Who would have guessed that you can find snow in summer? Not me, but that's what we encountered on our second road trip in Tasmania.
We had left Launceston for Strahan (pronounced Strawn) on the west coast at about 9am and had been on the road for just under two hours when we saw the first signs of snow.
There were small patches of snow on the ground when we passed Miena, a town by the Great Lake in the Central Highland.
Gradually there were droplets on the car's windscreen, and the snowfall grew heavier as we drove along.
My brother James, who did all the driving for both road trips, pulled the car over to the side of the road to allow us to experience snow first hand. It was 3° C outside but snow is snow. We forced ourselves out of the car to touch and feel the snow "raining" down on us. Very third world, right?
We lasted only a few minutes outside and then it was back inside the warmth of the car.
And just as suddenly as the snowfall had appeared, it was back to your normal summer conditions as we drove along, and started going downhill. This second road trip was so much different from our journey to Port Arthur a few days earlier.
It was more or less flat land all the way to the south while this journey to the west took us across a mountain range and involved a lot more uphill and downhill drive on very winding roads.
For the most part, the climb was gradual and we did not realize how high we were until we looked down the winding road which we had passed.
Miena, for example, is 1,052 metres (or 3,451 ft) above sea level, which perhaps explains why there was snow at this time of the year. In fact, there is snowfall on 40 to 50 days of the year, and it could happen in any month. And sometimes temperatures fall below zero.
For comparison sake, Miena is higher than Penang Hill (830 metres or 2,750 ft) but lower than Genting HIghlands (1,865 metres or 6,118 ft). Bear in mind that Tasmania is so much nearer to the Antarctic than Malaysia.
Generally, the weather in Tasmania is 4°C colder than Sydney.
We could, of course, have taken the shorter route to Strahan which involves only 3 1/2 hours of driving but James had learnt that snow was predicted around the Great Lake region on that Sunday morning.
He felt this was too great an opportunity to pass up, so he chose this route which would take an hour longer and opted for the quicker route for our return journey back to Launceston on Tuesday.
This was the route we took:
1. Launceston
2. Longford
3. Cressy
4. Poatina
5. Miena
6. Bronte Park
7. Derwent Bridge
8. Queenstown
9. Strahan
And why are we going to Strahan? To take a ride on a "choo choo" train from Regatta Point to Queenstown.
I love trains. What can I say?
This train service, which is purely for tourists, runs only on Monday and Tuesday. As it is a day-long ride and we were flying back to Sydney on Wednesday, we could only take the train on Monday.
Back to this road trip. I was in for my second pleasant surprise when we stopped at a place called The Wall at Derwent Bridge. It is literally in the middle of a wilderness.
The Wall, a creation of sculptor Greg Duncan is a sort of art gallery but unlike any that I have ever seen. Not that I have seen so many galleries or that I am such a great art lover.
On display are his carvings on both sides of a wooden wall measuring 50 metres long and 3 metres high. On this wall, he is recording local history, involving the plight of the Tasmanian Tiger and wedge-tail eagle and scenes depicting the daily life of hydro-electric dam workers.
His attention to details left me speechless. They are all so lifelike, whether it is the muscles of men and animals, the folds of clothing or just a knotted rope.
The last time I was so spellbound was when I was admiring Michaelangelo's La Pieta in the Vatican.
The Wall is made up of panels, so you can see certain parts of his artwork are still uncompleted. You get a chance to see work in progress, so to speak.
Unfortunately we are not allowed to take photos inside the gallery, so I was forced to buy the sculptor's book as I wanted learn more about his masterpiece.
After driving for 30 minutes, we arrived at Lake St Clair, one of the popular attractions in this region
Lake St Clair, which was carved out by glacial action over two million years, is the deepest lake in Australia.
It is popular with nature lovers and is the finishing point of the famous Overland Track, an international walking event which takes you across 80km of the most beautiful Tasmanian landscapes.
The walk, starting from Cradle Mountain, attracts about 8,000 walkers from 50 countries for this 6 to 7-day adventure.
This is the Central HIghland region which is also known as the Lake Country as there are nearly 3,000 lakes here.
Sadly we only stopped at only two of them, the other being Lake Burbury.
Imagine how many more trips I have to make to see all of them.
I will have more reason to come back here if I love trout fishing.
After this, it was uphill all the way until we reached a lookout point overlooking Queenstown.
The view is spectacular from this spot which is 1,146 metres (3,760 ft) above sea level.
And a bit scary, too, if you not used going downhill on winding roads.
I am not sure how many bends there were on the way down, but James told me it was 99.
Lucky for us, my brother's car is a 2-litre Subaru, an all-wheel drive vehicle, so it could handle the winding road easily.
After that experience, the 45-minute drive from Queenstown to Strahan was uneventful.
We stayed at a hotel, Strahan Village, for two nights. Like our hotel in Eaglehawk Neck, the view from our room balcony was magnificent.
We faced the harbour and the main street of this small town.
I assume most tourists come here for the train ride or the river cruise, which a fellow guest at our hotel described as "simply wonderful."
My brother had wanted to book us on the day-long cruise if we had stayed an extra day.
The river cruise is not the only thing we missed.
After our train ride on Monday, we had to rush back to Launceston the next day.
Our return journey took us past two great attractions which we did not have time to see.
The first was Montezuma Falls near the mining town of Rosebery. It is Tasmania's highest waterfall but it involves a three-hour return walk to see this 104-metre falls.
The second was Cradle Mountain, near Tullah.
Former Star colleague Parkaran had this to say in response to my first postcard from Port Arthur:
"Please go to Cradle Mountain and stay a night. Lovely, lovely place. Out of this world."
Cradle Mountain, anyone?
Well, the itinerary for my next trip is slowly coming together.
This was the route we took on our way back to Launceston:
1. Strahan
2. Zeehan
3. Rosebery
4. Tullah
5. Moina
6. Gowrie Park
7. Sheffield
8. Railton
9. Elizabeth Town
10. Launceston
The only major stop we made was in Sheffield.
Everywhere you turn in town, you will see a mural on a building wall.
And there's a story to that.
Sheffield used to survive on the business generated by workers employed to build a hydro electric dam nearby.
When the dam was completed and the workers left, the town was dying until someone suggested that the town adopt an idea successfully implemented by a Canadian town -- hold a mural painting completion.
There is an international mural competition every year and the winning entries are displayed in a mural park.
We spent quite a bit of time in this town, admiring all the winning murals, and also looking at the other masterpieces found everywhere.
After that, it was a quick dash to Launceston.