Back into Blogging

After a brief break from Blogging, I'm back online! In the weeks that follow I will update the blog with some of the places we've been since I've been away.


Thanks again for reading!

Fern Glade Track

Fern Glade Track is located on Mt Wellington, and can be taken either from a drive up to the Springs and walking down for 10-15 minutes until you see Radfords Monument and turning right onto Fern Glade Track, shown in PINK below, or start from Huon Road at the bottom, just before Fern Tree, and walk up towards the springs. There is parking in both of these spots but needless to say, if you have the ability, a quick car shuffle, would be ideal so that you can drive to the top, walk down and still have your 2^nd car available at the bottom to ferry you back to the top to pick up car number 1. 

Fern Glade Track is part of the larger Fern Glade Circuit and is relatively easy if you want to do a circuit, it is shown in GREEN below. This loop leaves Fern Tree on the Pipeline track (as blogged here), head up to Silver Falls then onto the Silver Falls Track, then take a right onto Fern Glade Track, this then loops back down, eventually to the Fern Glade access on Huon Road at the bottom, or a minor detour will return you to Fern Tree (GREEN LOOP).

(I take no ownership of this map, it's just really good, find all of the Mount Wellington tracks map here, this one is the 'Eastern Face Map')

Either way, main Fern Glade section is short but magical. When starting the Fern Glade section you enter a dense fern forest. It looms over the track with banked sides in many places. You are essentially walking along a rivulet and as such are close to the water for the most part. There are lots of mini bridges that cross and re-cross the river, with many places inspiring talk of faries, pixies and trolls that live under bridges. Now I have to qualify that, whilst we walked on a rainy day, when we got to this point, there were golden shafts of light beaming down through the trees, lighting up fungi and ferns, glinting off the water and showing the way down. It really was fantastic.

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(It was so wet out that our camera gave up on us, these are all we have...until next time!)

Taking this down hill route would be an excellent idea if you have younger kids as they could easily do it, but might also enjoy the things to be seen on the walk down. The bridges and windy path are sure to inspire some adventurous stories and conversations.

When you come out at the bottom, you come down some stone steps below a large sign signally the entry to Fern glade, it’s a cool place to have a photo of the family if your inclined to. You come out at a car park on the main road, where you might have parked, but if not, follow the road to the right and you’ll end up in Fern Tree in 5 minutes, back to the car.

The advert that inspired us to move to Australia!

I have to say we were already thinking about it, clearly no advert will convince you of such a monumental life change, but it is definitely a factor that helped things to gain momentum, even if in our heads. We ended up singing this song all of the time, dreaming of the life on the beach, the barbecues and the exploration to come.



This ad was on in the UK during 2010-2012, possibly longer, I found it floating around on an old tourism website that is no longer maintained. As they have now replaced the advert with a newer 'cleaner looking' version, I don't think Australia would mind me uploading it!

The new 'There's Nothing Like Australia' advert was released in September 2013, so we actually missed it as we were already here!




More specifically, the new Tasmanian 'episode'/'version' of this advert!


 

Cradle Valley Boardwalk

We were staying at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, near to the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre (mentioned here) so we left the car behind and headed off on the Cradle Valley Board Walk to Dove Lake, this takes about 2:30 in total but can take a bit longer in snowy or icy weather. The walk has three sections. These are:

1) Visitor Centre to Snake Hill (55 mins)

2) Snake Hill to Ronny Creek (40 mins)

3) Ronny Creek to Dove Lake via Lake Lilla (55 mins)

This entire track is board walk except part of the track from Ronny Creek to Dove Lake, it is extremely well maintained even though it undulates, has steps and lookouts. There are even a few well-placed benches, although we sat on the boardwalk itself a couple of times on route, just to take in the scenery. We went in winter, so snow was thick and there was a good layer of ice on much of the boardwalk that was in the shade, we were fine in our walking boots but you do need to be careful. The boards themselves are covered with mesh to give a little more grip.

We had fantastic weather up there and whilst there was snow on the ground, I stripped back to just T-shirt and trousers for the majority of the walk. This said, there is very strong advice at the visitors centre to make sure that your well equipped for cold and wet weather as weather in Tasmania can change very quickly, even more so in the Cradle Mountain National Park. We met a couple on the walk who we chatted to for about 20 minutes. They commented that they come to Cradle Mountain every year and it has a different but magical atmosphere at all times of the year.

Just before Snake Hill there is a mini detour loop that takes you 5 minute return to a small babbling river which is very pleasant, a nice place for a drink and a snack. 

At the section just before and just after Ronny Creek there were lots of wombats, at times many could be seen from the same spot, we have photos with 2 or more in the same picture. They were pottering around, eating greens and minding their own business. This was our first wombat-spotting experience and was incredible.

Can you spot all three in this picture?

This was taken from the boardwalk! We were careful not to interrupt his lunch!

When we arrived at Dove Lake itself, this is where the obligatory and rather famous photo of Cradle Mountain can be taken. 

We were tired after trekking in the snow and decided to utilise the shuttle bus back to the visitors centre.

Cradle Mountain

My wife and I went to Cradle Mountain in early July 2013, so while I’m posting this a little late, the spectacle hasn't changed. Cradle Mountain is situated in the Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park, but unlike heading to Lake St Clair, if you want to go to Cradle Mountain you have to enter the park from the North. The drive from Hobart in the south is long, but as you approach it develops into a magical cruise through bush land and natural highlands. The roads tend to thin out a little in the immediate vicinity, especially on the ultra-windy hillside sections, but are still decent roads bearing in mind their remoteness.

We stayed at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, which was something in itself. See my other blog on this hotel stay. To be short, it was a fantastic luxury wilderness hideaway.

Upon arriving in early July, we found that it had snowed, quite a bit. The roads were completely clear but scenic lookouts that look towards Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake were covered. There are some excellent photos to be taken on approach to the main conurbation. 

Don’t expect a big village. Basically, it’s lodges (including their restaurants), campgrounds and tourist information huts. All of the accommodation is just outside the park but you’ll need a national parks pass in order to enter. You can buy them from the tourist information hut near the accommodation area outside the park or you can pay for a single day inside the park, at the car park. Warning, paying in the car park is an expensive way to go, it is much cheaper to buy a year pass, even if you’re only there for a week. Plus, it can be used in any other Tasmanian National Park for the rest of the year! The other transport option, where you’d avoid having to pay for a car pass (but still technically would need a ‘people pass’) would be the free shuttle buses that run in and out of the park. They drive a loop route so you can get a bus in to Dove Lake or other walking start point, and walk from there. These are very useful at the end of the day, if light is fading and you’re at Dove Lake, the shuttle bus can be an easier way back to your warm retreat.

The Cradle Valley Boardwalk is blogged here. It's a nice, fairly easy and highly recommended walk (2:30 hours) and is one of my Top 20 things to do in Tasmania. 

Cascade Brewery

Cascade Brewery is the oldest brewery in Australia and is sited next to the Hobart Rivulet. Check it out on the map here. 

It has an iconic building that is renown around Australia and the mere shape of its 'roof line' and the windows are distinct and I can't imagine any other breweries in the world look quite like this one. Now I have to say 'roof line' as actually its a facade created when the brewery was built to give it stature. Also the windows themselves have an interesting story. This is just one of the things that you could find out about on a brewery tour. The tours cost $25/$20 (adult/student or senior) run for about an hour and a half and ends up, of course, in the bar with a handful of bottle tops that can be exchanged for beers of your choice.

There is a pretty cool looking Thylacene (Tasmanian Tiger) there but when my buddy showed his Tassie Tiger tattoo to the bar tender and got a photo with the 'real' Thylacene, he got a shock to find out that its not actually real. You aren't allowed to buy or sell extinct species. Even so, if the bartender hadn't said, we'd have all been fooled - it looks real and anyone you show a pic to would believe it too.

You can sit in comfy sofas, stand at the bar and quiz the bartender or head outside on nice days, appreciate the gardens and get food to compliment your newly found love for Cascade beer. I haven't sampled the food yet, so i cant officially comment, but I assure you it looks and smells great.

If you're not a drinker (I don't know why you'd be on the tour) you can choose the very nice Cascade soft drinks instead. They are all there on offer and definitely worth a try if you're the designated driver. Please note, there are buses that run from Hobart bus mall up to Cascades so maybe noone has to drive after all. Its also worth mentioning that there is a Female Factory attraction nearby too, so its possible to do both in a single visit.

There is a gift shop where you can buy the usual kinds of brewery mechandise but its nothing radical, just a nice momento to remind you in the morning that you went to the brewery the afternoon before.

You can make bookings for the tour online: Book Now

General information on Cascades Brewery can be found on their website.