- Starting our Tasmanian trip in Launceston
- The Tamar River Valley
- On the road to Freycinet National Park
- Traveling in the steps of convicts — on the road to Port Arthur
- Hobart and the search for lumber!
- The road to Cradle Mountain — Russell Falls, Lake St. Clair, Queenstown, and Strahan
- Cradle Mountain
- The road back to civilization — Woolnorth, Stanley, Table Cape, Sheffield and trip end
After a short ride, we arrived at Cradle Mountain National Park, which is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area. Cradle Mountain is the most popular location for visitors in Tasmania, despite (or perhaps because of) its isolation. In every direction you look you will see beauty, whether glacial lakes, wild alpine moorlands, moss-covered ancient rainforests and gorges with beautiful waterfalls. There are all manner of species that inhabit the area, sadly without the iconic Tasmanian tiger that was nearly hunted to extinction with the rest captured for zoos. Breeding programs were unsuccessful. Of course, the interest in traveling to this beautiful locale is not a recent phenomenon — in the early 1900s, an Austrian-born amateur botanist named Gustav Weindorfer came to the area to collect samples for his collection. After a few years of coming here, he bought land and built a guest house called the Waldheim Chalet, which was generally quite full. He later became the advocate to turn the area into a national park. He died and is buried near his chalet.
It rained nearly the entire 2 days that we were here, but that didn’t “dampen” our spirits. We hiked around around a portion of Dove Lake, as well as some hikes out to Pencil Pine and Kneyvet Falls. The landscapes varied so greatly from grasslands, to moors, to primeval forests. We were lucky enough to see both wallabies and wombats up close and personal. Sadly, they appear to be at ease with humans in the area.
Probably the highlight of our stay, was going out on a night safari to see animals when they are at their most active. We did this from a Land Rover with the driver who had a spotlight he could shine on critters as he saw them. The guide obviously had a sharp eye, because I couldn’t see anything! We did get to see quite a few animals without getting drenched.
From Cradle Mountain we began our slow reintegration back into civilization.
This entry was posted in Australia, National Park/Monument, Tasmania, Travel
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
