Australia
Lake Lilla

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    • Day 55

      CMNP: Hiking in the Park

      February 4 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

      Disappointment. That was my first reaction to the overcast and drizzle we woke up to this morning. Where had yesterday’s sunshine and blue skies gone?

      Now that we’ve completed our hike, however, I can categorically say that we’re grateful that there was cloud cover today. It would have been downright uncomfortable hiking had the sun been out.

      Taking the shuttle into CNMP around 8:30a, we hopped off at the Ronny Creek shuttle stop to begin our hike. There was a fancy sign for the Overland Track, our starting point. But no. We did not do that hike. Not only does it take 5-6 days to complete it end to end, one has to pack a tent and other accoutrements for wilderness hiking, and ascend both Marion’s Lookout and Cradle Mountain … and who knows what else.

      Rather, the plan was to hike up to Crater Lake, which is on the Overland … and then return to the Dove Lake parking lot to pick up an outbound shuttle. Since we were cobbling together our own route, we weren’t exactly sure of the distance we’d be hiking. However we figured we’d be out and about for at least three hours. Had we not dallied as much as we did along the way, I imagine that estimate would have been accurate.. As it is, we hiked for over four hours.

      The trail started out flat on a boardwalk. Then wooden steps … some wide; some high. Then rock steps … quite unevenly spaced. Then fairly flat gravel. Then dirt strewn with roots ready to trip up the unwary. The trail was rated easy … Australian easy, that is. Technically, it wasn’t a difficult hike, you just had to pay attention to where you were stepping.

      At the top, the trail junctions with others, including Marion’s Lookout. One look at that straight-up trail confirmed our decision to nix it. Instead, we walked just a bit further on from the junction to a couple of hidden overlooks mentioned to us by the ranger at the Visitor Center … one for Crater Lake and the other for Dove and Lilla Lakes.

      Photo ops completed, we began the return trek via the Wombat Pool and Lilla Lake trails. Yesterday, we had debated doing the hike we did today … but in reverse … starting from Dove Lake to Crater Lake via the Wombat Pool … ending up at the Ronny Creek shuttle stop. Once we began the descent from the Crater Lake trail today, we were especially grateful that we had not done so! There were far more steep sections here … especially on the way to Wombat Pool … and a number of them were a bit more like rock scrambles over what I like to refer to as “sliced bread rocks.”

      We had a great hike … glad for the natural shade provided by the clouds and the occasional gusts of breeze. There were enough glimpses of the view in the heavily-forested parts to keep us entertained. And that’s an especially good thing.
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    • Day 379

      Craddle Mountain

      January 11, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      Australien ist kein Land für Wanderer. Ja, es gibt viele schöne Tracks, auch etliche mehrtägige Wanderungen sind möglich. Dennoch fühlte sich Neuseeland in der Beziehung ganz anders an, zumindest für mich.

      Heute allerdings ging es dann an das wohl anspruchsvollste was Australien zu bieten hat.

      Der Craddle Mountain.
      Ein über 1500 m hohes Biest von einem Berg.

      Man läuft hier teilweise auf super ausgebauten Wanderwegen, teilweise muss man sich an im Stein befestigten Ketten festhalten dass man nicht abrutscht, und der letzte Kilometer bietet nur eines, klettern.

      Über teilweise riesige Gesteinsbrocken muss man sich seinen Weg bahnen um ganz oben angekommen einen tollen Blick genießen zu können.

      Die nächste Stufe, und einzig mögliche Steigerung, wäre das Klettern mit Seil an einer Steilwand. Etwa 2 - 2.5 Stunden haben wir hin und zurück nur für diesen Abschnitt gebraucht.
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    • Day 57

      Crater Lake, Crater Falls und Wombats

      October 28, 2016 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

      Die anderen sind schon weiter gegangen und so wandern wir nun alleine abwärts, vorbei am Crater Lake und den Crater Falls und über die Knopfgras-Wombatwiese, wo wir einige der lustigen kleinen Freßmaschinen beobachten können: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AiUv8teodO-roB8u434fPISewJLq
      Auch der Wombat hat übrigens, wie alle Tiere in Australien, einen Beutel. Die Besonderheit ist hier - die Öffnung ist hinten! Da der kleine Kerl den ganzen Tag seine Schnute ins Gras steckt und ständig frisst, würde das arme Kindchen ja sonst immerzu mit dem Gesicht über den Boden schaben. Daher guckt es eben nach hinten raus. Wir habens einmal gesehen, ist aber sehr schwer zu fotografieren weil ein Wombat sehr kurze Beine hat und fast auf seinem Popo hockt😀.
      Den ganzen Tag strahlt die Sonne und der Cradle Mountain lacht uns von allen Seiten an - ein Traumtag für jeden Wanderer!!!
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    • Day 4

      Cradle Mountain

      December 31, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      Slower start to this morning.  Quiet breakfast at the van and getting settled got our drive to Cradle Mountain.

      l almost fell asleep in the van as we were traveling along today.  The rocking of the van almost rocking me to sleep.  Managed to stay awake to keep Suzie company through.

      I don't know what I expected at Cradle Mountain exactly except lots of walking.  And it is that...but it's more too.  I had read the walk to Dove Lake was 2 to 3 hours so didn't expect to actually see it, thought we'd just do one of the shorter walks.  Turns out the 2 to 3 hours is how long it takes to walk AROUND the lake.  It's only about a 20 minute walk from the bottom bus stop to Glacier Rock which has great views of Dove Lake. It's just ruggedly beautiful.  The colours astonishing.  We did the Enchanted walk too...saw a wallaby napping in the undergrowth.  The difference in the flora between the two walks...one at the top, one at the bottom, is crazy.  Both beautiful in there own ways.

      We're camped tonight at a grounds litterly across the road from the visitor centre.  Serene is the best word for it.  Last night's camp at Strahan, and the one at Wayatinah had kids running around and playing til 9pm.  Here it's just quiet with the sounds of nature.  The camp kitchen has a two way fireplace. which I sat at for a while crocheting.

        Again...wish we had more time here. I'd like to explore cradle mountain more. Do the walk around Dove Lake and Creator Lake too. Maybe more. There's just not enough time.
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    • Day 332

      Cradle Mountain

      October 30, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

      Day three - a trek to Marion's lookout with a spectacular view of Cradle Mountain, followed by a stroll around the beautiful Dove Lake.
      Lunch stop in Sheffield, known as 'the town of murals'
      Followed by honey tasting 🐝 and salmon too 😋
      Last stop for the day at Cataract Gorge, a gorgeous natural valley before getting our heads down in Launceston.
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    • Day 12

      Cradle Mtn - Dove Lake - day 10

      January 21, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

      Went on a big 3 hour walk around Dove Lake with the 2 families. Great views and weather. We were all pretty exhausted at the end.
      Wine and cards that night in front of the fire in the camp kitchen.
      Cousins playing very well together.
      Zach fell over and grazed his elbow. OOOOWWWWW!!
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    • Day 9

      Cradle Mtn + Mohr's!!! Day 9

      January 18, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

      Finally saw the cousins yay!!!! Great to see Sandy, Brad, Alyssa and Jasmine! It was COLD AND WINDY. Sandy drove me to Cradle mtn, and we saw a WOMBAT on the way. I walked for 30 mins with Sandy to the Wombat Poo, then I hiked up to the summit of Cradle Mtn ((1543m) solo great weather and great views. I wasn't going to take any food or water with me, but then Sandy gave me a nagging look and I took an apple and a water bottle.
      Sooooooo cooold that night.
      But a good fire in the camp kitchen.
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    • Day 188

      Now on to Cradle mountain

      February 23, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      We left the Tamar river and headed south south west to the foothills of the northern end of the range of mountains that make up the centre of Tasmania. We are making our way towards Cradle mountain in a very round about way , zigzagging in and out of the foothills looking at some beautiful farm land and what you can grow in this climate. Grows just about anything but only in seasons and personally I don’t do seasons anymore as there is cold and very cold ones in there!! Not for me!!!😎😎. Stayed in some lovely bush camps as well as beside some beautiful lakes. Our next camp , by lake Gairdner , just below Cradle mountain and close enough to be able to do a day trip. Traveled up Cradle mountain the next morning to the information centre, a fare way up the mountain , and there we picked which walk we thought we could do. Then onto the shuttle bus up to our drop point and onto shankes pony for the walk. With in a few hundred metres we saw a beautiful a wombat grazing just off the track we were on. They look like a beautiful cute cuddly bear. Then on up mountain towards our goal, Marions lookout. Went past a beautiful lake, had a wee rest there, and then on we went up up up. Thinking we had made on top of a ridge when some nice person popped our bubble and pointed out Marions lookout well above us and very steep to boot. There was a bit of dissension in our camp about the need to go up there, but I just pushed on saying the views would make it worthwhile. It got steeper and steeper till we were pulling ourselves up by a chain they had installed for the last hundred or so metres. At the top it most definitely was worth it , the views were stunning, and Bess was stoked she had made it. We sat up there and had lunch and just took in the views, amazing and very little wind which we were told doesn’t happen very often. Just for the record it snowed there a couple of days later. Then the decent, not a hell of a lot easier than going up, just slowly slowly!! Passed a couple of more lakes on our way down to the car park which still had a lot of ups and downs to get there. On arrival at the car park, 5 and a half hours later, we looked back up at where we had been and l thought to my self, that crazy skinny cousin of mine and his super fit wife must be getting into my head for me to have done something like that!!!😤😤. Crawled back onto the bus back to our truck and down to another lake, lake Barrington , for a well earned rest.Read more

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