Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park,
Tasmania,
Australia
Thursday, June 18, 2009
This morning after a hearty breakfast, we drive the 7 kms from the Ranger Station at Cradle Mountain Village to Dove Lake and set off on the Dove Lake Walk (1-2 hours) which follows the whole circuit of Dove Lake taking you near the base of Cradle Mountain. The Lake was pristine and so still, full of mirrored images. We took heaps of photos! There is unfortunately no snow at present and it's very misty and we have been told that there are only a handful of days each year when the view is unmarred by mist, fog or snow. We saw about half the mountain. One of the prettiest spots was an area called the "Ballroom" which was darker, fern and moss covered - rather eerie. The walk consisted of boardwalks, shale and rocks and many steps! We crossed small streams and rivulets, saw a couple of waterfalls, watched some small trout swimming in one of the streams running into Dove Lake. The walk took about 2 ½ hrs!!!! We were quite pleased with ourselves to make it. By the time we got back it was nearly 1pm, had a salad for lunch and then Grant, Liz and Anna all had a visit to the Day Spa to have the aches and pains ironed out. We then retired to the bar where Grant & Pete had a few games of pool and Liz caught up on the blog and photos. We are having dinner at the Blue Gum Restaurant here tonight as the menu sounds delicious! After dinner we went to the Library beside our rooms, with a cheese platter and a couple of bottles of Tassie wine, sat in front of the fire and just relaxed until bed time. We plan to be off by about 9am tomorrow heading back towards Burnie then up to Stanley at the very north west.
