Across the island

  • Hobart - Lake St. Clair - Nelson Falls - Strahan
  • Henty Dunes - Gordon River
  • Strahan - Montezuma Waterfall - Cradle Mountain
  • Cradle Mountain National Park

8th January 2011
We leave the Tasmanian Eastern coast and set out for Strahan on the opposite side, across the whole island. Of course we stop from time to time because there are so many interesting things to see in the center of Tasmania.

At first we halt the journey for a little walk along Lake St. Clair. The lake is known for the rare platypuses living here. Large information signs instruct the visitors how to behave correctly for not to disturb the shy animals. Unfortunately platypuses are quite lazy during the day, at dusk the chances rise to really spot one or the other. As we arrive already at forenoon we are unlucky. Luckily Gernot and I were able to admire a platypus in Sydney, none of our fellow travellers has been to the Sydney Wildlife Zoo.

If you are on the bus for so many hours you are glad for any chance to stretch your legs. We have a coffee break at a hydroelectric power station, another stop leads us to the Nelson Falls. It is cloudy and rainy, the sun won’t really come out today. The weather fits the term “rain forest”. I wear my brightly red orange shining jacket, it is a popular photo motive today, also for the others.

And then again and again unscheduled stops on the roadside to take photos of the traffic signs. It works like that: Somebody suddenly calls out ecstatically “oh look, that sign – can we please stop for a moment?!” Then everybody with a camera climbs out of the bus to surge towards the photo motive. It is the best way to come out as tourists. Of course Gernot and I also take these pictures.

In Strahan we are again housed in cabins, this time Gernot and I have to share ours with a single woman travelling with the group. Together with the others we roam to the town center for dinner and there also already book the tickets for the cruise tomorrow.