Losing things sucks, but when you live inside a box that is lucky to be 10 metres square you wouldn't think it could be possible.

We have had a few items misplaced or lost recently including the lid to our washing bucket (pretty annoying), a table, stool and picnic blanket (fell out of the caravan side hatch on a bumpy road leaving Tasman Peninsula - very annoying), and to top it off the CAR KEYS (painfully annoying). I'm expecting these to pop up in one of the tiny cupboards, but they could very well be sitting in a gutter along one of the tree lined streets of Longford. At this stage we have spares, so the trip goes on.....

A relaxed Saturday morning included attending our first Tasmanian Parkrun at Launceston followed by a lovely coffee at Blue Cafe Bar, before returning to Longford for a quick pack up and head again into the wilderness of Mount Field National Park. We are getting better packing up the van, taking only 30 or 40 minutes.

The drive was unexpectedly spectacular, passing a few hydro schemes and climbing up and through the wild lakes of the Central Plateau Conservation Area. We arrived at Left Of Field after a tea stop in historic Hamilton, just in time for a camp bonfire organised by our host Adrian, and a draw to win tickets to the local Wild Food Festival. Theo and Bern Won!! So our first day in the Mount Field National Park was planned. A spectacular clear sky showed off the brilliance of the Milky Way before we called it a day.

The inaugural Derwent Valley Tasmanian Wild Food Festival almost lost us with the cancellation of the coffee cart, but luckily I made an emergency trip back to the van to bring the minipresso so as to keep the 'caffeine addicts headache' at bay. Once the soothing effects of the caffeine seeped into our bodies, the beauty of our surrounds were revealed. Live music echoed through the forest and the aromas of wild food calmed us as we soaked up the warm sunshine. A few local beers, a delicious veggie paella and a wallaby burger with pepper berry relish satisfied our remaining senses.

Recharged, the next day we set out again on another challenging hike to the Tarn Shelf in the alpine region of Mount Field National Park. A pristine walk around Lake Dobson, a tough up hill grind to the local ski area at Mount Mawson, plus more climbing got us to the ridge overlooking the gorgeous Lake Seal and the Platypus Tarn. A board walk path and a bit of rock scrambling found us sitting atop the Tarn Shelf for a picnic at altitude. A hint of blue sky changing to grey clouds wisely made us turn back and return to the car via the alternate Snow Gums track, a scramble down through the contorted orange and purple trunks of the snow gums. Theo managed walking 30 to 40 minutes each way including some pretty impressive rock climbing.

The remainder of our time at Mt Field including enjoying the great hospitality of Left of Field, blackberry picking, sampling the locally produced eggs, apples and potatoes, and driving many, many kilometres. One trip was for fun, the other, not for fun.

The fun one saw us drive west into the depths of the South West National Park to visit the Gordon Dam and Lake Pedder. Both were the subject of some intense environmental battles in the 1970's, but resulted in an incredible engineering feat, a 140m high double curvature dam wall slotted between the vertical basalt cliff edges of the Gordon River canyon, and a massive dam supplying 15% of Tasmania's power. We treated ourselves to a fancy lunch overlooking the shores of Lake Pedder, Bern and I sharing a bowl of potato and pancetta soup, and Theo demolishing two serves of salt and pepper squid (plus all the bread and chips). Archie gave it a good go too, scattering food all over the floors of the fancy restaurant. These kids are really starting to get expensive to feed!

Our last day was a slight write off driving to Kingston to get the car fixed, but without parts, we were sent away. A big grocery shop to stock up our pantry was a positive, plus 'rock and rhyme' at the local library. Leaving day saw us yet again head to Kingston (for the fifth time!), and hooray, the car was fixed!! A 4pm departure was just in time to Skype into Grandma Jules's big birthday bash. We said goodbye to Hobart with a big hip-hip, HOORAY!!

**** We just received a call from Longford Caravan Park, and our keys have been FOUND! We will pick them up on our way towards Devonport and the Spirit of Tasmania. ****