To Tasmania - 5 September 2013

It was a very early start this morning to catch our flight to Tasmania. We flew to Melbourne where we had a 2 1/2 stopover before getting our flight to Launceston. Melbourne was wet and dreary and we were expecting the same for Launceston but it was lovely sunshine when we arrived at 1.30pm, and 18 deg.

We picked up our car at the airport and headed out to Cradle Mountain, where we were booked in to Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge for 5 nights.

We stopped off at Deloraine for supplies - chocolates, nuts, cheese, wine and cider. Deloraine is a lovely town. We have been here a couple of times and had seen the Yarns display a few years ago which is stunning. There was no time for sightseeing here today as we didn't want to be too late getting to Cradle Mountain.

You forget how beautiful Tasmania is until you come back and see the spectacular scenery. The last time we were in Tassie was in 2005. We brought Mum down with us. I didn't realise it was that long ago.

We arrived at the Lodge at Cradle Mountain about 5pm and the temperature had dropped to 10 deg. When we checked in, we were told that we had been given an upgrade to a spa suite. Very nice. The cabin is lovely and very tastefully decorated. On the wall over the bed is a large picture taken on one of the walks on the property. There is an open fire in our room with a lounge in front of it. Off the main room there is a deck looking out in to the bush.

While we were unpacking, someone dropped off a bottle of champagne just inside the foyer of the cabin. I had mentioned on check in that we were here to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. That was a lovely gesture.

Our cabin is about a 3 minute walk from the main building on a timber boardwalk. The main building has the Bistro, the Restaurant and a couple of lounge areas downstairs and upstairs they have a couple of rooms they use as TV rooms. They run a slide show on plants and animals each night at 8pm or you can watch the news etc. There are no TVs in the cabins. We will head down there on Saturday night to watch the election.

We opted to eat at the Bistro tonight but booked in to the Restaurant for Sunday night, our Anniversary. We had a beautiful meal at the Bistro, both of us having salmon. There are fires in all the rooms of the main building, except for upstairs, and the rooms are lined with timber. It's a lovely building.

The Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is about 65km long and 40km wide, 161,000 hectares in size. It became a World Heritage Area in 1982.