Tasmania prt. 3

    Hello!

       I woke up, made some breakfast and ate outside to watch the moon set and the fog lift out of the valley. Then it was back in the car and off to Cradle Mountain National Park.  The drive here was stunning and very windy. We really lucked out with the weather as the rain and clouds that have been hanging around for three days finally lifted. This was quite a big deal as the peaks of Cradle Mountain are the main attraction and well if its cloudy you cant see them. The peaks were gorgeous! and quite unique. We did a hike around dove lake which sits right at the base of the mountain. It took about 3 hours and gave us some killer views. On our way back from the mountains we can across a wallaby just hanging out in the trail. We posed for pictures and he let us get closer and close. There was one point where I was looking into his eyes and him into mine and a strong wind came and I could see him squint and lean into the wind as to not get blown over. It was really neat, kinda of felt a connection to that little guy on a weird level. After that we hopped in our car and pointed north to the town of Stanley.

      The difference in temperature from the mountainous south to the coastal north was a pleasant treat, a little more warmth made a whole lot of difference. Stanley was a unique town situated at the end of a peninsula at the base of a big rock mountain type thing that they call "The Nut." We saw a isng on the way in calming that it has been named as the "tidiest town in tazzy" and it was pretty clear to see why. We found accommodations for the night and I opted for another night in the car. We got settled in and made some dinner. Once the sun had set we headed out to see if we could find ourselves some penguins! Walking through the town we passed many restaurants, none that could hold more than 20 people. They were tucked into quaint little spots  and gave a very nice feeling to the town. We found our way to the beach and had a look around but it was so dark if there were penguins we wouldn't have even known it.  We took a stroll on the very wide beach and headed back to the hostel in the rain slightly disappointed.

      Back at the hostel we started talking with a couple from France. We told them about our failed attempt at finding penguins, and to our delight they told us about their successful attempt only 20 minuets earlier.  Stewart hooked us up with a head lamp and a hand drawn map and we were back off into the rain to find some penguins! The map he drew was kind of confusing and led us right into a cemetery. Long story short we ended up walking around this cemetery in a pretty spooky storm when we should have continued down the road. We got to the rocks and started looking around. I heard some chirping ( thats whats well call the sound they made) and headed towards it, and BAMM found some penguins! They were small little guys only about a foot tall. We spent the next hour or so looking around and finding more penguins,  and even found another wallaby.

- Evan