Cradle Mountain - 13 - 17/03/2024

Cradle Mountain, Dove Lake (GPS: 41°39'4.7735" S 145°57'41.1513" E)

After arriving at our new base, at the Discovery Parks Caravan Park on site about 10 km from Dove Lake, we spent the afternoon doing a couple of small walks near the 'Interpretation Centre'. 

Next morning, we took an early (4:30 and 2 degrees) trip out to Dove Lake hoping to catch a glimpse and capture an Aurora display but it wasn't to be.  On the way out we saw a Tassie Devil crossing the road.  On our walk down to the lake, a wombat strolled across the path and then, when we got to the water's edge, we interrupted a kangaroo having a swim in the lake.  
So, we immersed ourselves in the cool, calm atmosphere as we stayed until sunrise and left before 8:00.

The pre-dawn calm waters of Dove Lake

Glacier Rock

Dove Lake Boat Shed

Dove Lake Viewing Shelter - part of the $27M infrastructure upgrade over the past 4 years

I made daily dawn visits to the lake to witness the changing faces of Cradle Mountain

 

The road into the lake is closed to all traffic between 8:00am and 6:00pm each day.  During those times, shuttle buses run every 15 mins between the Visitor Information Centre and Dove Lake.  
Outside those hours, you can drive your own vehicle in to the lake as long as you are out by 8:00.
Our next visit was by shuttle bus later that morning.  Spent the rest of the day trekking around the northern end of the lake.  We didn't do the entire lake circuit walk - I just wasn't up for it.
Later that day, after 6:00 pm, we tripped back out to Ronny Creek to see if we could spot any wombats.  Well they came out to play - they were everywhere!

 

Next day, we took on a 6km walk through the scrub from Snake Hill to Dove Lake via the constructed boardwalk at the start which eventually deteriorated into a rock scrambling exercise and what seemed like hundreds of steps (my arch nemesis).  It nearly broke me.

Snake Hill boardwalk

 

 

Lake Lilla - smaller lake on the west of Dove Lake along the wlk from Snake Hill to Dove Lake

 

On Saturday, we visited 'Devils@Cradle', a sanctuary for Tassie Devils and Quolls where they have an active breeding program for these endangered species - very interesting and informative.

Eastern Quoll

Endangered Tasmanian Devil

 

Our final walk was a short venture to Pencil Pine Falls, only a couple of kms from our campsite.

Pencil Pine Falls