Today was a travel day going from Hobart all the way to Cradle Mountain. Along the way we made lots of stops to experience small town life.
On the road north, we saw a lot of metal “cut out” artwork, put up as a way to keep drivers awake. The pieces featured key events of Tasmanian history, and were erected for the Australia BiCentenial in 1988. We saw a lot of these kinds of artwork in the American west so it was especially fun to see them here too.
Our first real stop was in Ross, which is mostly known for its old stone bridge. We visited the bridge briefly and then went into town for a leisurely walk down the hill on the main street through town. We stopped in a few shops, and chatted with local people for half an hour - it was nice to get out of the bus.
Ross is just south of the 42nd Meridian which is the dividing line between the North and South of the island. Rod, our group leader MM, and Don, the bus driver, entertained us with a lot of stories about the intense and not always friendly rivalry between the two parts of Tasmania. The rivalry is so strong that there is a marker at the meridian.
Our next stop was in Campbell Town, which is known for having over 1000 bricks running down the main sidewalk of the town, each engraved with key facts about one of the convicts who came to Tasmania in the 1800s, including the name, the crime, the ship they came on and usually some other notable fact. What was so interesting was the minimal nature of many of the crimes and the severity of the punishment. People were sentenced to 7 to 14 years and deported to the Australian penal colony for crimes like stealing bread, or a coat, or a small amount of money. We heard lots of convict stories as both Rod and Don had convict ancestors.
After we turned west towards Cradle Mountain, we stopped in Deloraine for lunch and another wander through a small town. At lunch we learned about what desserts are considered a “Slice” (vs a pastry, a cake or a pie) and tasted some delicious local beverages. We enjoyed our walk to the bottom of the hill, looking at street art and thrift shops, and then got back on the bus to continue our journey.
Although it had been sunny most of the day, it was rainy and cold when we got to Cradle Mountain. We checked in to the hotel and then spent an hour or so in the amazing resort art gallery and walking through the forest behind the hotel looking for wildlife. We saw a lot of lovely trees, many kinds of vegetation and some square pellets of wombat poo, but that was it.
After a delicious dinner in the dining room at the resort, we went out for a guided night drive to see nocturnal animals. We saw several brush-tailed possum, wallabies, a pandemelon, and several wombats - way more than we expected to see given the very cold weather.
It was a packed day!
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