Day 5 (mid-day)
The North, Wynyard
and Table Cape

The contrast between the mountainous terrain we had just left behind and the rolling farmland of the North of Tasmania was startling.

Thanks again to Mike's detailed written route descriptions, we found Skyescape quite easily. Along the way, we kept a keen lookout for the tulip farms in the area, only to be disappointed to find plain-looking fields everywhere. It was only later that we discovered that the tulips had been harvested just a few days prior. Darn it!

Skyescape turned out to be every bit as impressive as the reputation that preceeds it whenever travel to Tasmania is mentioned. Our gracious hosts, Brian and Ellie, live in half of the sprawling house and the other half is the guest accomodation. We spent quite a while gawping and getting settled in. The view from the bed, out the large windows is breathtaking. Incidentally, it's pronounced "Skye-scape" and not "Sky-escape".

But there was lots to be done! We drove out to explore the surrounding countryside. First, we had a takeout lunch of fish & chips from YT's Fish Place at the Wynyard waterfront and ate it in the car while watching the seabirds. We then had grand ambitions to drive to Stanley and work our way back towards Skyescape, taking in Circular Head, Rocky Cape, Table Cape and everything in-between. Of course, we soon realised that we barely had enough time (and energy) to visit Table Cape, the nearest place.

At the lookout point at Table Cape, overlooking the Bass Strait. Wynyard is in the background in the picture above The waters were an amazing shade of turquoise and very clear. Compared to the western coast it was also very calm. There was an abundance of flowers and there were tulip farms in the area. There were still some tulips that hadn't been harvested.

Table Cape has it own lighthouse, or as it's commonly called here, a lightstation. Like all that we saw, it was whitewashed and well-kept despite their age. Many date from the 19th Century.

Table Cape Lightstation

On a side note, we were just so glad that we had made it a point of bringing along a very lightweight, but very versatile mini tripod (it's called an Ultrapod II). Most of the photos you see on these pages where both of us are in the picture were made possible by setting up our compact Canon weatherproof camera on the Ultrapod.

The other thing we ended up doing as we went along was to photograph the Toyota RAV4 that we rented in as many different "poses" and locales as we could! It was actually quite fun to do those shots, and we probably shot more "Here's the RAV4 at..." images than "Here we are at..." pictures.

An essential piece of kit, a mini tripod! We were able to get plenty of shots that included the both of us only because we always had the tripod with us

After we had arrived in Tasmania, we had called ahead to Skyescape to let them know that we wanted a cooked dinner prepared. As mentioned in part 2, in many places of accomodation in Tasmania, meals are an optional extra unless otherwise stated, and unless you inform your hosts in advance, there may not be food available at all. With accomodation in more remote locations, this can be a problem. So if you are planning a holiday, be aware of this and always check on the availablity of eateries in the locality and pre-book your meals if needed.

Ellie had asked what we wanted, as they could prepare food to order. Naturally, we told them to surprise us. Boy were we surprised!

Russian black bread with spring onions was followed by our entree of Steamed Teriyaki Chicken on leafy greens. The main course was Beef Steak marinated in soy sauce and sake and finished with a lovely dessert. To accompany dinner, we had (at the recommendation of Brian and Ellie) bought a bottle of wine in Wynyard. We could barely stagger upstairs after that!

After a soothing bath (they even provide a range of aromatherapy oils to put in your bath!) in the awesome bathroom, we spent a long time watching Skyescape's resident wallabies roam the garden outside the bedroom window before going to sleep. There were lights left on outside for this purpose. A fascinating experience!

Day 6
Skyescape, Lemonthyme Lodge,
Cradle Mountain, Dove Lake

We woke up to a fabulous breakfast. Again, it was way too much for us to finish, but we did make a valiant effort to! Ellie is famous for her fluffy omelettes and it is a well-deserved reputation. Yum!

Skyescape is 85 metres above sea level (hence the breathtaking view), and its extensive gardens spread all the way down the hillside to the seaside. The sheer variety of flowers and shrubs was bewildering and we spent the morning admiring and photographing them. Of course, the trek back up to the top of the cliff was a lot less relaxing!

We followed the busy roads along the north coast, passing through the towns of Somerset, Burnie, Penguin, before turning southwards on the B15 at Ulverstone. As time was short, we decided not to stop along the way, and skipped Devonport altogether. Devonport is where the sea-going ferry, The Spirit of Tasmania, from Melbourne arrives. As we went along, Cradle Mountain appears every so often in the distance, mostly recognisable for its distinctive shape. The town (hamlet?) closest to Lemonthyme Lodge is Moina. Didn't actually see any town... The Lodge is really remote, deep in the woods down a 8km long gravel road and consists of a central lodge (with some rooms) surrounded by cabins.

Lemonthyme Lodge (above) near Moina, Cradle Mountain. The Lady Barron (right)

Lemonthyme's charm and main draw is perhaps its isolation and back-to-basics-but-in-relative-luxury approach. You build your own fire (although they have one roaring blaze in your room to welcome you), there is no TV or much in the way of modern technology. There are plenty of short and long wilderness walks specially created in the area, and had we more time, we would have probably explored those treks. More to the point, there isn't anything else to do!

In the cabin/chalet named "Lady Barron" (actually half the cabin, the other half being another guest room), we had a bottle of champagne waiting (because we were honeymooners apparently), the aforementioned logfire and a terrace overlooking the forest. Unfortunately, it was a cold day and the lack of central heating was sorely missed, especially that night.

Right after checking in, we immediately drove some distance to the Cradle Mountain visitor centre. In the same area was the Cradle Mountain Lodge and we had a late lunch there. We barely made it before the 3pm last orders for lunch. We had a lovely Broccoli, Asparagus and Parmesan soup, Tempura Fish & Chips with Chilli Mayo and fresh side salad and Seafood Penne in Garlic Tomato Sauce. We were still feeling the cold and had to warm up by the fireplace during and after lunch.

After lunch, we went to the Visitor Centre and took the short walking path that started and ended there. There were several walks of varying distances in the vicinity, but we took the short "touristy" one to start with. It has wooden boardwalks along the entire path and is completely wheelchair-accessible. Still, we saw wallabies, the typical vegetation of the area and a waterfall of sorts.

Instead of taking one of the other nearby bushwalks, we decided then to drive to Dove Lake, 7km away, at the foot of Cradle Mountain, with more walks and promised more spectacular views.

Back in the car, as we were strapping in, a colourfully-garbed chap came up and very nicely asked if we were going to Dove Lake and if he and his girlfriend could hitch a ride there. Reason being that they had cycled thus far and the road to Dove Lake was both long and unsuited to cycling. Now... normally, we would have just said no and driven off (fast!), the basic premise being, you-never-trust-strangers-while-on-holiday-in-a-strange-land, right? But they looked really earnest and highway robbers don't really get all togged up in professional cycle clothes and have overloaded touring bikes, right?! Anyway, Brendan and Wendy turned out to be on a cycle-around-Australia tour in aid of the Leukemia Foundation and Tasmania was their penultimate leg before returning to their native Sydney.

Yi Peng with Brendan and Wendy, and Cradle Mountain directly behind, shrouded in mist

They were great company on our little excursion to Dove Lake and we certainly were glad that we had them along. We ended up taking the same walking route around (it was probably about an hour return walk), although they were mostly ahead of us and walking very briskly. We discovered that they were rather wet from riding in the rain, and absolutely freezing. So they were dashing about to keep warm! Even with our bushwalking/tramping windproofs and fleeces, we were cold! And the dampness in the air never let up, it kept drizzling, even if only very slightly.

Another benefit of having travelling companions in these out of the way places was that we could pass our cameras to each other to take photos (see photos in sidebar). Anyway, the scenery was breathtaking, even in the gloomy weather, and it seemed to shift and change all the time with the swirling mists. We got some nice shots of mossy rocks and all that too.

As the evening approached, we got back to the car to leave and made it a point to to sign out on the walker's log (is that what it's called?) that was in a little hut. Signing the log before starting a walk/trek would really help if anyone got into difficulties and the rangers had to go looking for them.

Back at the Visitor Centre, we exchanged contacts, wished them well on their noble adventure and returned to Lemonthyme. In the gathering twilight, the long gravel final stretch became an even more challenging drive. We spent the drive talking about how wonderful it was to have met all the very nice people here in Tasmania.

Updates: Brendan and Wendy got married mid-November 2001 while still in Tasmania! They emailed us with photos. What's more, according to another touring cyclist, they had raised over $25,000 for the Leukemia Foundation and on December 16 they completed their cycling odyssey with a total of 18,300+ km covered. Our hats off to them!

We made it back in time for our dinner reservations at the lodge's restaurant where we had the Sunrise Smoked Salmon (served with lodge-made balsamic vinegar and capers), Blackened Fish (Ling?) with berry-lime sauce for starters. This was followed by main courses of Certhana Chicken Pie and Oven-baked Salmon with lemon-pepper sauce. Desserts were the Pineapple Parfait and a Bread and Butter Pudding. Stuffed ourselves silly as usual.

After-dinner entertainment consisted of a feed-the-possums session on the terrace. Just minutes before the appointed time, a whole horde of possums showed up on cue, all waiting for their daily handout. We were tired and it was cold, so we just stayed by the window and ate our dessert...

...while watching a horde of the two-legged variety out on the terrace snapping dozens of flash photos of the marsupials stuffing their faces with kitchen scraps.

Go to Part 4 - Swansea & Freycinet