Cradle Mountain

Our fourth wedding anniversary was a few weeks ago, and we were lucky enough last weekend to disappear without the kidlets to Cradle Mountain! 

Four years doesn't sound very long - so should I feel bad that it actually feels like a lot longer than four years??  In a good way ofcourse!  Maybe when we've been married 30 years it will only feel like a few.. is that how it works?

Second thought  - rockclimbing.... I discovered that I'm not really a huge fan!  So if you were considering perhaps inviting me on a rock climbing exhibition then I'm afraid that I'll probably have to say no... and if I do say yes, please remind me of this post!

Ok, Cradle Mountain...

Day One:

8km ~ 1 lake ~ 2 sore feet  ~ 3 cheeses ~ 2 wombats ~ 0 kidlets

We drove up to Cradle from Launceston and even the drive sans kids was very nice!  Not wasting any time, my very enthusiastic husband had our walks picked out and we headed into the park.  The walk around the lake was gorgeous, although between the rain and mist we couldn't see the mountain or very far across the lake. 

 Partway through though the sun emerged and by the time we'd walked the lake we could clearly see Cradle Mountain and at 4pm, for an hour in the crazy Tasmanian sun we actually got sun burnt!  Following the lake we walked through the national park away from the mountain. 

We saw a few lizards during our walks, but once the sun started to set we saw two wombats and lots and lots of little wallaby / kangaroos dashing about!

Day Two:

15km ~ 1 crazy mountain peak ~ 1 sad death of magic boots ~ 3 wines ~ still 0 kidlets

Second day we were prepped for a big day of walking and hoping to get to Marion's Lookout and the Kitchen Hut - from where there is a lovely view of Cradle Mountain.  

I wasn't so keen to climb the summit - but I knew that Oli was.. and so he cajoled me into it.

There was a designated path (well route - there isn't a path at all) which ofcourse we didn't take... we just scrambled straight up, climbed over the top and then had no idea how to get back down again!  We scrambled across the other side of the mountain, found some other people and then followed the track down again.  Alls well that ends well, but I can't promise that I was having a wonderful time trying to climb across the side of a mountain not sure how to get down again! :)  

I also have to mention Oli's magic boots!  Bought from a thrift store in LA when Oli knew we'd be heading to the mountain he was very sure they increased his existing super powers quite significantly, and sure enough they powered him up the mountain.  (with two pairs of socks to make them fit properly!) 

Sadly magic boots didn't last the distance, and halfway down the entire sole fell off! We took a moment... and tied the sole back on with laces for the rest of the day.  Magic boots have found a new home in the rubbish now..

For the return trip we walked the track which took us across the face of the mountain to get us down to the lake again.  

There were some really pretty sections of the bush which we walked through on the way back.  We also found a waterfall on the track that Oli couldn't help but jump into...

Was a very lovely weekend, and I can't believe I hadn't visited Cradle Mountain earlier.  Oli was happy to have his little mountain weekend, and we're enjoying the rest of the visit to Tas a little less adventurously... but will update again soon!

Read more...

Ahhh Hawaii....

ahhh Hawaii... it was so relaxing!  

Turlte Bay Resort at Sunset

Maybe it helps that I'm remembering our trip fondly after several glasses of Tasmanian champagne, but I'll double check with my sober husband, I think he'll concur it was lovely!

We spent our first week in Waikiki doing the touristy thing!  We stayed right on the beach at the Outrigger - my fond memories of drinking trips at Dukes compelled me to stay there - and to Dukes we did go, several times over.    As we did to the beautiful surf rider (Hi Josephine - it was gorgeous!) and we spent lots of time at the beach.  Actually, we didn't really go anywhere but the beach, but the weather was so delightful, and the beach so fun it was an easy way to spend our week!

I was surprised (but probably shouldn't have been) that Waikiki Beach is so perfect for swimming and playing around!  

Its so shallow and has such perfect little waves for wimps who like to have a go but are really not so brave when it comes to big surf!  There were also little sections of beach just for the kids, nice and calm and shallow - and even better, with other kids to play with!

I was also excited to be in Hawaii because I knew we'd be able to find wonderful Japanese food.. and even the onigiri rice triangles at the ABC convenience stores were delicious!  One evening we were recommended to a fabulous Japanese inspired fine dining restaurant in a hidden corner and we ate so fabulously that we decided the following night to go as cheap as we could find.  We wandered a little out of Waikiki and I found a small looking Japanese noodle place where we thought we might find some easy and cheap dishes to keep us and the kids happy.... anyone for a $120 wagyu steak???  Ah huh!  The place naturally turned out to be a crazy expensive gourmet Japanese cook-it-yourself steak place (no noodles - I was delusional), and by the time we'd realised they'd already delivered our radish-cabbage appertiser... had we not been looking for someone cheap no doubt we wouldn't have found the place - but it WAS melt-in-your-mouth delicious, so it wasn't too bad!  

The second week in Hawaii we travelled to the North Shore and stayed at Turtle Bay Resort - which is in the most gorgeous location!!  Very excited that we finally  had a hire car upgrade to sometime more exciting than the little chevvy's we'd been driving all holiday!  

The resort had both pools and beaches, plus lovely walks around the coastline where it sits, and our room had great views of both.

We visited Pearl Harbour one day - as Oli hadn't been there before - although the kids were very disinterested!  

Gorgeous lil Lu on the boatride over to the Arizona!  She looks cute here, but man was she bored and being naughty!

It also rained a couple of days, so we had to entertain the kids indoors - but it was nice to have a a little bit of down-time to watch movies, and just relax (you know, to recover from all that relaxing)  haha - maybe not...but seriously if you're into relaxing, I wouldn't go on holiday with your kids! ;)

Luckily it didn't last long, and we enjoyed a beautiful last day at the beach.

Anyway we were more than ready to come home by the end of our stay, and very excited to catch up with family and friends in Oz! The weather is wonderful and it feels lovely to be home!  I noticed lots of fun things about Aus when we landed... but maybe I should save that for another post! 

Read more...