Tasmanian Adventures - Days 1 & 2

Hey guys,

So here is my first update from my Tasmanian adventure. Firstly let me
apollogise; I an writing this on my iPhone so there are likely to be a
few spelling mistakes.

Day 1 - I left Sydney with beautiful clear skies and nice, moderte
temperatures, say 25C or so. This gave me fantastic views over much of
the east coast as we flew southwards. Unfortunately the cloud
increased when we neared Victoria (well I guess that's roughly where
we were anyway) so the rest of the half and a half flight was pretty
boring.
When I landed in Hobart, I was greated with sleet! It was bloody
freezing! I think I've become accustomed to the moderate heat of
Sydney, so now even a measly 15C is cold to me; I don't know how I'm
going to cope in anarctica. Anywho, I caught a bus to my hotel,
dropped my stuff off, and went straight to CSIRO to meet the guy I
will be working for whilst on the cruise. After being introduced to
the team, I was rushed off to the Australian Antarctic Division (the
Australian equivalent of the British Anarctic Survey) to get kitted
out for the cruise. This was actually pretty fun, and I ended up with
2 big bags full of thermals, jackets, boots etc! I'm sure I will post
pictures of me looking stupid soon enough. After this excitement, and
having not eaten since 6am that morning, I said goodbye to the team,
grabbed some food and went to bed - travelling is tiring!

Day two - heading up north!
Another early start this morning ( no rest for the wicked) to go and
pick up my rental car. Having not driven in 6 months, I was a bit
apprehensive, especially with driving in a strange city, but
everything was fine, and I successfully navigated myself out of
Hobart. My destination was Cradle Mountain National Park, located in
the north end of central Tasmania. I decided the longer, more scenic
route would be more enjoyable, so off I left, ready to explore. I
stopped off at a few random places along the way, mainly to take
pictures and stretch my legs. If I stopped everywhere I would have
like to, I think the trip would have taken me two days. My first stop,
after perhaps 3 hours of driving, was Lake St Clair National Park,
located at the southern end of my final destination. The lake is the
deepest freshwater lake in Australia, and is 187m deep if I remember
correctly. I had a gentle 5km walk around, took many pictures, but
decided I really should continue on my way. The next part of the
journey was much longer than I expected. Although only 80km further
north than Lake St Clair, there is no direct road, so you have to head
way west, then north, then east again. That being said, the scenery
was absolutely gorgeous; I think I'm in love with Tasmania already -
it seems so diverse in terms of it's scenery and it's biology - a
geography geeks heaven for sure! It reminds me much of Norway, perhaps
with a bit of the Lake District mixed in for good measure, BEAUTIFUL!
I continued onwards, and after what seemed forever, I finally arrived
at my accomodation destination. Now, I knew this place was a bit
fancy, but it's immense! It's basically in the middle if nowhere (you
have to go 8km down a dirt track from the next road) and is a lovely
log cabin. They have a wood fire burning, which makes it seem much
more like Christmas - reminds me of ski resorts. I just had dinner,
and by golly, it was lovely. I felt like a right idiot sat on my own
(I think this a couples place), but the melt in the middle chocolate
pudding (Which beats M&S hands down) made up for it.

Ok, enough rambling. Tomorrow I shall be heading to the national park
proper for some serious walking. Fingers crossed for good weather......