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| Erin & Glenn at Pencil Pine Falls, near Cradle Mountain |
| Erin's Tasmania Journals 12-23-02 Our last day in Tasmania, we woke up late and stayed in bed till 9am. It was COLD in the cabin, and much nicer in bed! But eventually we got up and realized it was a gorgeous day outside, one of the rare 1 in 10 that is sunny in the Cradle Valley. So we made some noise to stir Eveline and Marcel, then set about making breakfast and getting packed. We were all ready to leave around 10:30, and Glenn and I had decided to head back into the park for some better, sunlit photos of the mountain and Dove Lake. We hiked the other direction around Dove Lake back to the split for Lake Lilla, and hiked another 20 minutes down around it before heading back and leaving the park. By now it was past noon, and our destination was Tasmazia. We'd seen the brochures everywhere, and knew it was somewhere right off the road we'd taken into the Cradle Valley. We found it with no problems and stopped into the cafe there first for some of their specialty: pancakes! We both decided on the strawberry pancakes, which was 2 thick hotcakes with strawberry puree, a huge gob of whipped cream, and a spoonful of vanilla ice cream. Pure indulgence. The sign over the cafe door indicates that diets are not allowed here! Afterward we shopped a little in the store before buying a few souvenirs and paying our entry into the mazes. The first (of 8 mazes) was the Great Maze, at growing time the largest in the world. There were 6 destinations inside the maze, and we split up and found each other again before we found them all. I must say, Glenn is much better with these mazes than I am. Everything starts looking the same to me after a few turns. 3 of the other mazes were inside the great one, so when we got to the end, we'd already done 4 mazes. We stopped there to check out Lower Crackpot, a postally-recognized town made of miniature buildings built of stone and plaster. It was cute! Then we headed into the Confusion Maze, which was the only one currently trimmed and tidy. In fact, the gardener was in there with his hedge trimmer, so this one was rather loud in spots! But after much winding and retracing, I found the way to the center of this one, and we had no trouble getting back out (we'd been there many times already!). Then we hit the Hexagonal Maze, which was probably the worst yet, as we were back to the exit/entry sign every few minutes! Finally we found the center, and headed for the last maze. The Hampton Maze is an exact reproduction of the one in England, and it too was convoluted, but we knew when there was an arrow pointing only one direction at the entry that the goal would be near the other end! We were ready to move on after conquering the mazes, and headed out for Sheffield, Town of Murals. There were a lot of murals on the sides of the buildings along the main drag, some of which were quite good. After a few pictures there, we drove on for Devonport, where we'd wait out the rest of the afternoon for the ferry. We arrived in town around 4pm, and I seized the opportunity to go to the tourist info to ask about seeing a doctor. She recommended a clinic not far away, and we drove up there and were in the office right away. I told the doc what was going on and what I'd been taking, and he simply agreed to write me a prescription for a new antibiotic. No tests, nothing! So I suggested a urinalysis, which he agreed could be done...well, I brought the sample back, and he did the dipstick test on it right there in his office! As I was already on antibiotics, the sample wouldn't be useful in the lab, so he confirmed the presence of white blood cells and wrote me a new drug! When I asked for something for the pain, he said 'how do you feel about coedine?' I indicated that I'd prefer something specific to my problem, and he gave me a suggestion for an over-the-counter agent. Simple as that, thank you! Pay $35 and go get your drugs! So I went across the street and the pharmacist had my stuff ready in less than 5 minutes! Very efficient. So the ordeal I'd thought could take hours, took less than one. If I'm not noticing improvement in the next 2 days, I must see another doc in Melbourne. After this, Glenn and I went and parked in a green area overlooking the harbor and read books for a couple of hours, seeing the boat comr in early. We went to McDonalds for dinner as I was craving greasy stuff, then headed to line up for the boat. The crew on this side wasn't as efficient as the Melbourne side, and we weren't boarded until after 8:30pm, meaning we wouldn't make a 9pm departure. No worries, they announced we'd be arriving in Melbourne around 6:30am! Glenn and I sat in the lounge area and read more of our books till about 11:30, when we were both tired. Then we retired to our cruise seats, airplane style. The stewards had been kicking people off the couches if they were sleeping, so that idea was out... I was able to get some pretty good naps in until 2am, then moved across the aisle where 3 seats were still vacant and stretched out. It wasn't much more comfortable though, and I slept only a little until 4am when I woke up again and decided to go write journals and watch the sunrise over the city. |
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| Tasmazia's Confusion Maze, one of 8 on the grounds. |