Four Bocks in Australia: Tuesday, 1/5/10: Strahan to Sheffield via Cradle Mountain

We left Strahan this morning at 9am to heavily overcast skies. The next town we came to was Zeehan, a boom-and-bust silver-lead mining town founded in 1890. At one point in the late 19th century, it was Tasmania’s 3rd largest city after Hobart and Launceston and boasted a stock exchange, 27 pubs and, most especially, the Gaiety Theatre (see below), at the time the largest opera house in all of Australia. Now the Gaiety Theatre is closed—even the Zeehan Jam Shop formerly located on the ground floor is closed. Pardon me for being cynical, but a jam (as in fruit preserves) shop in a moribund town is not exactly the best business plan! These days, Zeehan’s claim to fame is that it’s the only town in Tasmania that begins with the letter “Z”.

After Zeehan, things went downhill as far as towns went. Next came Rosebery—its incorrectly spelled name a testament to its redneck mining roots. However, even Rosebery was high class compared to the next hamlet: Tullah. The only interesting thing about this former silver-lead mining town was its name. Optimists that we are, we stopped in hopes of procuring lunch, but Heather and Katrina’s food-finding expedition into the local “store” (it didn’t even have a name) yielded nothing but a monumental thumbs down. Just as well, I suppose. Who knows what any victuals purchased there might have done to our digestive systems.

Sophie and I entertained ourselves with a game of finding a potential career for her in Tullah. The choices ranged from working in the store, to cleaning rooms at the local motel, which was Sophie’s favorite option. (I would have picked working in the post office; at least it would have ensured you of a pension in your old age.)

Things began to pick up as we crossed into the Kentish Plateau. The photo below is of the prettily named Vale of Beauvoir (“beautiful view” in French). The landscape was mostly marshy grassland, again reminiscent of Yorkshire, minus the gum trees, of course.

It wasn’t much longer until we reached Cradle Mountain National Park, a land of craggy peaks, rugged lakes and alpine moorlands, windswept and exposed to the elements.

We parked at the transit terminal right outside the park, and from the number of cars and people milling about, it was obvious that Cradle Mountain is one of the best-loved places in Tasmania. Luckily, the park operates a very efficient shuttle bus system (free with the purchase of a park pass), and after a quick lunch at the overcrowded and overpriced café we hopped on the bus to Dove Lake, the terminus of the shuttle bus route and the jumping-off point for most hikes in the park.

Before we even had half a chance to ooh and aah over the mountain vistas, we chanced upon a Bennetts wallaby hanging out near the parking area. I couldn’t believe how close it let me come. The photo below was shot with a wide-angle lens! It was no more than 3 feet away.

Even though I’m sure we provided scintillating company for the wallaby, our negligence in giving it food eventually sealed our fate and the wallaby hopped off into the bush. Nice butt!

Here’s a photo of Laura (red jacket) and Lucy (dark green jacket) communing with our new friend.

After the wallaby had gone on its merry way, we finally had an opportunity to take in the views. Pretty darn marvelous! This is Dove Lake in the foreground, Little Horn on the left and Cradle Mountain on the right.

We walked to Glacier Rock, a huge outcropping on the east side of the lake which offers prime views from the top. The wind was blowing hard so we didn’t linger.

The others went on another short walk on the other side of the lake, and I poked around the lakeshore by myself. The photo gods were on my side when I came upon the view below. What could be more iconic than a beautiful mountain, a crystal clear lake and two kayaks ready for a paddle!

Next on the agenda was a hike from Snake Hill to Ronny Creek along a wooden boardwalk that crosses sensitive buttongrass and coral fern moors and meanders through a ghost tree forest.

This was one of the most spectacular walks I’ve ever done, not so much because it offered grand vistas (although there were nice views of Cradle Mountain) but because the boardwalk allowed us to get up close to an environment that is usually off-limits due to its sensitive nature.

After catching the shuttle bus at Ronny Creek and riding back to the parking area, we headed to our home for the next three days: AAA Granary, a 130-acre sheep grazing property with a bunch of self-contained cottages located in a place with the heavenly name of Promised Land on the Kentish Plains, 7 miles outside the town of Sheffield in north-central Tasmania. Our rental has four bedrooms, a large living room, dining room, kitchen and laundry room. It’s not the most stylish or luxurious, but it’s perfect for our needs AND it offers stunning views of Mount Roland, a monolithic mountain dominating the landscape to the east. Mount Roland is said to possess a spiritual and mystical presence and is called by some “Tasmania’s Uluru” (still known to most Americans as Ayers Rock).

The photo below was taken from our back deck. The little house seen in the picture is actually a meditation house, now a bit shabby and run down but still offering amazing views.

The next photo is of Mount Roland as well, as seen from the road to the near-by town of Sheffield.

Nowhere Else, Tasmania. Has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it? I can see the commercial: “Out of love, out of luck, out of money? When you think you’ve got nowhere else to go, there’s Nowhere Else to go!”

Sheffield is the hub of activity for this area. An uncomplicated town of maybe a 1,000 people, it’s known as the “Town of Murals”. The first mural was painted in 1986 by an artist named John Lendis, and more than 30 have been added since then. There are hardly any blank walls left in town. We were in a hurry to get our grocery-shopping done before the IGA closed at 6pm and didn’t have much time to look around, but I want to go back tomorrow to do some exploring.