32. Tasmania - Cradle Mountain & Wombats

Cradle Mountain is located in the central highlands of Tasmania, in Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park. It has a sub-polar ocean climate, with its average temperatures in October range from 35 - 51 degrees F. The 6-day hike to the summit is a very popular amongst hikers, but warnings about the drastic and quickly changing weather conditions are posted all over.

Mike & I unfortunately encountered some of this bad weather on the day we visited, and although we only planned to do several short hikes, we had to cut our day short due to freezing temps, and rain that turned to hail & snow.

We did, however, achieve our goal of seeing wombats in the wild. The wombat is a fluffy marsupial that resembles a very small bear, but is actually more related to a koala (which, btw, is not a bear). We had seen them at Caversham Park in Perth, but only held on the laps of staff members there, and we were thrilled to catch them in their natural habitat.

In cutting our visit short, we also had time to visit the tasmanian devil park (right next door to Cradle Mtn) where we saw the devils and quolls.

After we got back to the hotel & warmed up, we questioned whether we had "wimped out" regarding leaving the park early, only to read in the news later about a young couple on the Overland Trail (the trail we were on) needing to be rescued due to their inability to handle the severe weather, and another tourist who had died the week prior due to hyperthermia. OK. I don't feel bad about leaving early at all.Baca lagi