Change In Plans

Happy Valentine’s Day from Tasmania! We are in the Freycinet National Park, on a wild peninsula off of Tasmania’s east coast. We are off the beaten track, I think.

We arrived here two days ago, after a longer-than-expected drive down from Devonport. The total distance was only about 350 kilometers, but the roads are narrow and twisty.   It took about 6 hours in our repurposed Australian 1994 Chevy Malibu station wagon.

We stopped in a town called Launceston, which is Australia’s third-oldest European settlement (after Sydney and Hobart, as we all know). Launceston has an attraction called “First Basin,” which features an old-fashioned chairlift going across a deep river gorge. It was the first time that Zola had ever been on a chairlift, so he thought this was very cool. We hiked around on the far side for a while, had an impossibly slow lunch, saw a few wallabies, and headed back to the parking lot.  A terrific lunch stop.

We also stopped to taste wine at a vineyard called Milton, about 30 kilometers from the park entrance. Tasmanian wine is good, and the setting of the tasting room was spectacular, looking out over the rolling hills and low mountains. There was an elderly Tasmanian couple in the tasting room with us, buying wine for their son’s 60th-birthday celebration (!!!). I tried to strike up a conversation with them, but they were quite deaf, and it was difficult.

We are staying at Freycinet Lodge (www.puretasmania.com.au), which is a privately owned lodge within the park. The location is unbelievably beautiful: perched on a hillside with a clear bay and a long stretch of white beach on one side, and rugged, rocky mountains on the other. It feels like, and is, the end of the road. We are staying in a comfortable little cabin, looking out over the mountains.

I got off to a bit of a bad start with the activities people at the lodge. Australia is surprisingly litigation and liability driven. Our kids were not allowed to do any of the water-based activities at the lodge, because there are no kids’-sized life jackets available, and the insurance company won’t let guests use their own.

The dialogue went something like:

     “So the harbor cruise is out?”

     “Afraid so.”

     “And we can’t go kayaking”

     “Sorry.”

     “And the hike which we booked where you pick us up in the boat at the end, we have to cancel?”

     “Afraid so.”

     “Well, at least we can still do the quad biking, right? No need for life jackets there.”

     “Well, unfortunately we don’t alow anyoe under 14 on the bikes either.”

     “Aaaaaggghhh.”

The guides were as gracious as they could be, and were a little embarrassed by the restrictions (there were many more than I am describing). They even offered to call their competitors and see whether their rules were less restrictive.

In the end, we found some activities which were allowed, and have had a great couple of days here.

Yesterday we did a long (five hours) guided hike over Mount Amos, down into the Tasman Sea-facing Wineglass Bay, over an isthmus, along the inland-bay headlands, and back to the lodge. It was very beautiful, and having the guide, a very nice New Zealander named Dan, gave Zola someone to talk to the whole way. I carried Tallulah in a backpack, which made he hike more of a workout than I have had in months.

After dinner last night, we spent a couple of hours on the beach, playing in the sand and splashing in the calm water. We saw a sting ray gliding around that had to have been a meter across. As the sun set, the interplay of the light, the clear water, and the ridged-sand yellow beach was almost unspeakably beautiful. It was like nothing I have seen before.

The main activity today (aside from me being a grouch, for reasons I don’t understand) was kayaking in the late afternoon.  We went with one of the lodge’s competitors, as suggested by the guides.  We were out on the water for about three hours: India and Tallulah (the littlest kayaker) in one boat, and Zola and me in another.  With two guides, we paddled in and out of the bays, and along the beaches.  We saw many more rays in the water, and  saw a  wallaby  on the beach when we stopped for sunset drinks.  Zola is a wonderful kid, but we determined that he is not yet ready to steer a kayak.

Tomorrow morning we leave Freycinet for the long drive over to Cradle Mountain, clear on the other side of Tasmania.  The drive-time estimates we have heard range from four to seven hours.  We will be in a similar lodge (with fewer age restrictions, I hope), in a much wilder and wetter part of the island.  I will try to add some pictures from the last two days when we have internet access.