The Road Trip Begins…

 

So it turns out there’s a good reason the B&B is called, “Waterview Gardens”! This was what I awoke to ~ having arrived in pitch dark last night.

After chatting to my host, Leonie, over breakfast, I set off and over 250 miles later, I’m in another stunning B&B, Harrison House, on the west coast in Strahan.

In between… 250 miles of stunning scenery and all weathers. It’s hard to describe the vistas and almost impossible to photograph ~ I did take a few, but I realised that it would be much better if I simply soaked up each mile, each moment, enjoying the vast beauty of mountain passes and many many many switchback roads; native bush; majestic rivers; enormous forests; dry river beds; parched autumn land after the long hot summer; eucalyptus trees…  It is beautiful.

And as I drove, I also got to experience lots of weather! Lots of different weathers… warm sunshine, rain showers, stunning rainbows, and, in the mountains, sleet! 

There were a couple of great stops en route too. Mid morning I fancied a coffee, so pulled off into a small town called New Norfolk, and soon spied a cafe, ‘The Quilted Teapot’, in an old church hall.

It was so so lovely… roaring wood burners, scrummy home-made goodies, and quilts! There was everything you could possibly need to quilt for sale, and finished quilts made by local ladies, and what was really lovely, was there were sewing machines, and tables set up, ironing board and iron on, as local ladies came in to sew together.. just amazing!

It was bliss to sit by the log burner with a great cuppa and soak it all up. My sense of smell is appalling (always has been!) yet one of the things I love is the smell of wood smoke and I could smell it on my clothes many miles after I left.

The other stop was shorter than I had hoped ~ which leads me to a confession I wasn’t sure I was going to make. I am an experienced traveller, having had the privilege of trips in many countries around the world, and having lived overseas for 4 years. In fact, the lovely cafe reminded me vividly of being in rural Massachusetts with my Auntie Richenda, 20 years ago this October, and that autumn, New England feel; or also of rural Canada and New Zealand. I have been so very fortunate.

But seasoned travellers do not leave their handbag, containing their passport, wallet etc in said lovely cafe and drive 50 minutes up the road to the next planned break before realising!!! Thankfully I had my phone in the car and could call the cafe, who had safely looked after my bag and would be open til 4.30pm ~ so so ‘lucky’. It did mean that I had to visit the gorgeous “Quilted Teapot” twice, and enjoy more of their great coffee and quilts. It also meant extra time on the journey as I had to retrace some miles.

Knowing my bag was safe and the cafe open for some time, I decided to at least enjoy the second stop for a short time. I’d arrived in the Mount Franklin National Park and went for a short walk through lush bush, to see the Russell Falls, to which again the photos don’t do justice. 

It was lovely to walk and breathe the fresh mountain air, and with some others, spotted two pademelons ~ not a kind of melon, a marsupial similar to kangaroos and wallabies. They were too far to photo really, so apologies for the quality.

And now I’m enjoying another wonderful wood burner and a local Tassie Pinot Noir as I type… road trip adventures continue!