A day in the snow

Sunday 17th August 2008

Mum and dad are over from Adelaide on their first visit to Tasmania, so after going to the Salamanca markets yesterday and buying a few souvenirs and having a good look around I decided that a trip to the Tahune Airwalk and a visit to the block was in order. The weather was good and we knew that there may be the possibility of rain but that was ok. We purchased our tickets from the visitors centre in Geeveston and proceeded to the block to check on the new arrivals that were still not even 24hrs old yet.

We arrived at the Tahune Airwalk which is only about 15-20 mins away from our block, parked the car and started to have a look around. The water was running so fast under the bridge, it was amazing, we all decided after some discussion that if you fell over the edge you really would not have a hope in hell of not drowning. I have seen pictures of when the water level was so high that it destroyed the bridge and that was not all that long ago.

After a meandering walk we finally reached the end of the walk and the kids now a year older from the last time that they were on there were having a ball trying to make the whole structure shake and move ( kids meaning Tao and Jamahl) as Kai does not really like things moving too much that are at great heights so he layed down on the floor and kept telling them to stop.

Each time that we have gone, we are always amazed at the beauty of the place and the fact that it is on our doorstep, and each time that we have gone it has been different weather so it is nice to see it at different times of the year.

After exploring for a while we headed insid while. Whe the visitors centre for some lunch as it had started to rain, only lightly but enough to get you drenched if you stood out in it for aile at lunch we reminded the boys that we were going to be going to the snow today aswell, up to the Hartz Mountains, we were all pretty excited about this, as coming from SA we have not come across snow in our back yard like we do here. They boys forgot to bring their carrot for their snowman's nose and something for his eyes so Tao and his cute voice asks the waitress if she could ask the chef is he had a carrot and something for the eyes of the snowman.

Sure enough a few minutes later she came back with a carrot and some tomatoes for his eyes, and Tao went up to the chef on the way out of the restaurant and thanked him while jumping up and down as he knew that it was time to leave for the snow.

Jamahl and I and the kids had still not been up to the Hartz yet, but have been meaning to. On the way there we stopped at a very short walk called "The Big Tree" and that is was. The tree was a Eucaplypt by the name of Regnans ( I have forgotten the botanical name for it mind you) but it was amazing, the trunk was so large and it was dying because it was that big that it has got to the stage that it is starting to shrink. Poor thing.

After this it was off to the next track to the snow. We had two cars for the whole trip as we could not all fit so I was driving the Magna and Jamahl was driving the Mazda. As we were going up higher and higher up the mountain we suddenly hit snow and before we knew it the magna was a little bogged as the snow did not look at deep as it was. Jamahl jumped in and finally drove it up the hill to the next stop, and I drove the Mazda, as I felt a little more at home and safer until someone was coming the other way and caused us both to skid to a halt which happened quite a few times. We all finally got there in the end.

It was the most amazing sight, even better than the last time that we saw the snow at Mount Wellington, this was thicker and fluffier and the day was perfect and not cold at all. We all donned our snow gear on and started a huge snow fight, Mum, Dad, the boys and I we all laughing so hard because the snow balls were in full flight.

After settling down we started to make a snowman, and by this time all the boys wanted to do was keep throwing snow and the snowman making was pretty much left up to the adults. Kai was in his element, he was climbing hills of snow and sliding down them and throwing snow balls and laughing, it was so good to see. Tao at first was a bit annoyed (he called it) he did not like getting hit with the snow.

I thought that our efforts of snowman making was brilliant and we managed to get the kids interested and I got them to find something for his arms and buttons, mum donated her hat and the kids scarf aswell.

We next went for an explore in the Mazda, we got a fair way up the mountain more before we got stuck again and had to reverse all the way down the hill and the 4wd could not even go up the hill. The fog had started lifting at this stage and we could see that we still had a fair way to go to get up to the top, but we decided to head back down and make our way home as it was getting fairly late in the day and everyone else had gone home.

While on the way home we came across a couple and their son who had got their car into a sticky situation and needed help getting out, Jamahl jumped in the Mazda and proceeded to help them out while mum, dad, the boys and I went to Rebecca and Montes house to say hi for a while. We had a snack and then it was time to move on, the boys were playing with their favourite friends, Georgia and Matty but it was dinner time.

After a long day of fun we finally had dinner and went to bed.......what a day.