Day 6 - Hobart

Cookie says...
Even though as far as I'm concerned everyday is Holiday, the rest of the world decided it was Saturday and this meant the Salamanca Markets were on. After probably the best cooked breaky I've had ever had, we joined the masses. I'm not usually a big fan of markets but these were quite big and pretty good. Mim and Mikey had a couple they wanted to meet up with and Bec and Luke joined us too.

Behind the scenes at the Salamanca Markets

After the markets we strolled around town trying to find something to do. Oddly enough, Luke ended in an EB Games while Bec had her rings cleaned because there was nothing to do. We strolled some more, had lunch, found Mim and Mikey and headed for the Shot Tower. It was an interesting building which was built for the production of shot rounds and Mim managed to correctly count the number of steps allowing her to be presented with a certificate.

The view from the tower - 360° view

Next was Mt Wellington. It's quite a climb, even in a car, and while the view is wroth the effort, it is certainly breezy. Now, I've sat exposed on a few chairliffts but nothing prepared us for the battering we copped on Mount Wellington. With Luke being built like a rake, he had to wear lead boots to keep from flying away!

Julie is smiling... honest!

Bec and Luke headed off to do their own thing while the four of us headed to Mures for dinner. It's a flash restaurant and we were lucky to get a table. It was being shared with a bunch of girls there for a 16th birthday dinner. We had a giggle when one of the girls ordered a milkshake and the waitress replied with 'I think we have the ingredients to make it but I'll check that we can'. That's a bit low brow for this high brow kinda of establishment. But then Mikey goes and orders a bowl of chips for his entrée (the waitress even asked if he'd like a fork) and makes himself a chip sandwich with BBQ sauce! Anyway, it was a decent meal with Julz reminding me that her meal was better than mine (as usual).

This is the most expensive chip sanger he's ever had!

We had some dessert downstairs and headed back to our rooms to get some Ticket to Ride in.

Luke says...
Salamancan crepes are the best. Ham, cheese, spring onion with tomato salsa for the win. We even went back for more later!

Day 5 - Cradle Mountain

Cookie says...
Mim, Mikey and I rose pretty early today. They wanted to do another walk and I wanted to get more photos of Cradle Mountain if it's clear. It was, so we shot through. I set up one camera for some time-lapse while taking photos with the dSLR and the others went for their walk. I ended up talking to some guy and it turns out he was a pro who was shooting some stuff for Tourism Tasmania. I hung around him like a fly for a while and it was interesting to hear how he got into photography and videography. He even shot me (photographically that is) posing and vice versa.

This is why where here. This plus friends, cabins, wood heater,
food, drinks and games

It was the last day at Cradle and the photographer had recommended getting to some falls and Mim was keen for another walk (no surprises there) so we sent the others on their way to Hobart. We managed to bump into this guy again and he shot us walking alone the trail after I tried my hand at the falls. We bailed and caught up with the others in Ross for a late lunch.

Luke felt popular... and out numbered...

Bec and Luke stole one truck as they were staying with family while the rest of us headed to our accommodation. After a brief walk around Constitution Dock we ended up in a cheap pub eating five dollar meals and drinking a few pints of ale and cider. When we headed home we cracked out the Ticket to Ride and proceeded to have Mim slaughter us before hitting the hay.

Hopefully this isn't the only ghost we encounter

Bec says...
Attempting not to suggest any more detours in an effort to make it to Hobart by Christmas, we only made 2 official stops. The first was at King Solomon's Caves (disappointing in the end, as it cost too much to get in, and was already freezing outside the caves entrance), and the second was at Mole Creek (also disappointing, as the town was closed and all we wanted was hot chips for lunch - clearly too much to ask for).

Luke says...
Mole Creek is reminiscent of the pub with no beer.... we went to the cafe with a flashing "Open" sign, only to be told by the resident creepy man that there was no-one around to serve us. In fact, the whole town was like Adelaide i.e. closed.

Day 4 - Cradle Mountain

Cookie says...
Padawan Rebecca decided to have the morning in so the rest of us headed to the interpretation center (interpretive dance anyone?) to do a few of the short walks. Here we learnt the truth about why yesterdays hike went pear-shaped.

Our track was a dead-end but we kept on walking!

We did a few of the walks, took photos, found evidence of ent warfare (LotR reference) and Mim kept an eye out for wombats but to no avail.

Pencil Falls was a neat spot

Lunch was back at the ranch and afterwards we cracked out Citadels. Mim won and then we escaped for some more walking for photos. Mim was overjoyed to find some wombats. The light was pretty crumby so no time-lapse of Cradle Mountain at sunset.

The last known photo of this tourist
before he was mauled by this savage beast

Mim and Mikey went off on a night walk to look for wombats and check out Tasmanian Devils while we headed to the tavern for dinner and snuck in some 500. After they returned we cracked out Settlers where Mim proceeded to trash us.

Mim says...
I stalked some wombats and managed to pat one after some tourists herded it in my direction. After the night walk the tally stood at ten.

This will definately be the highlight of the trip

Luke says...
My knee hurts. So do my ribs.

Bec says...
I slept!