On our way to Mole Creek we stopped to make reservations for a place to stay. One of the things travelling for 5 months is that you always feel like you are on the move, so we decided to stay in Mole Creek for 2 days and not rush our time or the hike - hike hard, enjoy and sleep in a cosy bed. The majority of our time so far has either been in tents or hostels, so we also decided to take a motel in Mole Creek. We booked at the "Mole Creek Guest House & Laurel Berry Restaurant" and were spoiled! It was quaint, with beautiful grounds and had all the little extras that make life a little easier (laundry facilities on site with treats in the room for guests when doing their laundry, a fabulous home-cooked meal restaurant on site, a large TV room with a library of movies and very generous hosts. We took advantage of it all! We shared a lunch, did a few errands and planned our hike for tomorrow. We decided that we would hike all the way in and out in one day instead of camping. That would be a challenging 8 hour hike, but we would have a home cooked meal and comfy bed to sleep in to come back to - not a bad deal! For dinner we had ocean trout (for me) and steak (for Delia), fresh veggies with salad to start - seriously good food! On our way to our room the owners found out that we were getting an early start for our hike and would miss the complimentary breakfast, so the chef put together a breakfast that we could eat before we left (homemade granola, yoghurt and fresh fruit) - does it really get better than that! Well, just for an added bonus, we saw another platypus in the stream just out in their backyard - cutie patootie!
January 28, 2010 we got up early and weather did not look great. It rained during the night, but the forecast was for clear & sunny! We packed, ate our breakfast and took a chance. We had a map and had directions to get to the trail head, but right near the end, with no signposts, it got a bit tricky on which road to take. We took one wrong turn that lead us to a very steep and narrow road with huge pot holes, but by the time we agreed that it was the wrong way, it was near impossible to turn around - very narrow roads with shear cliff sides! With alot of breath-holding and skillful driving, we made it back around, figured out our mistake and got to the trail head with no difficulty after that. We parked and headed out on the trail.
Once we got to the trail head, the weather was perfect - clear skies, sunny and hot! The trail was challenging for sure, but the views were beautiful - all along the trail! The first part of the trail was a 600m climb to the Trapper's Hut .....man, Delia ate her Wheaties this morning; she all, but ran up, I found it hard to keep up and didn't at times. We continued on the trail and reached the Wild Dog Campsite - a popular campsite to set up to do sidetracks off the main trail. The campsite was isolated and there were platforms which always makes for clean, dry and easy camping. From here we carried on to Damascus Gate and it is here that you can scramble up Solomon's Throne &/or the Temple. We weren't sure of the trail and how long, far and hard it was going to be so we decided to continue on further to the Jaffa Gate to see the East Wall of Mount Jerusalem (saw the West Wall at the start of the hike) and hike up a bit of Mount Jerusalem itself. We stopped for crackers and cheese then headed back on the trail. When we reached Damascus Gate again on our way back, I scrambled up Solomon's Throne to attempt to capture the classic photo of the Walls of Jerusalem. I took several, but I am afraid that all my pictures will not do Tasmania justice. We made it to the end and had a fabulous day and hike. This was one of Delia's favourite - probably because the views were outstanding, but also because she had enough energy to supply the whole of Tasmania I think - I want what she had in the morning....wait a minute, I did - oh well, whatever it was, she loved it!
We headed back to the Guest House and had showers, cocktails and dinner; another amazing meal. Delia had the steak again and I tried a vegetarian meal; sundried tomatos, cheese in a pastry with cuscous - all very good! That night we decided to watch a movie and this is when we met Mic and Annette on holidays from Queensland, Australia. This may be one of those times where you had to be there to appreciate the story, but I will try. Mole Creek was a small town and an even small Guest House, so it certainly was not hard to meet other people that were staying in the Guest House. So as we headed up from dinner to the movie room, another couple who finished their meal also came up to watch a movie. As we introduced ourselves and Delia acted in her usual "initial greeting" way, like only she can, we started to look at the movies that we might want to watch. Annette and I were pretty quiet, but Delia picked up a movie; "Proposition" and instantly Mic leaned over and said, "....mmmm...I could watch that...". It was that immediate connection that Delia and Mic had that made me smile. Not only did we; as strangers, agree on a movie, but with the very first movie that we picked. Delia offered Mic a Bundaberg (a rum and coke drink in a can) and turns out that he not only liked Bundaberg, but he is originally from there.....ahhhhh...a match made in heaven. Annette and I just looked at each other and smiled. The movie was not horrible, but definitely not great, but the company was fantastic! The next morning we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast and found out what we missed by leaving early the day before, the breakfast was brilliant! Delia had french toast and I had the mushroom and cheese omelet with muesli and yogurt as a side....mmmmm......so good! We said our good-byes to Mic and Annette as well as to the owners; Paul and Laurie. Like most places, I just don't want to go, but what I have learned is that it only gets better or at least the same!!!
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