Tasmania - June 23, 2012

View of Launceston from our B&B.

The morning we woke up in Launceston, I "somehow" managed to set my alarm wrong (possibly had something to do with the drinking), so we rushed in to meet Justin and Kelsey for breakfast.  Our host was Fong, and he made a delicious breakfast of eggs, roasted tomatoes, and some fancy bacon spirals.  He also told us that there was a local market going on, so of course we decided to go there and stock up on lunch and dinner supplies.  The market was really awesome, and we got everything we were looking for (including an early morning wine tasting).

To continue our stroll around the block, we walked by the famous Boages brewery, and then to the local park to see the Japanese Macaque Monkey enclosure.  It was actually really cool!  Of course my "friends" threatened to leave me there "with my people" more than once after the cave incident from the day before, but somehow we all made it out together.

On the way back to our car we did some window shopping, and eagerly anticipated the French patisserie that the guide book raved about.  Yet again we were let down, and they only had 2 croissants that we could buy.  Good thing Fong fed us a big breakfast!  By 11am we were back on the road, driving west towards Cradle Mountain.

Along the very windy road through the mountains we passed many rainbows, which should have been a clue of the weather to come.

They also threatened to leave me on this bridge while I was taking the picture.  Maybe it's me?

We also made our second unauthorized dam stop, which the geologists loved.  I also managed to track a very colourful bird, so there was something for everyone!

This is Ryan and I "sneaking"/walking in slow motion...

Again, not at all staged.

As we approached Cradle Mountain, and the weather got worse and worse, our excitement mounted.  We had our fingers crossed that we would see some snow, and we were not disappointed!  It was hilarious to see kids running around in snow pants making snowmen and snowballs, but if we were dressed for it we probably would have too.  After much debate, we decided to do a 1.5 hour walk around Dove Lake.  It was snowing/raining pretty badly and it was only 2 degrees, but we drove a long way and we had to do something while we were there.  Unfortunately we didn't get much of a view of Cradle Mountain, but I think we were more excited about the snow anyway.

The best view we got of Cradle Mountain.

We were all in need of some food and a warm drink after the hike, so we decided to snoop in the Cradle Mountain Lodge for some lunch.  We looked into staying at the lodge, but it was way overpriced so we decided not to.  It was fun to go in and see it though.  Of course the geos found a map in there, so I warmed up by the fireplace while they investigated.

After our 4pm "lunch" we did our final hour of driving for the day to Kentisbury Country House, where we spent the night.  We had to be careful not to hit a Rex-a-Roo on the way though.

The house was way more awesome than we expected, except we really wanted it to have a fireplace and it didn't.  Instead there was a fire-like heater, which didn't really do the job.  Still, the property was beautiful and we had a really enjoyable evening.  We also rented the whole house, so it was very peaceful.

For dinner that night we cooked up a delicious fish, steak, and salad feast with all of our fresh produce from the market, then cozied up to some good old wine and conversation to end off a fantastically busy day.