Tassie Adventure Day Three

Day three of our Tassie adventure began with another wander around Burnie, my grandfather's town. He worked for a time at the Advocate newspaper - and the building is still there today.

After a coffee on the Burnie waterfront, we watched a group of runners who were about to embark on 7km for charity.

The hot chocolate on the beach was super fine, and after a movie at the local cinema (Ice Age 3), we gobbled down a very Aussie batch of fish and chips.

The magnificent, world heritage area of Cradle Mountain is only 1.5 hours from Burnie. We cruised into the mountains in the afternoon and checked into our room at Cradle Mountain Lodge, complete with roaring log fire.

Once we'd toasted our tootsies and warmed up, we headed off on one of the many hikes around the lodge - some last as little as 10 minutes, some can take 5 days. We opted for somewhere in between.

What paradise on earth. The air was so fresh and clean, it tasted like toothpaste. This untouched land (through which risen platforms meander for some of the way) is so virgin, so beautiful, almost everything is covered in moss.

When we returned to our room, we were delighted to see a little wallaby (below right) waiting at our front door, probably after some crumbs.

That night, we snuggled in for the evening with dinner and then drinks by the fire. Nothing like a roaring fire in the midst of a wintry mountain landscape, especially when you're celebrating Christmas in July.

We adults enjoyed nothing more than staring into the fire until we were sleepy while the kids played dominoes like seasoned pros.