Another interlude - Cradle Mountain

We gave ourselves the luxury of leaving the van in Devonport and staying at Cradle Mountain Lodge for one night. The Tasmanian weather gods were kind to us and we had two perfect days.

There were wombats wandering about everywhere, including a couple of babies following their mums.  There was a lovely echidna near the visitor interpretation centre that we watched closely a couple of times, and I even had a glimpse of a platypus.

On the first day we did a number of lovely short walks, including the famous Enchanted walk, and also several waterfall walks.

A bit later we drove up to Waldheim, the site of the first ever lodge and the beginning of Cradle Mountain becoming a National Park.  There is a lovely stroll through the forest there which is like a fairy tale, or Lord of the Rings.

Being so close we also had a look at the famous Dove Lake from glacier rock, but we saved the full Dove Lake walk for the second day.

What a wonderful walk, with beaches, stretches of rainforest, glorious views of the mountains and so many flowers. 

The last hill before returning to the iconic boat house had us all wishing it was not such a lovely sunny day!

We admired those who ventured further up to Marion's lookout, or on the summit climb, or those who head off from here on the 6-8 day Overland Track walk (that we saw the other end of at Lake St Clair).  We learned that they do an endurance run over the Overland Track and the record stands at 7 hours 25 minutes.  Unbelievable!

We would love to come back and do a few more of the walks, especially the boardwalk that goes from the visitor interpretation centre to Dove Lake.  Next time!

I took a photo at the #cradle365 spot - here is my shot, taken at 12:58 pm on 12 December.

Cradle Mountain is wonderful!