Pickford Tarn

Cradle Mountain to Tullah - 51km

Today was all about Cradle Mountain, the biggest National Park in Tasmania, with the 6th largest mountain of Tassie, at 1545m above sea level. As we were staying at the base of the mountain we were quite high up and the morning broke very cold at a chilly 7° so we had a quick breakfast and coffee by the fire to warm us up ready for a day of hiking.

Unfortunately the weather was against us, very cloudy and rainy all day so we didn't get to see the mountain range in all its glory, the clouds broke slightly as we made it round the bend of Dove lake but we didn't actually get to see the summit. We still enjoyed our walk very much, it was quite busy compared to any national parks we've done recently and even with the bad weather everyone we met on the tracks had a big smile!

The National Park is very well organised and maintained, with shuttle buses running between the main trail heads and back to the visitors center. Despite the atrocious weather we managed a respectable 14km before heading back to the car to drive off to Tullah Lake lodge where we're spending the night.

The lodge restaurant had amazing views over the lake and was extremely busy, although I'm not sure those two facts are related. The clientele seemed to be mainly local workers and we quickly found the reason for their numbers, 'Parmy Night! Our luck had apparently changed as we arrived to experience an Australia institution, Chicken Parmigiana (Parmy) with a schooner (a medium sized beer, probably around 330ml but no one seems to know) all for au$18, around £10/€12. If any Italians ever see this we are truly sorry on behalf of Australia Parmy night, we got a Satay Parmy and a Traditional, we devoured the lot, although to be fair that could be because we were ravenous from our walk. All in all a good Australian evening.Okumaya devam et