Pt 2 - Day 36 - Raspberry Farm / Lemonthyme Lodge

This morning we awoke to yet more rain.  A very drab old morning.  We just hoped the weather was going to clear as we headed north.  We were looking forward to getting out of the city and seeing some of the country side.  Our accommodation tonight was on the edge of the Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park.  We decided to get off the beaten track and rather than go on the main highway, we would take the road less travelling and head up Lake Highway.  The rain stopped and started most of the way.  The weather was bitterly cold so there weren't many stops to get out and enjoy the scenery.  The roads are very windy and steep so the 250km we have to do today takes twice as long as it would at home.

All our stomachs were thinking about our main stop for lunch, the Raspberry Farm.  Tasmania is a great place for nice food.  The soil is so rich, there are berry farms, cheese factories, chocolate factories and heaps of wineries.  So for lunch the kids have pancakes with ice-cream and raspberry sauce, made on the premises.  We drink raspberry, hot chocolate and raspberry lemonade and I buy some raspberry jam for our travels.  Just delicious!!!  With everyone very satisfied we move on to the Ashgrove cheese shop for some tasting and to make a few small purchases!!!  Thank goodness for tracksuit pants, that's all I can say!!!

We drive through a small town called Sheffield where someone is walking a llama down the street.  Sheffield boasts 40 murals on the walls of all their buildings.  We view a few from the car and I would love to have had a walk around the streets as it is a relatively small town, but once again the rain prevents that idea from happening. We buy some suuplies for tea so we aren't forced to eat at the expensive lodge restaurant tonight and we head for our log cabin in the woods.

The road meanders deeper and deeper into the forest.  Lots of hairpin corners and amazing views down the side of the road.  We then come to the turn off where we have 8km of gravel to reach our resort. Doesn't sound like far does it???  Well it was one of the longest 8km of my life.  I just thank goodness for the fog/cloud so I couldn't see the bottom of the drops that went down the side of the road which was only one lane wide.  Needless to say I was very pleased when we arrived until I got out to a large hissing noise.  Our back tyre was flat as......and getter flatter by the minute, if that was possible!!!!
 
Anyway, Glen quickly had that sorted, however, we weren't too happy about not having a spare up here.  Our log cabin was just beautiful.  Even though it was raining it was so nice to be in the middle of the dense forest with nothing but the possums and kookaburras.  We should have done one of the many walks that were advertised but with the drizzling rain there was nothing to do but enjoy a nice wine by the fire and enjoy the cabin.  Cody made parachutes to launch from the balconly and we eat soup for tea.  It really does feel like winter here!!!