Tasmania 2023 – week 4 Cradle Mountain to Devonport
Day 28
Today dawned with a spectacularly fresh sky, magically blue and cold as you stood looking at the frost on the car. It did not feel like 1 degree when stood in the sun. It definitely felt like less than that when there was a gentle breeze snaking its way around your legs (because your huge jacket or crazy big knit jumper goes only to your bum for insulation).
It was so cold (even with the heater on), with so little air circulation, that as we cooked up some breakfast (doing the left over scrambled) we set off the smoke alarms throughout the cottage (the exhaust fan was turned on) – pretty impressive effort if I say so myself as I was the one who did it.
Because the sky was so spectacular, we decided to do a quick skip to Dove Lake – driving to the Ranger Station, getting on the bus, riding the bus to Dove Lake, walking down, admiring the morning, then back to the Ranger Station so we could head to Devonport, the longish way.
As we passed the ponds on the way to and from the Lake, the ponds were iced over, there was frost on the ground. The weekend forecast is for snow below this altitude.
We make our way through back roads to Devonport, stopping at Leaping Goat Coffee – pretty nice spot and on the Tasting map. We are booked at Don River Railway for a train ride at 1.00pm (and have time to spare) so we have a look at their “museum” which consists of a number of old carriages and locomotives as well as memorabilia. They recently had a fire – which could have been a lot worse – which has restricted some access. No matter, it was still a fabulous experience to wander around the old engines. You don’t appreciate just how big they were.
The ride is on a 1940’s rail motor – about 15 minutes out then back. The carriage works at the museum are doing great things restoring the old carriages. It keeps some skills alive and breathes life into these old friends. When they had the fire, one little boy of about 4 asked whether Thomas was okay. It hadn’t struck the team that the little guy would have been impacted – he had been seeing Thomas on their Facebook or similar posts and was worried about him. Explanation provided, yes Thomas is okay but resting, and one little boy was all smiles. The upside – and yes there are 2 – is that they are insured (not that that brings back the tools of olde) and one of the elderly keen volunteers was staying onsite and was able to alert the Fire Brigade early.
Railways completed, we expended the princely sum of $1 for ½ hour ($3 in total) to park in town while we wandered the mall, finishing the trip at the same place we started – Banjo’s having a snack but, on this occasion, not a coffee.
Some things are the same everywhere – gang members who wear their manbag around their neck with big blingy jewellery and idiots who yodel across the mall.
Having reached the end of our journey, we head to the embarkation line at Spirit of Tasmania and wait our turn to obtain our boarding pass, then allocation to a line for boarding, to board the boat ready for a 6.45pm. This time, we are on deck 6 in the Orange section – one set of stairs (last time we were the same deck in the purple section) and we have the neighbouring cabin to our trip down.
Gear offloaded to our inside cabin, we head to the decks to watch as we leave Devonport, then order a beverage and some pizzas. A second round of beverages was called for as we acknowledged the fabulousness of the state of Tasmania, the wonderful weather we had been blessed with (fabulous people for the most part) and an all-round amazing trip. The forecast was for calm seas as we crossed the Bass Strait. The moon was shining down in all her glory as she moves into Full Moon. She was simply gorgeous as the Samsung and Apple phone cameras battled it out for best shot – a non-contest as Samsung simply had it over Apple (on this occasion at least but we won’t say that too loudly).
Tucked up in our cabins, reading and taking time, it was 8.30pm as we settled down to snooze the night away – waiting for the 5.45am call to ready so that we could be disembarking at 6.45am or soon after. Also, unless you have a watch, you have no idea what time it is because there is no external light and you are sailing at night in any event.
Today was the most magnificent weather and a mighty fine send off from Tasmania. Thank you for making us so welcome.
