Every time I mentioned I was going to Tasmania people asked "Are you going to Cradle Mountain?" It was clear it's one of the state's most treasured locations so all of my tour group were looking forward to going there. You can't drive right into Cradle Mountain National Park, you must board a shuttle bus which takes you right in. It is a scenic alpine trip but what really made it for us was the bus driver, a true blue Aussie who kept up a very amusing, joke filled commentary all the way.
We left the bus at Dove Lake but unfortunately the mountain was cloaked in thick fog making it impossible to get even a glimpse of it so we took a short walk beside the lake to the boat house. It was really beautiful, quite atmospheric in the fog, and with pretty reflections on the glass like water.
After a short break, we set off for a very long walk across the alpine terrain. For quite a while it was difficult, clambering over rocks and stones and through muddy patches but eventually we came to a board walk which made it a lot easier, apart from the fact that we had to avoid the prolific wombat droppings across the path. Nevertheless we were delighted to see wombats and echidnas just living their lives in the wild.
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| Wombat |
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| Echidna |
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| This is a great area for hikers there are many different trails |
At the top of a slope is an exact replica of the cottage of Gustav and Kate Weindorfer, lodge keepers and botanists, who lived in and loved the area in the early 1900s and worked hard to achieve Protected Status for the region. We sat and rested inside the cottage before making our way back to the shuttle bus.
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| Inside the Weindorfer's cottage |
Before heading to our hotel we visited a tasmanian devil and quoll sanctuary. Tasmania devils are ugly little things with a horrible screech, hence their name, but the quolls are cute enough and we were pleased to have seen so much of Australia's interesting and diverse wild life in one day.
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| Tasmanian Devil |
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| Quoll |
We spent the night at the lovely Cradle Mountain Hotel, enjoying drinks and conversation beside a roaring fire before dinner. We hadn't seen the mountain but we had still had an enjoyable and satisfying day. And then our wonderful guide came up with an idea, she moved our itinerary around a bit so we could try and see the mountain again the next day. In the morning we took two short walks, one to Pencil Pine Falls, very peaceful, before heading right into the park and what a joy it was to see the mountain clearly with just a bit of fog swirling around.
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| Cradle Mountain |
Very impressive. We were delighted, contented and happy to continue on our travels which took us past a spectacular mountain range and into the pretty little town of Sheffield.
Sheffield is known as the mural town for its colourful murals everywhere and for a well known identity who sits outside a cafe every day with his tame, pet llama named Pedro.
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| A man and his llama. Note part of the mural depicting them on the right. |
After a good long coffee break we went to an arboretum where we strolled among vibrantly coloured autumn leafed trees and saw platypus making brief appearances above the water, too fast to photograph.
Our stop for the night was back at the Grand Chancellor Hotel, Launceston and in the morning we were heading south.
