Cradle Mountain Hikes

 A wild echidna.

 Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain partly obscured by cloud at the end.

Glacier Lake and Wombat Pool.

 This is the type of grassy area that the wombats love.

A wild wombat.

Sunday, March 27^th.

I got up, had a shower and then had breakfast with Michael and Natalia. Shortly after that they left and I got myself organized and took my leave too. Last night Keith said that he would like to come exploring with me but today he remembered he had made plans for Easter dinner with a neighbour. I think he is a pretty lonely guy.

It was a beautiful crisp day with incredibly blue skies. I decided to go to Cradle Mountain because I had heard that the weather up there was very changeable. I enjoyed a long drive on good roads with next to no traffic. On the way I stumbled across an echinda at the side of the road. I was able to get a number of great shots.

After driving for a couple of hours I arrived at Cradle Mountain National Park. I checked in at the visitor centre and read the list of available hikes of which there were lots. They have a 6 or 7 day overland hike that is rated as one of the best multiday hikes in the world. I talked to a guide about what hikes would be good for the day. He suggested the Dove Lake circuit and another short over land hike to the Ronny Creek car park.

So I bought a couple of drinks, a wrap and a couple of snacks and headed out. I took the park shuttle for the 20 minute drive to Dove Lake. Unfortunately the blue skies were gone and the top of Cradle Mountain was shrouded in cloud. I enjoyed the 6 km walk around the whole lake. The path was either rough gravel or a wooden boardwalk. There was a great view from a large glacial rock on the edge of the river. The path followed the shoreline and sometimes through patches of rainforest. Very enjoyable. At the end I stood and ate my wrap while watching the fog drifting around the summit. I would have loved to see it with clear blue skies.

Then I started on the other hike. This one was much more strenuous and had hundreds of steps up and down past a couple more lakes before arriving at the car park 10 kilometres later. Again this one went through some rain forest areas but at the end it crossed a meadow of large grass mounds with a small creek wandering through it. There I found about six wombats enjoying the grass. They weren't too bothered by me, so again I got some good photos.

I caught the shuttle bus back to the visitors centre. I talked to a couple of people who run an adventure company that takes people canyoning. This is like the kloofing I did in Cape Town. It looks like a great place and lots of fun but it is expensive and the weather definitely doesn't make me think of jumping into cold water with or without a wet suit.

I drove out of the park and turned west to find somewhere to sleep. I drove about 50 km along a good deserted road until I got to Tallum. Here I found a place called the Tallum Lake Front Lodge. They had a room and a diner on site. So I had dinner and a beer before retiring to my room to type up the last couple of days.

Drove a total of 208 kms today.