The Tasmanian terrain can change so quickly. One minute you are driving through flat farmland then the next you are heading up a steep hill, surrounded by huge Myrtle-Beech trees on one side and gigantic gum trees on the other. We were heading into Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park which is located pretty-much smack bang in the middle of Tasmania. Its basically just a few hours drive from everywhere.
For a while we drive along, going off maps we had downloaded onto our iphones, wondering if we are heading in the right direction. We had only seen a few cars since we had turned off the main road and the loud African rock music I was blaring wasn't doing anything to quell the sense of unease at the thought of having to backtrack an hour or so to find somewhere populated, or to get decent phone reception. But then we turn a corner and a huge car park reveals itself, and so does the entry to the national park. I run in to the tourist office, buy a national park pass and in seconds I am back in the car, trying to dodge to two bus loads of tourists buying maps and wombat plush toys.
The road from the tourist office is a windy, up and down affair with trucks, cars, cyclists, motorbikes, camper vans and pretty much any type of vehicle you can think of, while hikers periodically appear from the bushland all around. When you have such a cross-section of vehicles you know that you're heading into a popular spot. We pass the hotels, including our own, and opt to go straight to the viewpoint to see the famed Cradle Mountain.
Cradle Mountain slices the skyline with its sharp ridges, and rises out of Dove lake, which when we arrive is perfectly still... perfectly still until I find the perfect skimming rock (as per usual). The weather is beautiful, but the forecast is not so much. We had planned to do a longer hike the next day but it seemed the weather would probably make that impossible. Its by no means an alpine area, but Tasmania cops the brunt of The Roaring Forties off its south-west coast, while also random weather patterns blowing up from Antarctica. Tasmania is a pretty wild place. In the past few years, it has snowed in this area multiple times in the middle of summer. Snow! In the Aussie summer!
We opt to try and get in two trails today, well two half trails. One would take us to the to another close lookout, called Glacier Rock, which by its namesake, was carved out by a glacier during the Ice Age, many, many eons ago. The walk was surprisingly quick and for the most part we had this popular spot to ourselves. The rock stands high above the water, giving me the urge to want to jump in, but I know the water is freezing and also deceptively shallow.
So we continue our walk back and up another track which takes us higher in the area, to another lake. This second walk was just to get a feel of the area and get away from all the people. Hikers can be seen moving like ants on Cradle Mountain in the distance. We thought about climbing it, but with the encroaching weather, any option of that was cast out of our minds. And in the end, all summits were banned the next day due to the danger.
The paths are free of people and the silence is pure. The nearby creeks babble and trickle, hidden from view by the row of vegetation that runs along the fringe of the lake.
The occasional boardwalk pops up, saving us from traversing these slippery rocks, but also protecting the vegetation and stopping people from wandering off the tracks and annoying the silent neighbors, rummaging around looking for food.
The Wombats. When I first saw one, I thought it was a trick of the eye. This one was silently sitting, staring at me.
I was amazed at how calm he was, just sitting off the edge of the path, trying his best to ignore my girlfriend and I pointing at him.
After a while, he got self-conscious just sitting there looking all lazy, and then got back up to forage some more, revealing himself in his true stumpy, furry beauty. At this point we became self-conscious after embarrassing the wombat and decided we best head back. The wind was beginning to pick up and the clouds were appearing over the horizon.
Until the next Wombat appears,
DanedeBeau
If you enjoyed this, follow My Travel Blog at DanedeBeau!