Along the Boardwalk

Manda writes:

As we opened Ethel's side door this morning, we were greeted by a pair of sparkling brown eyes. Their owner, a hopeful wallaby, had hopped over and was looking at us expectantly for his breakfast. Sultanas were the only thing on offer and there were no complaints as our furry friend tucked in. Like the possums we'd seen the previous two nights, these cuties were not shy and were probably used to getting a free feed from the guests.

Ian feeding a wallaby dried fruit. Note: you're not supposed to feed the animals bread (bad for them, potentially fatal), but we figured that fruit was OK.

The campsite grounds were still covered in snow but the tracks were in a good enough condition to drive on. As we drove out of the campsite, we could see that the roads had been cleared and we felt safe enough to carry on. We drove to the Information Office, bought some park passes and made use of the free shuttle bus service to Dove Lake. It made more sense as parking spaces are limited and some of these narrow roads can be rather hairy at times - especially when there is another oncoming bus and no passing spaces.

From the Information centre, Cradle Mountain is another 7kms away. The bus took us through a variety of landscapes - forests, rugged mountains, moors and glacial lakes - and what was even better was that all of this was covered in a blanket of clean snow, under a clear blue sky. Our driver kept reminding us how lucky we were to see Cradle Mountain in these conditions since they get rain here the majority of the time. According to the Loney Planet, 'it rains on 7 days out of 10, is cloudy on 8 days out of 10, the sun shines all day only 1 day in 10, and it snows on 54 days each year'. We were very lucky indeed!

We hopped off the bus at Dove Lake - we were told that this is the place where everyone goes to get good photos. We took a short walk up to a rock that offers elevated views of the lake. It was only a 5 minute walk but by the time we got there, our socks and shoes were saturated in cold water - from the melting snow and the puddles we failed to spot along the way!

Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake.

Back on the bus, we headed to Snake Hill, a stop-off point on the Cradle Valley Boardwalk. There is no shortage of good walks around Cradle Mountain, some taking 5 or 6 days to complete - we opted for an easy-paced one. We walked 2kms to Ronny Creek and it took us about 45 minutes. Along the way, we saw evidence of wombats and wallabies (in the form of poop on the boardwalk. We also saw evidence of other walkers before us - thankfully only by their footprints in the snow!) but did not actually spot any in the flesh. The walk was an easy one and there was no chance of us getting lost - we just had to stick to the boardwalk path that took us through the forest, lakes and, towards the end, superb views of Cradle Mountain and some neighbouring mountains in the distance. Both our feet were like ice blocks and had no feeling in them by the end of the walk! Luckily there was a heater on the bus and we were soon put on defrost mode.

The Cradle Mountain boardwalk.

Since the roads were clear, we decided to head for Queenstown while the going was good. We arrived early in the evening and set up camp. It had been a good day, a bit cold but well worth it. I can't believe it's snowing in June - nor can the locals as this is early even by Tassie standards!