Christmas in Tassie
Posted: January 15th, 2011 by Courtney
Since we weren’t going to be able to come back to the States for Christmas, we decided to go to the coldest place in Australia, Tasmania.  Tasmania is an island state off the the southern coast of Australia, known for its seafood and national parks.  We left Melbourne on Christmas eve and flew to Launceston in the north part of the island.  After arriving we stopped to get some lunch, groceries and camping supplies and were off to Cradle Mt – Lake St Clair National Park.
We spent a quiet night camping just outside the park and on Chrissy (Christmas) morning we had a big breakfast and set out for a day hike in the national park.  We decided to hike up to Marion’s lookout and then around Dove Lake for great views of Cradle Mountain.  As we set off on the hike we are impressed with the scenery and unique vegetation, which was unlike anything else we have seen in Australia.  Once we got up to Marion’s lookout we were impressed by the view and stopped to have some lunch.  We hiked back down to the base of the mountains and enjoyed an easy walk around Dove Lake, then went back to the camp site for a our Chrissy dinner – lamb chops, couscous, green beans, salad, and a bottle of Australia Shiraz.  Not bad for camping!
Cradle Mountain at the start of the trail
Little lakes along the trail
View from Marion's lookout
Chrissy dinner camping
The day after Christmas we drove back to Launceston and to the east coast of Tasmania to a little town called Bicheno.  Bicheno is known for its colony of little blue penguins and we were there to take a tour of the rookery.  It was pouring rain when we arrived, but that didn’t stop the tour.  We put on our rain jackets and set off after the sun went down.  It was amazing how many penguins made their way up the beach and the rocks to their homes in the rookery.  We had a great time even though when we got home we were soaking wet and very cold.