Another long day, this time for driving. We made it all the way from our Bay of Fires camp, beyond Launceston and Sheffield to Lake Barrington. Mostly in the rain.

A gourmet breakfast of orange juice, cereal, bread and jam and coffee started us off well. There was rain in the air when we packed our things into the car and set off. And so it stayed, fairly steadily with occasional breaks, for the whole day. Stopping in town before getting going, we also had the luxury of a shower to freshen up.

We cut off the north east of the island and headed straight for Launceston. Whatever views we could have seen on the north and east coast were probably ruined by the cloud and rain. We also ignored Narawpatu National Park as we'd been a bit too leisurely to give us enough time to get to the camp sites near Cradle Mountain, our next point of interest. We did however have enough time to visit the beautiful Cataract Gorge and get some late lunch of bread, hummus, brie and fresh salad whilst hiding from more rain. A quick walk around the first basin and over the suspension bridge, then a ride on the strange "inclinator" (essentially a lift that goes up a hill) was the outdoor highlight of our otherwise soggy day.

We arrived at the campsite after passing an accident which was pointed out on local radio a few minutes later. That's pretty much minor celebrity status in Tasmania. This campsite had a free barbecue which we didn't have ingredients to use, but a picnic shelter, which we seriously needed to eat our Italian-cooked tuna pasta.

That's all. Cradle Valley tomorrow, ready to climb Cradle Mountain or something similar. Hope the clouds stay away!