A new life begins: Trip to Tasmania

This year we decided to headed south for the holidays, to the lovely state of Tasmania. We decided to take the Spirit of Tasmania overnight, which we have to say was a great way to travel, especially with children. We had our own little state room looking out at the water. Two sets of bunk beds and a crib. It was pretty tight, but very comfortable. Logan was beside himself excited to be on the boat and we walked around, inside and out for a while until almost 10 pm. Way past the little guys bed time. We had some great pictures, but alas I lost my camera on the trip, so we are missing about half our pictures.

We arrived in Devenport bright and early and made our way to Lake St. Claire National Park and stayed in this very remote lodge on the lake. The surrounding were amazing, lots of walks to do and the cabin we had was very comfortable. The only thing that would have been nice to know before hand is that there is no grocery store for 50 km. We managed to buy some staples (pasta, sauce, tuna, frozen bread, milk and butter -- no fruit, veg, eggs or meat in sight) to get us through the few days we were there.

We spent our three days at Lake St. Claire doing walks and spending time at the lake. Logan loved spending time at the lake doing what he loves most, throwing rocks. The trip we ended up coming home with quite the rock collection.

We had some great wildlife sightings, here is a really cute pademelon

Me and Lena on our "short" walk. when you have a two year old, who insists on walking, it does tend to take a bit longer than the estimated 1h30 min.

The next day we bit off almost a bit more than we could chew. We did the shadow lake walk, which was 5 hours long. The kids did great. Logan spent his time in the back pack because it was quite rocky and he accepted his fate knowing that at the top would be a lake to throw rocks in. We did some stops along the way, but we manage to get it done in the five hours. the only negative, I put my back out again. I love the bjorn, but I have to say for hiking up hill when you have a bad back, it does not offer the support that I needed and I really suffered for it in the end.

This was shadow lake at the top, stunning and perfect for rock throwing.

Having a cuddle

More wildlife, yellow-tailed cockatoos.

After Lake St. Claire we headed to Strahan for the remainder of our stay. We did a few walks along the way. Gordon River (yes, more rock throwing)

Nelson Falls

This is Hogarth Falls right near Strahan. Logan walked the entire way himself, such a big boy.

Great shot of dad and the kids.

Poor Craig. My back was pretty bad at this point, so he had to do most of the hard work with the kids. I was just a hobbling mess--poor me.

Strahan beach was AMAZING! It just went on for km. The waves were quite strong, the beach was soft sand, a great place to spend the afternoon.

... and a great place to throw rocks

Alena quite enjoyed hanging out on the beach.

Logan in action, me hobbling behind.

The next day we took a fantastic boatride through the bay and up Gordon River. We managed to get out as far as the lighthouse, which the captain says only happens about 6 times a year because the water is so rough. And, we saw a pod of dolphins that swam beside us for about 20 minutes. Also not common.

Too much excitement for this little girl.

Tasmanian salmon farms

Ruins on Sarah Island. This tiny little island that housed 500 prisoners at one time. The worst of the worse apparently. Now, it is the home of my camera, sniff, sniff.

Our ride for the day, not bad, eh?

On our way back to Devenport we went through Cradle Mountain National Park to do a few more walks. This area was stunning. Australia does have mountains, who knew.