Day 294: Goodbye Wombat’s Den — Drive to Strahan — The Wall in the Wilderness
We woke to the sound of hooves clomp-clomping on our porch. Our beds were too cozy to leave, but judging by the maaaah-ing, a herd of sheep had stopped by for the second morning in a row.
I eventually went outside for a run. We had a big hill out front of the house that I ran up and walked down 10 times. It was nice to soak up the setting of our “Wombat’s Den” before we depart this morning.
Back in the house we cooked up the breakfast the staff had left for us yesterday: scrambled eggs, bacon, fried potatoes and buttered toast.
We stopped at the tour center on our way out of town to thank Jane, see the dogs and feed the “chooks.” Finally we were on the road by 11am.
Today’s destination: Strahan (pronounced “Strawn”). It would be a 3.5-hour drive but we stopped in the middle to check out the Wall in the Wilderness, a 100 meter wood relief carving depicting the (white) history of Tasmania. We honestly didn’t expect much but we were blown away.
We walked from chilly temps and pouring rain into a gorgeous, cozy varnished wood lobby with a bar and leather couches surrounding a huge roaring fireplace. The carvings were remarkable, capturing movement, energy and emotion. There were no pics allowed of the artwork but we caught one of Willa reading Harry Potter in front of the fire.
We only spent about 30 minutes — the kids were antsy and hungry. Then had soup and a little shared platter of meats, cheese and veggies before getting back on the road.
We left “The Wall” feeling relieved that we decided to stop — could have easily kept driving in this weather but it would have been a huge miss.
It was that FOMO feeling that had us stop again about 10 minuets past The Wall to check out Lake St. Clair. The visitors center had a little museum with exhibits about the area — it’s a UNESCO World Heritage protected site and actually qualifies in 7 out of the 10 criteria which is supposedly really high. The rain slowed enough for us to take a quick walk down the path to catch a quick, windy and chilly view of the lake before hustling back to the car.
It rained on and off throughout our drive. We passed through a couple of these throw-back semi-ghost towns and every time Margaret or I blurt out the rhetorical question: “where the hell is everybody?”
Around 5pm we arrived at the Strahan Village Hotel, which actually does look like a little village.
We’re staying in a two bedroom cottage in a row of rooms behind a white picket fence.
We walked up the outdoor steps to the hotel’s restaurant, 42 Degrees (the latitude, not the temperature though it was probably close). It featured excellent harbor views and a buffet, which was perfect for us because the kids were in no mood to sit and wait. We filled our plates plus dessert then made our way back down to the room for reading and bed.
We’re here only one night — checking out in the morning then taking a full day boat cruise before moving on to Corinna.
