Monday, 11 February
to Monday, 18 February 2019
We picked up our hire car on Monday afternoon and headed off
a bit later than planned as rain delayed our packing. We were underway by 1100 and
drove up the Derwent valley, stopping in New Norfolk to admire the view.
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| Derwent Valley from Peppermint Hill |
We
then drove on to Mt Fields National Park where we had lunch and walked to
Russell Falls and to see the Tall Trees that escaped logging.
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| Russell Falls |
A visitor’s National Park Pass cost $60 for a car and up to
8 people for 8 weeks. Very good value and the standard of NP infrastructure was
excellent at the parks we visited.
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| Countryside was much drier than expected |
From Mt Fields we drove to Tarraleah our accommodation for
the next 3 nights.
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| Tarraleah Ducks |
Tarraleah is an old Hydro town that has been converted for
tourists and includes accommodation in houses, villas, lodge or caravan park and has a café and an inn.
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| History of hydro-electricity in the area |
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| Our villa had good heating |
Our first night was quite cold we thought – we awoke
to discover it had snowed on Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clair, today's
destination.
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| Snow on the roadside |
We arrived at the visitor centre and booked a ferry to Echo
Point where we were dropped off for the 3 hour walk back to the lodge. It
started raining while we were on the boat and we were glad of the hut at Echo
Point to put all our wet weather gear on for the walk back. It was cold…..and
with a strong wind it felt even colder. There was still snow on the track and
now some mud from the rain.
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| Snow on the track |
It was difficult going over large tree roots, and across small streams but
the scenery when the sun came out (on occasion) was beautiful.
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| Mount Ida |
The walk took about 4 hours to cover the 11km and we were
glad for a hot cup of tea on our return. Dinner at the Highland Arms was
excellent, helped by the roaring fire. You gotta love summer in Tasmania.
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| Tassie sense of humour |
On Thursday, we decided to stay around Tarraleah where there
were several walks.
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| Quoll track - no quolls sighted |
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| Eagle track - you guessed it, no eagles |
Only an occasional shower, but cold still so wet weather
gear was the order of the day. Warren enjoyed feeding the Highland cows kept on
the property and we also saw Tasmania’s highest golf course.
On Friday, we set off for Cradle Mountain, stopping at The
Wall first. This is a carved mural that tells the history of the region. Artist
Greg Duncan has been carving the 3 m high wood panels for over ten years and
there is still much of the 100m wall to be completed. It was an impressive work
of art but sadly no photos are allowed inside.
We travelled via Queenstown to get to Moina, about 25
minutes away from the Cradle Mountain Visitors centre. The road was windy and
we were glad for the upgrade of our Corolla to a small SUV. On the way we also stopped
at Nelson Falls and Queenstown to break up the 250km drive.
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| Nelson Falls |
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| Queenstown monument to the early miners |
Cradle Mountain is busy! The National Parks had an excellent
shuttle bus service to take you to one of the 4 starting points for hikes in
the park.
On Saturday we decided to walk to Marion’s Lookout which overlooks both
Crater and Dove Lakes.
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| Crater Lake |
Unfortunately it was overcast with low clouds but there
was no snow! While the walk was only 8 km it took us 4 and a half hours.
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| We made it |
This is the first stage of the overland track which runs
from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair - a distance of 65 km. Apparently once a
year they have a race along the track, the record is under 8 hours for a trek
that most people take 6 days to complete.
We were glad to only have a day pack as we climbed over 400m
vertically, the last section with the help of a chain.
On Sunday, we started the day with a visit to Devils@Cradle,
a conservation park for breeding Tasmanian Devils and Eastern and Spotted-tail
Quolls.
Devil populations have been hard hit by the Devil Facial Tumour
Disease that has reduced the population by 85% since it was first described in
1996. We were encouraged to hear that the population is beginning to show
resistance to the disease.
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| Talk to start the Keepers tour |
We did a couple of the shorter walks before lunch then
completed the 6km Dove Lake Circuit. The sun was out and we had spectacular
views of Cradle Mountain.
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| No wet weather gear! |
On Monday we were on the road again for the drive back to
Hobart with stops at Sheffield, Deloraine, Oatlands and Richmond. We managed to pack quite a lot into our 7 days on the road.
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| Sheffield - the Mural town |
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| Quilted sculpture in Deloraine - 10,000 hours work by the local community |
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| Callington Mill in Oatlands |
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| Australia's oldest bridge built in 1823 in Richmond |
Tarraleah is an old Hydro town that has been converted for
tourists and includes accommodation in houses, villas, lodge or caravan park and has a café and an inn.
On Saturday we decided to walk to Marion’s Lookout which overlooks both
Crater and Dove Lakes. 
