Day 298: Exploring Cradle Mountain Views at Dove Lake — Christmas Hill Raspberry Farm — Nats Force Game 7 — Arrive in Launceston
I walked the “King Billy” Path and the Enchanted Path this morning. The track isn’t great for running, which is fine because the scenery deserved to be taken in slowly.
King Billy is a massive Pine Tree. At 7am it was dead silent in the forest around Billy. Eerie and beautiful.
I then went back to the lodge, warmed up with a coffee and read the news. Pleasant!
I met up with Margaret and the kids for breakfast. While I was on my hike Willa was crying over (spoiler alert): Dumbledore’s death in book six of Harry Potter. Margaret overheard James ask Willa, “Why is JK Rowling so mean?” And Willa getting slightly defensive and saying, “She’s not mean, she’s just a really good writer, which means she makes you feel a lot of emotions.” Taking it SO seriously.
Today’s plan: Checkout of Cradle Mountain Lodge, quick hike near Dove Lake, Christmas Hill Raspberry Farm for lunch, then on to Launceston.
During checkout we stocked up on some cold weather apparel at the gift shop: Willa and James got new gloves for the second time in a week — the first sets were toasted (literally) on the fireplace in Corinna. Margaret got some fresh new wool socks.
Turns out we didn’t need any of them today, it was warm and sunny around the lake.
Only busses are allowed into Cradle Mountain National Park so we caught one and took the 20 min ride to Dove Lake. The kids were being really good / cute, pretending that one’s arms was the other’s seatbelt.
The lake is gorgeous. We spent about an hour hiking first to the Glacier Lookout, then back around to The Boathouse.
This was the perfect amount of time for Willa and James. Their favorite part was throwing pebbles in the water.
We were back in our car by around 12:30 and trying to listen to the craziness that was Game 6 of the World Series on the ESPN app radio feed.
Two words that will always catch this family’s attention on a tourist brochure: Raspberry. Farm.
Christmas Hill Raspberry Farm was about an hour from Cradle Mountain on the way to Launceston. We were hoping that we could pick some berries but we learned that it’s not the right season and it’s a commercial farm so customers can’t do the picking. But there was a cute little restaurant with lots of raspberry themed choices, a play area with blocks and a soccer ball and goal.
Two of James’s favorite things in the world: soccer balls and ice cream cones. He was a happy kid today.
The Nats had come back once again and were on the verge of victory. I’m embarrassed to admit I actually wore an ear pod at the lunch table for 10 minutes until the final out was made.
The farm is also home to two alpacas so we went and said hello after lunch.
Back on the road, it was another hour or so to Launceston — a bustling little riverside city in Northern Tasmania. It’s the second most populous city in Tasmania, after Hobart.
We’re staying in a 2 bedroom apartment at the Sebel Launceston. It’s clean, modern, comfortable and has a “Midwest city work trip hotel” vibe that both humored and terrified us. Best parts of the Sebel: a high quality washer dryer (we were desperate to wash our limited cooler weather clothes) and a great restaurant called Bluestone.
We let the kids watch Babe (loved it) while we relaxed, did laundry, caught up on email, etc.
Then we made our way to Bluestone for dinner and had a really great meal highlighted by amazing oysters and a glass of Sullivan’s Cove on the rocks.
