Thursday, January 15, 2009

Mount Field With Devilmania

Another day with Charlene to look forward to, today we were going to Mt. Field. First things, first though, breakfast were more mouth watering pancakes with whipped cream and maple syrup. When Charlene came to get us, she said she had a total of six for today. This was really a relief since we felt we had to talk all day since we were the only two on the tour yesterday. With Britney with her, her daughter, it broke up the monotony. She picked up an Aussie couple from Sydney, a South Korean, and a Brazilian along the way.

On the way, we stopped at a little town for a coffee and bathroom break. Mt. Field is a national park with wildlife and millions of trees. There are a number of walking trails, each marked with the amount of time it would take to go from the car park to the destination. Charlene was returning for us in close to three hours, so it limited how many trails we could do to return in time. We went to the Russel Falls first. It was a small falls, but pretty nevertheless. After seeing Niagara, Victoria, and Iguassu falls, anything smaller is just not an incredible site.

From there we took the trail to the big trees. We walked quite a distance, but we were uncertain if big trees referred to height or width. Thinking in terms of California's big trees, we never came across anything like it. What we did see were tall trees and what I read later was that they are the world's tallest flowering tree, part of the gum family. I kept having the feeling that dinosaurs were going to come out of the trees at any minute. The wooded area was so lush, it felt like Jurassic park. You can go through at night too, but I think that would be too creepy. Along the way, a man was standing on the trail looking into the woods, but not moving. As we closed in on him, he pointed to a wallaby eating. It is the only one we saw, but the others say they say five or six along the trails.

After we all met up again, Charlene took us on a ride to the top of the mountain. As we drove, you could see the foliage change from tropical and lush to more desert type shrub foliage. The air increasingly became colder and the wind was really whipping around. We all donned our jackets when reaching the peak. At the top is a pristine lake, but I stayed by the van for warmth. I could see it just fine from the top and did not need to stretch my legs any further to have a closer look. Driving up and back is risky business, since they had snow up there just two weeks ago and the narrow road is a two way lane. On the way back, I sat up front with Charlene for more leg room, but sitting on the left front side, makes me feel like I have to assist in driving.

On the way back to Hobart, we stopped at another fruit stand. This one had Bing cherries the size of small apricots. They were the sweetest, juiciest cherries I have ever had. They also sell nectarines and apricots, but were out of both.

Charlene found lots of things to talk to the other Aussies about, and the woman kept saying “yea, yea” to everything she heard. It was quite funny for awhile, then became annoying after forty-five minutes. We were the last to go at the end of the trip and told Charlene to say hello to Britney for us and we would recommend her to others. I was so glad she had more people today, being a single parent trying to get a business off of the ground. She has to compete with Grayline Tours.

After a rest and a nap, we went to the New Sydney Hotel again for dinner. I had the scallops, because after trying one of Ron's last night, I knew I had to have them before leaving this country. Dinner was great for the third night in a row.

We walked across town so we would have room for dessert at the 24 Hour Salamanca Bakery. I had to try their caramel cheesecake. Heavenly!

Tomorrow, we are out of here and back to Adelaide once again.

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