Wednesday, November 9, 2011

3 score & ten

 today my dad turns 70 years old
he has climbed the mountain & still going strong!
he's one of my heros
a couple of weekends ago we went as a family to Cradle Mountain in Tasmania
(we were not quite a complete family 
as my youngest brother & his family live in PA, USA)
 above: view of Dove Lake
below l-r: me, my husband Craig, SIL Betsy, brother Marcel 
& mum Rhonda with Oscar in the pusher
we really should have asked someone else to take this photo my Dad, Ken took it 
& believe it or not amongst the many photos taken 
that weekend i do not have a close up of my dad .... it was for HIS birthday!!! ahhg
 we were there for 4 days & had completely perfect blue skies everyday
we stayed at the Cradle Mountian Lodge which has been renovated 
& I have to say that we had some of the best customer service
that we've had anywhere in the world
the drive from Launceston was glorious, 
the mountains & trees were magnificent & the company spectacular ... 
& can I rave about those "fresh pure waters"
(& i actually mean the water, yet Craig would rave about the hops & yeast version ...
the Lodge where we stayed is right next to the water fall where this was filmed ... familiar adverts in Australia!)
below: view from the Dove Lake Boathouse 
which reminded me of being in Austria ...
... makes sense as the man who built the boathouse was from Austria!!
can you see the 3 most important men in my life??
my husband, my boy & my dad!
below: Betsy up on Glacier Rock ... 
below: my boys ...
Craig was teaching Oscar to throw rocks into the lake .... 
none were skimming quality but it was all fun anyway!
 below: some of the many many quiet still ancient views of woodland
Cradle Mountain is above the tree line & they say that 60% of the indigenous plants
are found no where else in the world 
with many of them dating back to the 
time of Gondwanaland ...
it is enchanting & mysterious
 had to include the amazing Tasmanian Devil ...
went to 'Devils at Cradle' ... which is a well designed,
caring sanctury aiming to educate the public about the issues 
facing the endangered Tassie Devils
they are intriguing little creatures!
not at all menacing when you understand them .... how they pro-create 
I do not understand as they are essentially solo animals 
that seem to live in their completely egocentric worlds ...?
had a supurb time that we will remember always...
thanks Dad ... Have a very Happy 70th Birthday today!!!

1 comment:

Lotti said...

Sounds like it was a lovely time. Cradle Mountain is gorgeous .... got to take some photos of it from a small plane on a scenic tour of Tassie. My twin sister lives in Tassie.