We were continually amazed by the contrasts of Tasmania - in the space of a day we went from the sunny beaches of the East coast to the snowy lakes and mountains of the central highlands.
We were both still feeling the pain of our climb up Mt. Amos so we decided to do a couple of flatter walks in Cradle Valley. Even at the lower altitudes there was plenty of snow around, giving Meg the opportunity to get her revenge for an earlier snowball assault by Mark!
Next stop was Lake St Claire where we did a 5 hour hike through rainforest, sub-alpine moorland and highland eucalypt forest. It was still the off-season so we seemed to have central Tasmania all to ourselves - seeing nobody on a 5 hour hike was strange enough, but to continually have entire hostels to ourselves was both relaxing and disconcerting. When you start finding comfort in a possum trying to ransack your kitchen, it's time to get back into civilisation!
Our last stop before Hobart were the impressive Russell Falls, where all of the melting snow was producing a huge amount of cascading water.
The 80+ metre-tall swamp gums in the forest were equally impressive.
Before returning the hire car in Hobart we decided to 'climb' Mt. Wellington. After a hard week of walking and climbing, our aching legs were grateful for the winding road that we could drive all of the way to the summit. The views from the top were impressive, but only when the gale-force winds subsided enough to allow us to open our eyes!
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