Cradle Mountain Tasmania

We had so much fun at Cradle Mountain when Fraser visited us over New Year's. First we hiked all around the lake. This beautiful national park in central Tasmania is an absolutely wonderful place for hiking/bush walking.

We climbed to the summit - well, the guys did. I got to the top of that craggy ridge you can see and said; "This is the top for me!" It was so steep and scary - just like the Knife Edge on Mount Khatahdin in Maine - all rocky - big boulders to scramble over - and sharp cliffs that go "dddd - o - w- nnn" .....down a long way to the bottom. Whew! I sat on the ridge and conquered my fear - well, I got over the one boulder that was paralyzing me only to find another one that made me freeze in place and question why I was putting myself through this torture. I decided to "enjoy the view" and meditate while the Jim, Fras, and Scott took a half hour to go over and back to the summit. We had fun with the boulders as we headed back down to Dove Lake.

See the animals in this blog? One is an echidna and the other is a wombat. Can you tell which is which? The echidna has the prickly body with the long black nose. The wombat is so fury and cute - looks like a teddybear! We also saw a Tasmanian devil - just after midnight in the early morning of the new year -- January 1, 2007.

We were lucky with the weather at Cradle Mountain - we heard that clear days are few and far between - and it had just snowed two weeks before we arrived.

If you are plannaing a trip to Australia, be sure to allow an extra week to visit Tasmania. This island off the southeastern shore of the mainland is a delightful place. We want to return and hike the four day overland track and really enjoy what this interesting georgraphy offers. maybe we'll see you on the track?