November 14, 2002 (Cradle Mountain)

Rain. Cold rain. Wet rain. Pouring rain. I do not fancy a hike up a rocky mountain, no matter what. So I decided, I am going stay at the Cradle Mountain lodge, stay near the fireplace, drink hot cocoa and have the lunch served by the lodge staff. Done. Then Bob joined me. Excellent! Now I have someone familiar to talk to. He really is a nice man. I am still wearing his fleece jacket.

Lunch was stir-fry beef and noodles. It's not the most appetizing meal I have ever tasted, but I wanted some sort of noodle dish. My soul needed nourishing more than anything else at this point. And Asian style noodles can always lift my soul; it is my soul food. I hate cold rain. Tropical rain on the other hand, yes, I'll take that every afternoon and in the evenings too! But cold rain is all I have right now...best to stay near the fire and drink something hot and sweet and chocolatey.

The rain did stop for an hour. So Bob and I decided to take the 20 minute Enchanted Walk and the 2-min Pine Falls Walk. Both walks very lovely. I like the Enchanted Walk more because they obviously created this wooden path walk around the Pine River and designed the walk for very old and very young people. There were these tunnel-like structures painted with things found in nature. I can almost see a kid having a field day here. The path was leveled so even a wheelchair can be pushed around the path.

After a couple of hours my tourmates showed up. All semi-dry, all semi-cold, but all cheerful because they got to see a portion of Cradle Mountain. Good for them!

I am Mary Grace, promising to come back to Cradle Mountain to stay at the lodge.