Cradle Mountain, Dove Lake Circuit, Wombats and a stunning sunset

Friday 19.01.18

Just to be safe, I call the campground in Cradle Mountain, and they're full. Of course. It's Friday, the weather is good, and it's still summer holidays in Australia. About 32km east of the campground, there is another one that still has availability. But I'm not ready to decide yet. Maybe I'll come back here, even though it would be inconvenient for the continuation of my journey, as tomorrow I'm heading southwest and this campground is about 60km west of Cradle Mountain.

For safety, I keep the key for the bathhouses, for which I left a $10 deposit. Worst case, they'll be gone if I don't come back here, but if I do, I can still shower and use the toilet in the evening. Because if I go back, I won't arrive here until well after 9.00pm, and there won't be anyone anymore who rents me a campspot and provides me with such a key. The post office closes at 5.00pm and doesn't open again until 9.00am.

The road from Waratah to Cradle Mountain is a great road where you can drive very fast. For the first time, I see warning signs with wombats on them. So far, there have always been "only" kangaroos or devils.

A lookout offers a good view of the mountain from a distance. It's still a bit hazy. After 60km, about an hour, around 11.00am, I reach Cradle Mountain. You can park here in the large parking lot at the Visitor Center and then get a ticket for the shuttle bus upon presentation of the park pass. The bus runs about every 10 minutes with three stops to Dove Lake. By the time I put on my long pants and hiking boots, take the park pass out of the car for presentation, return it, transfer water into a small bottle, and get a map, it's 12.00pm. I arrive at Dove Lake shortly before 12.30pm in the blazing heat. There is a lot of sun now, a few clouds, but it's really hot. It's supposed to be 27°C today, which means extreme heat for Cradle Mountain. In summer, you can experience temperatures around freezing point here, and there have been snowfalls. There are apparently only 11 days a year without precipitation on the mountain.

I start with the 6km circuit that is one of Tasmania's 60 Best Short Walks. However, Tasmanians understand "short" to mean walks of 6-7 hours, and a "walk" can certainly be a "hike". In any case, the circuit around Dove Lake is not quite what I imagine as a walk. Relatively short sections are boardwalks, the rest are paths that are often made entirely of loose stones, on which you slip and slide, have to jump over uneven steps of various heights, and after 2.5 hours, at the end of the lake circuit, my soles hurt so much that I can hardly crawl. There are many stairs to climb up and down, often without handrails, and due to the rough path, I really only walk with my gaze directed downwards, and the enjoyment of the hike is over at the latest halfway through, and I just want to finish. The high altitude of over 1000m leads to very dry air, and my half-liter of water was clearly not enough in the heat.

For this trail, you definitely need hiking boots, and as it's sometimes described, suitable for everyone, for families with children, etc. - I would definitely not see it that way. I wouldn't want to stumble along here with a 70 or 80-year-old or with a 3-year-old child.

The views of Cradle Mountain are naturally great. Unfortunately, I only encounter a lizard besides. I was really hoping to see an echidna or wombat. But now I'm sitting in the hut by the shuttle bus at around 3.00pm, trying to get my body temperature back to normal. There is only water from a rain barrel here, and you're supposed to boil it. Great joke.

There is a parking lot here where some people with campers stand and maybe can do that, but the park only allows 50 cars in, which is good. When the number is reached, someone has to leave before someone can enter. I didn't even try because I didn't feel like driving around here with my car. The road is very narrow, and shuttle buses are constantly coming towards you.

I get off the shuttle bus at the Interpretive Center, about 2km before the Visitor Center. Here at the Interpretive Center, which unfortunately closes at 4.00pm, you can watch an informational film and organize further information about the park. However, the rangers are already off duty when I arrive here at 3.15pm. I watch the film, which is quite poor in quality and production. The Americans can do it better. I also wonder why they don't show something like this at the Visitor Center, but only here. It's all a bit cumbersome. There is also no drinking water here, and I'm slowly starting to crave something to drink. Despite all the love for nature, this park surely has hundreds of thousands of visitors per year. A water supply would really be a gain, especially if you don't want to sell anything in bottles to avoid waste. Anyone who arrives here without water can forget about any hikes, etc.

Behind the Interpretive Center, the Enchanted Walk begins. A small circular walk through a picturesque scenery along a small wild stream that ends in a small waterfall. On sore feet, I slowly walk on the well-maintained boardwalk and enjoy the view of buttongrass, blue sky, tall trees, and the gurgling stream. Very peaceful and reconciling after this Dove Lake Circuit that has plunged me into a crisis with Cradle Mountain...

At the end of the Enchanted Walk stands the lodge and the "Peppers", where I see self-service water in the hall and just go in and get myself a glass. It literally evaporates in my body. I walk back to the Interpretive Center to board the shuttle bus back to the Visitor Center. The last bus departs around 7.00pm. My path to the bus takes me across the little stream that runs next to the Enchanted Walk, with a view of a small waterfall. And there I spot it: A platypus! So I stand here for another half hour and watch its dives until it retreats towards the waterfall and starts grooming and spinning in shallow water next to it - it seems to be doing really well!

A wombat appears and is almost run over by a shuttle bus. Hurray! A wombat!

I catch a shuttle bus and I'm the only passenger. I chat with the nice driver, and he asks me where I'm staying. I explain to him that I actually have to drive back to Waratah, 60km. But he suggests that I should just camp in the parking lot behind the Visitor Center because the already fully booked campground would be complete madness with $65. He shows me on the short drive where I can park to watch wombats in the evening and where the wombats always appear.

I make a quick decision. I'm relieved that I don't have to drive another 60km, especially not in the dark.

So I park my camper a bit closer to the toilets, which are open at night as well, make myself a tea, and enjoy the fact that I don't have to go any further. The bus driver comes by again and tells me where I can also see possums later and that I better not touch them - huh? I wouldn't have thought of that anyway. I'm happy that now I can experience the sunset here in complete peace, which of course is complemented by a little drive towards the park to finally see wombats up close!

Shortly before 8.00pm, about an hour before sunset, I set off again towards the lodge. That's just 2km, but I'm "rewarded" with several wombats that sit and eat completely undisturbed in the grass bushes. One even leaves its spot on top of a slope, walks towards me, sniffs at the tip of my shoe, and then continues along uninterested. I'm in seventh heaven!

The sunset is amazing, and suddenly there are magnificent photo opportunities of tree skeletons against a nearly burning sky. Even the small waterfall, next to which the platypus bathed earlier, is bathed in a reddish light.

At around 9.15pm, after seeing several pademelons and wallabies as well, I start the journey back to the Visitor Center's parking lot with many wombat photos. Unfortunately, the toilets haven't been cleaned in the meantime, and I will remember them as the dirtiest toilets I experienced in 2.5 weeks in Tasmania.

Something is moving beside my camper. A not exactly small furry companion with a long tail emerges from the trees at the back and unwaveringly heads towards the Visitor Center. A possum! I didn't think they were that big. I still have 1.5 carrots in the car that I saved especially for such encounters. I throw one to him, but at first, he continues walking. I throw it closer to him, and he grabs it, wedges it between his front paws, and nibbles the thing from top to bottom. Very cute, and he even lets me take a photo. It's completely dark by now, and there really is no one here. I had thought that maybe more people would illegally camp here - as it is not allowed. But the parked cars remain empty. They are probably people doing multi-day hikes.

Until I transfer, look at, and secure all the pictures, it's past 11.00pm.