Riana, TAS.

 With the weather terribly miserable (even thought it is meant to be Spring!) and just a few days left in Tassie we headed back West to do a few things we missed out on at the start of our trip. We picked a spot central to our activities, and ended up at Pioneer Park in a small farming community called Riana just south of Penguin. It was a brilliantly run community park, boasting facilities better than some caravan parks. There were cute little huts, beautiful gardens, and a fun obstacle course playground that the kids enjoyed.

On our first night we ticked off a Bucket List item and headed into Burnie at Dusk to catch a glimpse of the penguins. There is Little Penguin Conservation Colony right on the edge of town and each evening there are local volunteers that give tours and help people spot the penguins. 

We were lucky to see quite a few coming up on the rocks from a big day fishing. There were even some baby chicks waiting at the dens for their parents to come back with food.

The next day we ticked another thing off the bucket list and went for a drive to Cradle Mountain. The kids were so excited to have a bus to hop on and off all day as we walked around the National Park. The nice man at the ticket office gave us a ticket for the bus for 5 humans and 1 elephant because Bridie wanted to bring her toy elephant on the trip. He drew a picture of an elephant for Elsie and wrote the Indian word for elephant. Elsie then drew him a picture of an elephant and he stuck it up on window at the desk for everyone to see.

 It was a rainy day with showers on and off so we only did short walks in the breaks of rain. We started at Dove Lake and walked out to Galcier Point to get a great view of Cradle Mountain. Then we raced back just as it started rainy. We jumped on the bus again and went to Ronnie Creek to look for wombats - Elsie spotted 2 and Saul spotted 2, and Kylie spotted 1 echidna. 

We then went back to the education centre and had lunch while it rained again. Here we learnt about the many animals that call the Park home, and about some of the history of the Park.

After lunch we did the Enchanted Walk along the creek and the rainforest which has little tunnels for the kids to focus on what plants and animals they might see along the way. (The tunnels also proved useful for hiding out of the rain!)

Walking back to the bus we ran into out friends we first meet way back in Kalbari, Western Australia. Etta and Maisey have been travelling a similar path to us for the past 6 months and it was so lovely and such a surprise to run into them today. There was lots of cuddles and laughter from the girls. We even had the joy of watching a wombat walk along the road as we chatted.

The weather is still freezing cold and rainy, so for our last day we just did chores and shopping. We did manage to sneak in a walk along the Emu River to look for a platypus while it wasnt raining. Saul spotted one as we were driving but disppeared before the kids could see him.

Our last night in Tassie was FREEZING, literally. One of the coldest Spring nights for 60+years. Lucky we had a powered site and had the heater on all night otherwise we would have frozen as well. Kylie woke up early at 6am and went outside (silly move) but was rewarded with the sight of a snow flurry!!!! She was dancing around with excitement and disbelief. In the excitement, she didn't look at the roof of the huts or the car, and missed the snow sitting there from over night. But later on, we saw it and the kids were so excited. 

Now it's time to pack up in these single digit temperatures, and getting ready to go to the boat. We stopped in Peguin again and then Devonport for the day, and again braved the winds and rain, we visited a cool playground and then when for a walk around a big park called the Tasmanian Arborium. Again no playtpus to spot today but we did see a pair of Swans with their fluffy cygnets!