Cradle Mountain National Park

We take our time meandering on the winding roads with a stop in Deloraine at 41 Degrees South, a salmon farm owned by friends of the Alan and Katie, our Launceston hosts. We taste the smoked salmon rillettes and hot smoked salmon and decide we must have lunch. The young girl serving us is the daughter of the German owner and is delighted that we live in Canada. Our ‘home and native land’ was her father’s first choice when he emigrated from Bonn twenty some years ago. He didn’t have enough points to get into Canada so Tasmania was his second choice. He has been to Toronto already but his daughter has not and would love to visit so we exchange email addresses. Who knows? Maybe someday we’ll do a house exchange with her; she seems quite excited by the prospect, and we’d love to get back here again some day. “How hard can it be?”

Cozy Mountain Cabin

We arrive at Highlander Cabins at Cradle Mountain National Park around 3 p.m. and check into our cozy log cabin, Pademelon, named for Mrs. Pademelon and her joey who hang out in the nearby woods. There is a welcoming fire in the woodstove, and we are charmed by these lodgings, our home for the next three days.  It is as different from our Launceston base as night from day, literally, as that place was sunny and urban (for Launceston) and this one is quite dark inside and pleasantly isolated. After unpacking our food and a few clothes we head to the reception centre to see if we can fit in a hike before dinner time.

We have just enough time to board the courtesy bus and head for Dove Lake. There is a two hour hike around the glacial lake, just enough time before the last bus of the night. We hike in double time, up, down and around not wishing to hike 8 km to get out of the park should we miss the public transport. Park officials are very well organized here, transporting the majority of visitors into the park by bus rather than crowding the narrow road with too many cars. They actually lower a gate when the parking spaces are full – generally between 9 and 10 a.m. each day.
The landscape is very different from what we expected, very stark with lots of dead trees, and we’re surprised because the drive in was quite beautiful. We find out later that the dead trees are due to logging and also weather stress. They leave them up as nursery logs to provide homes for the abundant flora and fauna. We complete our walk in just over 90 minutes and head back home for a delicious meal of Tasmanian salmon dipped in the ginseng spice we purchased at the salmon farm. I make a mental note to share some of this spice with my friend, Sherry,  when I get home.

Overland Track with convenient stairs

The next day we head out on the Overland Track toward Marion’s Lookout. We’re not sure if we’re up to completing the last leg of the hike as it is billed as being very steep. We proceed along the boardwalk track dodging wombat poo along the way. Wombats have no concept of “poop and scoop” or “leave no trace”. Where the track traverses meadows of buttongrass, the local wombats seem to leave their traces all over the boardwalk much like a dog when you take it for a walk, only there is no one to do the scooping here. We had seen one of the creatures the night before, a curious square bodied furry critter. An even more curious fact is that its dung is the same shape as its body, sort of rectangular.

Wombat Poo

Wombat we met near Wombat Poo(l). Wombats
are marsupials related to koalas. Can you
see the resemblance?

We climb numerous stairs to reach the top of Crater Falls before skirting the side of Crater Lake. The hiking tracks here amaze us, and we wonder what the Aussies would think of our relatively stark Canadian versions. The Overland Track is a beautiful boardwalk covered in chicken wire for better traction, particularly in winter when they still have a fair number of hikers in the park. There are wonderful stairs, also covered in chicken wire, and we feel very spoiled. At the first lookout point we consume our lunch before heading for Marion’s Lookout. The sky is blue, the sun is shining and the air is nippy – perfect for hiking. I’m wearing most of my cold weather clothes, polypropelene T-shirt, wool sweater, fleece jacket, anorak, neckwarmer, tuque and gloves. I’m glad I brought all these items that I couldn’t bear even to touch when we were in Hawaii, because the weather was so hot. The steep climb is very steep, but the considerate park employees have installed chains on the granite at the worst points so we can heave ourselves up. We make it unscathed and the view of Cradle Mountain is spectacular. Other hikers tell us that this is one of only 32 completely sunny days per year at Cradle Mountain so we feel truly blessed.

Up on Marions Lookout

Dove Lake with Cradle Mountain in background

We met two Scandinavian girls who are happy to snap our photos, and we reciprocate and chat amiably for a few minutes. They are studying at the University of Melbourne, one  is from Sweden and the other from Finland. We enjoy talking with some Australians, who tell us that snow is predicted for Monday. We head back down and arrive at Dove Lake carpark after about three hours of hiking, feeling tired and happy. In my younger days, I could take longer hikes, but now three to four hours of strenuous hiking is my limit. Tomorrow we’ll try for an easier walk – famous last words!
Click Below to See Map:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Cradle+Mountain+Lodge,+Cradle+Mountain,+Australia&hl=en&ll=-41.508577,145.898438&spn=101.613143,226.054688&sll=-43.651975,172.705078&sspn=3.28316,7.064209&vpsrc=6&hq=Cradle+Mountain+Lodge,+Cradle+Mountain,+Australia&t=m&z=2