Tasmania: Cradle Mountain National Park (Australia Part 19)

We booked two nights in a hotel in the most famous national park in Tasmania: Cradle Mountain. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is located in the center of Tasmania.

Because we had to wait for our hotel room, we walked along the King Billy Trail, which led us through humid, moss-covered forests.

Later, we took the shuttle bus into the park to walk the 5.5 km back to our hotel on the Cradle Valley Boardwalk.

Along the way, we saw the first wild wombats on our trip, which significantly extended the time needed for the hike due to extensive photo stops - especially when we also spotted a young one near the trail, which looked at us suspiciously.

In addition to several wombats, we also saw some echidnas walking around in search of food. One of them searched a dead tree trunk for insects and was so absorbed in its search that it didn't seem to notice us at all.

The trail was very well maintained and we were able to walk on a comfortable boardwalk through the marshy ground, where small lizards often sat, although they usually fled when we approached.

Not only the animals, but also the landscape was worth a few photos, even though the sky was unfortunately partly cloudy most of the time...

The next morning, we took the bus to Dove Lake, which can be circumnavigated with a view of Cradle Mountain.

You had a beautiful view of the entire lake from Marion's Lookout, which was accessible via a very steep path.

Back at the hotel, we encountered some pademelons on the premises, who enjoyed the fresh grass and were not bothered much by the passing guests.

The wombats were even less interested in people taking photos. They just wandered from patch of grass to patch of grass. One wombat also happily ate next to our cabin and walked calmly past us when it wanted to get to the grass on the other side of the driveway.

In the evening, we participated in a guided tour to see the nocturnal animals. Here we learned that wombats have a pouch that opens towards the back, from which the young one sometimes peeks out. Then you have a two-headed wombat.

We also saw possums with their joeys on their backs. When the babies get too big for the pouch, they climb onto the mother's back and let themselves be carried. Sometimes the children are almost as big as the mother, but too lazy to walk.

We unfortunately couldn't take a photo of this during the night tour, but the next morning we saw two possums walking along in front of the hotel...