Spirit was expensive and pretty crap, except for the lamb which was delicious. Stayed out on deck until 1.30am with Brett and his girlfriend from S.A, Nathan from Brisbane, Dan "the rapper" from Devonport and Bob from Digger's Rest. Couldn't sleep much in the recliners, a rocky ride and a very BAD snorer who kept everyone but himself awake.
Arrived in Devonport at 6am, disembarked at 6.30am.

Thanks

The 18th of October 2009 marked a special milestone in my life, it's the day I turned 50! To mark the occasion my husband Glenn and I decided to take a 2 week holiday in Tasmania, the birth place of my Grandmother and home to 11 of my convict ancestors.

Thanks to our kids Hayden, Rachel and Jessica for encouraging me to go. After 22 months of bed, wheelchair, crutches and walking stick, I was unsure about how I would handle the trip, but now it's done I can't wait to go again.

There were places I would visit again, places I wouldn't visit again and places we couldn't go to because we ran out of time.

Also a big thanks to Glenn for chauffeuring me 2,154 kilometres around the apple isle.

Tip. If you are reading this blog and you click a picture it will enlarge but it is so big it is difficult to see, so, once the picture is enlarged right click and chose view image, this will give you a nice size picture to look at.