And The Cradle Will Rock

Moving on towards the west coast, we stop at Cradle Mountain National Park to take in Cradle Mountain itself and do a few of the many walks throughout the park. Today the weather is a bit brisk, the first day during our whole three month journey we've had to don our tuques and mitts throughout the day. Winter is coming to this part of the world — time to get out!

We do manage to avoid the rain however. To reduce traffic in the park, there is a shuttle service that runs visitors into the various hiking spots. We shuttle right in to the Dove Lake car park and from there, do the two hour walk around Dove Lake which provides excellent views of the mountain, the alpine forest and the famous cradle.








Our eyes are peeled for echidnas and platypus, but no one is willing to show themselves.

Can you see the baby in the cradle? (We can't. Actually it is supposed to resemble a miners cradle.... we can't see that either!).




From Dove Lake, we walk back along the Cradle Valley boardwalk, through the button glass plains and what seems like an endless stream of cubical wombat droppings (their way of marking their territory). The shuttles are full heading out of the park and we have to wait for three buses before one will stop with room for us to get on.









The rain does come in the afternoon, perfect time for a long drive, which we do along the Murchison Highway down towards the mining town of Queenstown. The west coast is true wilderness, nothing but thick rain forest on both sides of the highway. We are uncertain whether to stop in Strachan and do the Gordon River Cruise which is listed as one of the "do not miss" experiences when visiting Tasmania. We are wary of our short time here, our "push on and do it" tendencies and the things we want to see down in the southern part of the state.

But a stop in Queenstown at the information centre turns the tide. Sweeties Fred and Lynn get us sorted, call the cruise people in Strachan to ensure there are seats and by 4:00 p.m., we are whistling further west, towards Strachan to get ourselves set up for the night and the Gordon River cruise in the morning. Promising a ride through Hell's Gates, a close up look at the huon pine trees and a tour of Sarah Island which once housed one of Australia's oldest convict settlements, it should be another eventful day in Tassie.