25th January 2010
One of the things on our ‘must-do’ list for Tasmania was to visit Cradle Mountain. Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, to give it its official name, is Tasmania’s best-known wilderness region. One of the most glaciated areas in Australia, with many lakes, the park covers some of Tasmania’s highest land, with craggy mountain peaks such as Cradle Mountain.
We started our day early, arriving at the visitors’ centre at about 9am, then driving to Dove Lake carpark after paying our entry fee. There are many walks within the park itself, but we had chosen to do one to Marion’s Lookout, a point about halfway to the summit of Cradle Mountain. From the carpark, which was the start point for our walk, the sight of Dove Lake backed by the jagged outline of Cradle Mountain was a breathtaking sight.
The walk started out along an easy boardwalk heading towards Wombat Pool, before starting to climb upwards. The paths for the most part were well made and maintained and a lot of the up stuff was done via steps which made for easier going than having to clamber over rocks.
We made really good progress and after a few stops to admire the view were soon using the metal chain attached to the rocks to help us get up the last really steep bit to Marion’s Lookout.
The views which greeted us were well worth the climb. We couldn’t have asked for a better day without a cloud in the sky and could see right across the Central Plateau and its many mountain ranges. At 1200 metres above sea level, the lookout was still a fair way short of the summit towering above us, but we didn’t feel the need to go any higher.
There were quite a few people at the lookout carrying heavy backpacks, who were doing the Overland Track, a 65km, six day hike across the park. To do this track you have to carry everything you need for six days including tent, sleeping bag, water, food, etc. It didn’t really appeal to us, it really was too hot for carrying all that kit.
However, we did want to continue walking and didn’t really want to go back the same way we came, so when one of the locals at the top suggested the Face Track which went in front of the mountain and across the tops of the mountains surrounding Dove Lake we decided that was for us.
We continued on the path to the summit which took us to Kitchen Hut, one of the walking huts on the Overland Track. At this point the path we needed split off and around the side of the mountain. It was decidedly rough in places and we had to watch where we were stepping as there were lots of rocks and boulders on the path. We had some spectacular views of Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain though.
We stopped briefly at Twisted Lakes for some lunch where it really was a case of gulping it down before the flies got it. The flies were the one nuisance on the walk and even though I was laden with insect repellent, apparently it doesn’t work on them (I did however manage to get through the walk with no mozzie bites!). After lunch we continued on the path along the spine of the mountain high above the lake before dropping down (quite steeply in places) to the lakeshore and back to the car.
The whole walk took us about 5 hours (with stops for lunch and photos) and was probably in the region of 14km with lots of up and down and scrambling up and down rocks. We felt justifiably satisfied with our efforts, but very tired and the rest of the afternoon was spent resting aching limbs :).