2025 Big Trip

Strahan to Cradle Mountain

A bright and early start for an exciting day.  We had been advised that due to a very cold night in Cradle Mountain, not to rush our trip, let the roads warm up for less chance of frost/ice on the mountain roads. We did a last lap of the Strahan Waterfront area led us to Hogarth Falls in The People’s Park. An easy 40-minute walk to stretch our legs.

More of this beautiful, magical rainforest to wander through. It really feels like we are in some kind of enchanted world. We took our time and found all kinds of wonderful fungi and moss and other things that we have no idea about. The falls were wet and noisy. Which was perfect! So many waterfalls, but somehow, we are still happy to go and visit another one, even though there is often a lot of steps or steep hills to climb up and down.

Today was another cool and drizzly sort of day. Our jackets are getting a workout.

Next stop was Zeehan and the Spray Tunnel. This tunnel was dug to allow a train to access the Spray Mine. It is 100m through solid rock. No longer in use, nature is starting to reclaim it. The entrance walls are covered in thick moss and further in, we saw glow worms which was pretty exciting. We found the tunnel makes people do crazy things for photos.

We had lunch at a little town called Tullah. We missed Montezuma Falls as it is closed for maintenance following storm damage. There was some patches of blackened land where the bushfires have burnt through.

We arrived at Cradle Mountain and headed for the National Park. We caught a bus to Ronny Creek where we saw a few wombats bumbling about on the hillside. We took the boardwalk to Snake Hill (no snakes) we saw plenty of tiny lizards along the boardwalk but only one wombat. So, we caught the bus back to Ronny Creek and spent our time gazing at lots of wombats who clearly are used to humans as they came really close to the boardwalk, passing beneath our feet. Mia was particularly delighted that a mother and baby paused right beneath her feet and looked up at her. A real highlight!

Strahan Cruise

Today we went cruising! World Heritage Cruising (the Red Boat) is a locally owned and operated family business. We boarded at 8.30 and sailed at 9. Is it still called “sailed” if there were no sails, just engines? Mia seemed to be the only person under 20 on board! Mostly our travelling companions were older people on bus tours.

We headed straight out to Hells Gates which is the tiny entrance to the enormous Macquarie Harbour (5 times bigger than Sydney Harbour). The entrance is only 90m across and about 5m deep. And very susceptible to tides, winds etc. Our boat went out through the gap but didn’t venture out past the breakwater as the captain said it was pretty rough out there today. We were up on the bridge as he navigated through, turned us around and came back through. We were encouraged to come and chat to him, try on the captain’s cap and stripes. He was very relaxed, drinking his coffee with his feet up on the control bench. The captain was a funny man and we enjoyed learning about boat life.

Our first stop was Sarah Island for a guided tour. This place had a name for being the most brutal of all convict settlements. Despite being naturally difficult to escape from, as many as 1 in 4 convicts tried to run away. If caught it meant 100 lashes. Even the lashes were more brutal than those inflicted elsewhere, with lead embedded in the cat of nine tails. Some interesting stories of life there. They ended up setting up an industrial shipbuilding factory (113 ships in 12 years) on the island, using convict labour to make ships from locally sourced Huon Pine.

Lunch was served on board – bento style boxes, delicious chicken salad, smoked salmon, local cheeses and crackers, dried fruit and chocolate brownie.

Next the boat took us up the Gordon River to Heritage Landing where we could wander the boardwalk and see the amazing trees that Tasmania is famous for. The Huon Pine, Sasafrass, Blackwood, Whiteywood, Myrtle, Leatherwood etc. Again, the magical forest!

The boat also runs informative videos, if we could tear our eyes away from the beautiful scenery for long enough!

That night we managed to squeeze into the theatre to see “The Ship that never was”. It is a hilarious drama telling the story of the last boat ever made on Sarah Island. There are only two cast members, so the audience is called to participate. Sam became the ship designer – David Hoy, and Sutts was Billy, a convict escapee. A lot of fun and very clever set design to recreate the story.

Hobart to Strahan

We managed to leave Hobart bright and early, knowing that we had a long drive ahead of us. First stop was at Westerway Berry Farms, as we had eaten all the berries we bought at the markets the day before! The pick-yourself-option was closed, it was wet and muddy and cold, so we didn’t mind.

Mount Field National Park was our next stop. We walked to Russell Falls and then onto Horseshoe Falls. Russell was very pretty but not a lot of water. Horseshoe required us to climb a LOT of steps! If nothing else, we are all keeping fit!

Lake St Clair was cold, rainy and windy. We stopped in and looked at the lake did the shortest possible walk that had views of the lake, then warmed ourselves in the visitors’ centre, looking at the various displays telling us about animals, plants and culture in the area.

Nelson Falls was spectacular – the volume of water coming down sprayed us with water on the viewing platform. The walk in and out was more of the lush rainforest that we love so much, it feels like something out of a fairy story. The trees have moss growing on them and ferns everywhere. We have a running competition to find the most interesting plant/flower/leaf/moss/fungi. It’s a magical world down here. We are seeing lots of wildlife. Found an echidna today.

Then much more driving hilly, windy roads. I have discovered that allowing Sam to sit in front, stops him from being carsick, but after many hours yesterday I discovered that I miss our wide-open straight roads of home!!

We arrived safely in Strahan in the late afternoon, thanks to Sutts for driving us through the “90 bends” that is the descent into Queenstown.

Saturday – Salamanca market, Cascade brewery

We went to the Salamanca Markets (with thousands of other people). So many things to see. So many jewellery stalls, hat stalls, timber work stalls, food stalls, handicrafts, tourist stuff and we managed to buy some fresh Tasmanian berries. Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries. Yum!!

In the afternoon, Sutts and Sam took a tour of the Cascade Brewery while Mia and I had some chill time back at the house. The Brewery has a very interesting past and some amazing buildings. There were 2 brothers involved in the building of the brewery, one of them spent a bit of time in jail. They produce the longest running beer in Australia the Cascade Pale “Ale” and the ale is in inverted commas because it is actually a lager.

After the Brewery Tour we took a drive up to have a look at Myrtle Falls, about a 10 minute drive and walk up from the brewery. Lush forest with ferns. Not a lot of water running over the falls at the moment.

Friday – Hobart, Richmond, Mt Wellington

Online scavenger hunt! This proved to be a bit of fun and had us trekking all over the CBD in search of clues. We chose a Harry Potter theme, which gave us bonus points for answering HP questions and taking HP inspired photos. Luckily we had a HP expert on hand. We also learnt about the history of Hobart.

In the afternoon we headed out to Richmond, home of the oldest stone span bridge in Australia, built by convicts in the 1820s.

We also wandered around Old Hobart Town, which is a miniature village (1:16) depicting life in the early years of Hobart. Some of the buildings here are actually still standing and in use today. There is a lot of detail, people hanging out washing, talking to the pastor outside the church, skinning a kangaroo, having a “roll in the hay”, a man with his foot stuck in a tin of paint etc.

Scavenger hunt – Mawson’s Hut, Salamanca Market, St David’s cathedral

Old Hobart Town at Richmond

Timber wares, the Richmond bridge, exhaustion(we walked almost 20,000 steps and 14.5 km!)

On the way back, we stopped at Rosny Hill Lookout for a perfect view of Hobart and its harbour.

Rosny Point silliness, the harbour, the Tasman bridge

A snap decision after tea saw us bundle back into the car for a trip up Mt Wellington, a steep and winding road! But the view! Mia kept saying “wow”, “amazing” and “look!” It was very cold up on top, BOM says it was 10 degrees felt like 7. Down in Hobart was comfortable shorts and t-shirts weather. Thanks Rachel and Milly for lending us the jackets, we were very pleased to have them!

Our flight arrived right on time at 6pm. Discovered that the Camry we booked did not exist, but they had given us a Corolla. To our surprise we managed to fit all our bodies and luggage, so off we went.

The airbnb I booked was right in the city with a tight park off a main road(Macquarie St) which is a one way road. We have done a few laps of the block at times to get the traffic conditions needed to enter! It is a snug carpark and a snug little house. The kitchen is tiny and has folding chairs with a thin table that we drag out into the walkway for mealtimes. I suspect people don’t usually eat here very often!

On Thursday we ventured to the information centre for the lowdown on what to do. Then, armed with brochures, we headed out. We went to Huon Valley stopping along the way. Willy Smith apples and ciders was a beautiful spot for a relaxed drink. We went to Geeveston for lunch in hopes of sighting a platypus, but they are elusive little critters! We continued on down to Hastings Caves, which is as far south as we can go in Tasmania. These Caves were absolutely stunning, well worth the long and windy drive. The thermal pool was a bit disappointing at only 28 degrees, but Mia and I hopped in for a quick dip anyway.

Willie Smith Ciders

The Honey Pot – delicious ice cream!

Geeveston, no platypus

Hastings Thermal springs and pool

Sid from Ice Age – we found him!

Newdegate Cave – largest dolomite cave in Australia open to tourists

Starting on March 7 we will be starting an Adventure

March Long Weekend – Annual trip to Moonta Bay.

Tasmania – Ann, Anthony, Mia and Sam will take a 2 week trip to the Apple Isle.

Victoria – Ann, Anthony and Mia will travel the Great Ocean Road and then continue past Melbourne and follow the Coast around to Lakes Entrance.

We will try to keep this updated regularly with posts of what we did and photos of things that we saw.