Australia: Devenport- Tasmania

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We took a drive up to the North coast in not very great weather. It rained quite a bit and the wind was still strong. We stopped briefly in Burnie before driving out to Stanley. Stanley has some very nice tea shops. We only tried one but had a nice lunch that wasn't completely over priced. We then climbed the Nut which requires climbing a surprisingly steep ramp. The wind was fierce and my glasses felt as if they were going to go flying. There was also a lot of cloud around and a little rain but the views were still great from the top.

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Before leaving Stanley we called up the Cradle Mountain YHA to book beds for the night. It was only 5:20pm so didn't expect a problem but the women who answered said that they didn't usually allow people to check into dorms after 8pm to avoid disturbing families in the dorms. She thought that it would take us 3 hours to drive there from Stanley. She talked in circles and wouldn't say outright if we could stay or not only what their usual policy was. Eventually she said that no we couldn't stay and even if we arrived before 8pm she wouldn't check us in as the office closed at 6pm and she wouldn't stay open for us as she didn't think we would get there before 8pm. She would however let us stay in a much more expensive private room. It shows a really unhelpful attitude at the hostel and made us determined not to stay there the following night even though it was the only budget accommodation anywhere near Cradle Mountain. Instead we went to Devenport and stayed at the YHA there. It was a kind of eccentric place but the staff were friendly and welcoming and it was only $15 each to stay in a twin room. It was another of these big old rambling places that made you feel like you were staying at your Granny's.