Cradle Mountain was the second big headliner of our trip in Tassie. We were pretty pumped for it and determined not to screw it up. Turns out we were extremely lucky to see Cradle Mountain on such a clear day - apparently there are 30 such days in the entire year.

First up, we headed to Bossimis Bakehouse in nearby Sheffield. On the way there, A decided to hit a Tasmanian native hen as it… ran across the road. Good job. We could not see its remains or any sign of it at all.

At the bakehouse there were really slim pickings being so early in the day. In the end we got a cheese and ham croissant, 2x cheese and bacon rolls and a bacon and egg roll. There seemed to be a theme there, carbs and pork… We scoffed down the croissant and B&E roll and hit up the servo at 7:30am just down the road to fill up the car.

The drive to Cradle Mountain would take around 50 mins. On the way there was copious amounts of fog. It looked really dreary and we were worried that it would not be a good day.

The plan was to drive all the way to the Ronny Creek car park which was within the National Park. However the boomgate was down, so we had to take the public shuttle bus into the National Park like everyone else. We headed back to the Visitor Center to freshen up and get tickets to the aforementioned bus as well as some information. Our plan was to head up the higher altitude walk on the eastern side of Dove Lake and circle around Dove lake but from above, so we could get a nice view of Dove lake but also get a closer view of Cradle Mountain. Then we could descend via Crater Lake which would give us a view of another lake before ending at Ronny Creek, where we would hopefully see some wild Wombats!

It wasn't a super ambitious plan, definitely doable in the time we had, according to the lady we spoke to. So off we went on the shuttle bus to the last stop, Dove Lake.

Dove Lake

The bus was a bit slow but we got there in the end. There was a little registration hut where we wrote down our names and off we went. There weren't that many people who had chosen to disembark at Dove Lake. The first part of the walk had us circle Dove lake a little, so it was nice and flat as there was a dedicated board walk. But within 100m of walking, we had THE postcard perfect view of Cradle Mountain:

Here is a panorama:

(Best viewed on desktop and in full screen mode)

It was-

via GIPHY

Pack it in, everyone, we're done, there's nothing else to see. The end.

Kidding. Remember how we were worried before about the weather? Well we didn't have to, look at it! Absolutely stunning. The lake was perfectly still.

Soon enough, we reached Glacier Rock lookout and took more photos, but it was more of the same.

Right after the lookout was a fork in the road. On the right was Lake Rodway Track where you would gain elevation and reach Hansons Peak, which was what we planned to do. On the left, you could continue lakeside.

Lake Rodway Track

The track got us to gain elevation rather quickly, but was not too steep. There were lots of steps and lots of rocks. Within half an hour we reached Lake Hanson:

(Best viewed on desktop and in full screen mode)

Hansons Peak

Within another hour of hiking, we had reached Hanson's peak. The last part of hike involved using chains to help you climb up as the trail was quite steep. The chains were really helpful and it wasn't really that hard, save for a couple of big steps. At the top, we ate more carbs and pork.

The view was awesome:

(Best viewed on desktop and in full screen mode)

Face Track

We continued on the track and saw Dove lake from a different angle:

We were gaining elevation again but then we would descend and I was getting a bit tired. Onwards on to the Face track, that would take us right in front of Cradle Mountain, which was very craggy up close. It was so craggy that I could not take a good panorama of it, as it was fooling my camera.

(Best viewed on desktop and in full screen mode)

But you kind of get the point, right?

The Face Track started off with decent elevation (~200m) but it was easy peasy flat as we got right in front of the mountain. At the end of the Face Track was a three way fork - Cradle Mountain Summit track that would take you up all the way up to the summit. We were not attempting this as it sounded like a total bitch to do (steep, rocky) but there were loads of hikers around and lots of backpacks strewn all over the place.

The other trail was the Overland Track, which is a 65km and 6 day hike. It looked like lots of people were attempting this as they all had big backpacks no doubt with camping gear. We would be taking this track all the way down to Ronny Creek and its carpark, where we would take the shuttle bus home.

Overland Track

The fork was a turning point, now we would just simply be descending, so it was not challenging at all, just a bit long. There was also a boardwalk which made everything easier. As we reached Marions Lookout, it was clear this was the track that everyone else did as suddenly there was 20x more people. Prior to this, it was very quiet.

(Best viewed on desktop and in full screen mode)

Marions Lookout

The lookout was very popular. It seemed most people came up here from Dove Lake. The view was similar to the view from Hansons Peak, which was, of course directly across the lake. But I felt the view of Cradle Mountain was a little obscured and the lighting was not optiminal at this time of day (but not the fault of the lookout lol). Judge for yourself:

(Best viewed on desktop and in full screen mode)

Crater Lake

Down down down we continued on. It was not as exposed and we were walking amongst the trees:

Again there was less people but the day was getting late. We were definitely rushing as we did not want to miss the last shuttle bus which was at 5pm.

Crater lake was a very still and peaceful looking lake. There was a boat shed here but it was not as photogenic as the one at Dove lake. The photo below is all we have of it, and it's not a very good one (old phone pano):

(Best viewed on desktop and in full screen mode)

We walked past Crater falls but it was not a very impressive waterfall. There was more steps and finally we reached a very large clearing with a boardwalk. We'd reached Ronny Creek.

Wombats

There were lots of wombats! They were all just chilling out and eating, of course. We spent a good 30mins observing them just doing their thing. We could see the carpak from where we were standing and hadn't seen any shuttle busses.

It was hard to get a good photo of the wombats as they were focussed on finding dinner and their faces would be in the grass.

A wombat crossed the boardwalk in front of me!! It's sooooo fooooofffyyyyyy.

When I finally looked one in the eye it was time to call it quits.

Wombats have got to be one of my favourite Aussie animals, top 5 definitely. They're so unique, cute and derpy. They literally shit bricks!

We ran down the rest of the boardwalk and waited for the shuttle bus, not wanting to push our luck. One came within 5 minutes and back to the Visitor centre we went.

Tavern Bar & Bistro at Cradle Mountain Lodge

It was quite cold by the time we got the car and to be honest we hadn't had too much to eat whilst hiking. Feeling bloated and cramped because you ate too much is not fun. We were googling places to eat dinner at and settled for something close by, Tavern Bar & Bistro. This was located in a 4 star hotel just outside the National Park. If we couldn't stay there ($$$$$$), we could eat there.

We both settled for something simple -

I had a Mediterranean vegetable spaghetti (AUD 25) which had olives, sundried tomato, grilled courgettes, spinach. It was quite nice actually, I didn't mind the lack of meat at all (otherwise, why did I choose it?) It tasted hearty enough for me.

A had the beef burger (AUD 25) with chips which was nothing to write home about but it didn't bother him too much. He was just hungry. It was definitely overpriced but we were just tired at that point.

There was a nice big fire near where we were sitting and whilst we were waiting for the food (which took quite a while), I would sit near the fire to warm up. The tavern was rather cold if you weren't seated right by the fire.

6/10 overall #ipinions

After dinner we had a 50 min drive ahead of us to get us back to Barrington. We did not see much wildlife, thankfully.

Final Thoughts on Cradle Mountain

• As I mentioned in the beginning, there are 30 clear sunny days on Cradle mountain in a year. So the weather is generally not great and the odds are not in your favour (livecam here). We were very lucky to experience a sunny day. The reason I think for all the fog in the beginning of the day was because we were gaining elevation and getting above the clouds.
• Most people do not follow the trails we did. I think most people simply do the Dove Lake circuit and call it a day, and that's fine if that's all you're able to do. And it looked like a lot of people do end up going to Marions lookout and back to Dove lake. This is the easiest way to gain elevation I think. Once the lady at the visitor centre heard that we were intending to go to Hansons Peak, she recommended that we come down to Lake Wilks and the trail for this would lead back to Dove Lake. If we had done this, our day would've been over much quicker. The negative to this trail is that you would miss out the Face Track entirely.
• We spent 7 hours total hiking around 10km (take into account the elevation we gained), which was probably slower than what the fit people out there could do. But we had intended to spend the whole day out at this National Park and we did.
• Would I recommend the path we took? Yes, I would. The other thing we could have done instead was skip Crater Lake; I wouldn't say it's a must see. So descend at Marions Lookout back to Dove Lake then take the shuttle to Ronny Creek (or you could walk there as well, it should be an easy walk from the Dove Lake boat shed). We didn't see the famous boat shed at Dove Lake at all (not that I minded).
• Climbing up to Hansons Peak and to the front face of Cradle Mountain (~339m elevation) was much easier than Mount Amos (400m elevation).
• 90% people on the hike did not say “Hi” to us unless I said “Hi” to them first. Make of that what you will.