An eventful day

Catching up with Mr Wong

 Hello….from “The Apple Isle”! We arrived in Devonport at around 6:00am this morning, having all survived the treacherous boat ride on the Spirit of Tasmania! Actually, the truth be told, it was a very calm night and many of us were lulled to sleep by the gentle swaying of the boat as soon as our heads hit the pillow. No matter how well we slept though, there were still many bleary eyed kids, having been woken up at 5:45am by the announcement of our arrival over the loud speakers. 

Cradle Mountain National Park

A Tasmanian tree-hugger! 

We had breakfast at Maccas and afterwards were able to stroll over to the port where we met up with Mr Wong, who is now living in Tasmania. After a lovely, chilly catch up, we hopped back on the bus and headed to Cradle Mountain. We wound our way through beautiful green hills, past crops and sheep, and through the tall trees. After a at ’99 bottles of milk on the wall’ and a full rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, we gladly arrived at Cradle Mountain! Unfortunately, there was no snow to play in but we could see snow along the tops of the mountains. For some, it was the closest they had ever come to snow. We’re actually praying that will change…. they’re expecting snow down to 300m tonight, and we’re staying at Poatina, which is 700m!

'Reliquaire'

A very informative tour in a couple of small tour buses in the World Heritage Listed area, took us for a closer look at Dove Lake, a picturesque lake at the foot of Cradle Mountain. Obviously this wasn’t quite close enough for some, and exploring the shores gave Martin the opportunity to have a more intimate look! Unfortunately, the rocks intervened, at the expense of his wrist. [Thank you Martin for "suffering" which allowed us to ‘hit-up’ the shops (I found the best shop! – ‘Reliquaire’: Mrs A.) in the town of LaTrobe when we detoured for you to have your x-ray taken; an un-scheduled addition to our itinerary! ….and for being 'exhibit A' in the first of our evening devotion/discussion times on "suffering"]                                                                                                                                                         

Football @ Latrobe

The return of 'The football' in a (vacant) car park and watching the movie ‘Frozen’ in the bus outside the hospital ended up saving our wallets…… especially as we had already enjoyed time in the town of Sheffield, famous for it’s murals on many of the town’s buildings earlier in the day. Let me tell you, after all this we were all very glad to get to Poatina for a later-than-scheduled dinner date!

Dinner-time!

'Devotions'