We chose to take a different route back to Hobart, which was able to satisfy both our loves of cake and of mountains. Back in Melbourne our Airbnb host had raved about the vanilla slices from a small town called Ross, whilst Mount Field National Park (to the West of Hobart) sounded like a great place to be explored. After a slow start to the morning (all those beaches yesterday were hard work), we spent the late morning driving through the Tasmanian Midlands (picture the Peak District on the best day of spring but without any people and at least triple the size). We arrived in Ross in perfect time for a post lunch coffee and can happily report that the vanilla slices were 100% worthy of their praise.
We arived in Mount Field late afternoon and elected to stay at the quirky ‘Left of Field’ Bush Campsite. The offer of a round of bush golf (possibly invented by the campsite owner) was too intriguing to resist. The game is played using ‘rustic’ versions of a croquet mallet, foam balls the size of melons and greens more akin to crazy golf. In a repeat of our Frisbee golf escapades in Toronto Gareth’s technique gradually improved, whilst Claire’s patience rapidly diminished. Claire consoled herself with toasted marshmallows on the campfire.
The next morning, after a coffee to ease the effect of the “marshmallows”, we popped over to the national park visitor centre to check out Russell Falls. These were a real treat, only a few hundred meters from the visitor centre they formed a beautiful tiered waterfall which sparkled in the early morning light.
Looking for a bit more of an adventure, we headed further up the mountain and along a steep dirt road which seemed to go on forever until we eventually reached a carpark at just over 1000m altitude (our second time driving up from near sea level to Munro height during our Tasmania trip). We set off past Lake Fenton (a drinking water reservoir – we wondered if Anglian Water and the Tasmanian water authority would consider job swaps?) to Seagers Lookout, a mini 1155m peak on the side of Mount Field East.
There was a great little scramble at the top, which exposed 360 degree views across the valley to the snow capped Rodway range of mountains and to Mount Field East. We were extremely glad we had managed to fit a trip here on our Tasmania mini tour!
One thing that was still missing from our trip to Australia so far was encounters with some of it’s famous wildlife. We decided to resolve this on our way back to Hobart with a trip to Bonorong Wildlife Park, which is a rescue centre for orphaned Joies and got there just in time for the last tour of the day. Over the next hour we got up close and personal with Tasmanian Devils, Wombats, Kolas and Kangeroos. Gareth had a lengthy conversation with a 100yr old cockatoo who seemed to take a shine to him. Overall it was one of the best experiences of trip so far.
We decided to spend our last night in Tasmania in Richmond, a small town near Hobart frequently highlighted on the tourist circuit for it’s historic bridge and jail. However on arriving in the town that evening we decided that with so many houses in the UK being older than Aussie ‘history’ we probably weren’t the target audience. On the plus side the only place still open in town was the pub where we enjoyed a final Tassie dinner, and tried to work out when we could next visit!
Claire and Gareth go travelling! 