After 3 weeks of housesitting in our beautiful Melbourne home, we said goodbye to the kitties, extra space, functional kitchen, laundry (you get the idea), and hopped on a quick flight to Tasmania. Before I go any further…

Seriously! Come to Tasmania. It is awesome. When we arrived, we picked up a rental car in Launceston and headed west to Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park. It took mere minutes once we got up the mountain before spotting some amazing wildlife and scenery.

With an afternoon to explore near our holiday park, we found the 30-minute Enchanted Walk just outside Cradle Mountain Lodge, and it did not disappoint (nor did the beer and wedges at said lodge).

The next morning, we hiked the 3-ish-hour Marions Lookout loop, which took us high up the mountain along the famous Overland Track. This was a serious climb at several points, and got the blood flowing. We had originally thought about doing the hike to Cradle Mountain peak, but the weather wasn’t great and stories online of the hike sounded a bit extreme for us.

After the hike we headed south to Lake St. Clair for 2 nights. We stayed at the Lake St. Clair Lodge, set right on the lake and minutes away from several awesome trails. The room was great, but the restaurant was not, in case you’re in the area. We chose to do the 4-hour hike to Shadow Lake and back. We had the place virtually all to ourselves, since it was midweek and all the holiday travelers had headed back to work. We found our own private beach on the water and devoured some yummy PB&Js. We even found an echidna friend, and tons of beautiful scenery.

After a long hike, we stopped by the Derwent Bridge Wilderness Lodge for dinner, which was so good! The staff even brought me some delicious homemade roti when we discovered the basmati had cashews. The chicken parma was covered in seafood (maybe that’s a thing?), which we didn’t particularly enjoy. I think we ordered a bit too much food.

We love Tasmania! More on our time in Mt. Field National Park and Hobart coming shortly.