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| From the parking place it looked already promising |
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| There it was! |
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| It was a restless feeling to choose every moment whether to enjoy it quietly or to record it in a photo |
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| There were some spots with snow on the summit, so Stina made a tiny snow man and we had a snow battle...refreshing at 7 am |
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| At a certain point,it looked like Hobart was on fire! |
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| The city is waking up... |
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| Time to go down, back to reality :) |
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| Second day in Cradle Mountain, the plan was to climb to the summit. But the weather forecast messed everything up and instead of sun, we woke up to a cloudy, rainy, windy day. At the visitors center we were advised not to go up to the summit, in case the climb to Marions Lookout was difficult. So, we proceeded to Marions. The walk started with a view of Lake Lilla. |
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| On the way to the top, no sign of the sun :( |
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| The "enemy" was there though, following our every move to the backpack pockets! |
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| Stina and Sofia |
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| And we got there! |
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| This was the view... |
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| So we figured, going to the top would be a useless effort and risk, specially when there were so many nice views to see elsewhere |
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| And I guess it was a good decision. The clouds didn't leave the summit for the whole day, but we had the company of a rainbow ALL DAY LONG :) |
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| In its company we went for several shorter walks |
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| And THIS was how we said good bye to Cradle Mountain! |
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| Maybe I am too much of a city girl (highly doubt it), but after two days on the mountain I needed to get to a town, particularly to a town by the seaside! Thought about driving to Strahan and get a glance of the West Coast, but I realized I would spend 2 hours driving and wouldn't get there before sunset :( Anyway, I took the car and went for a drive, being sure that I wouldn't reach a town before sunset and would therefore not see anything...but the driving felt good! Having the road in the middle of nowhere almost exclusively for me. |
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| Finally, I was back to our bedroom, just in time for dinner and to get ready for next day drive home. |
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| Seven hour drive from Hobart to Cradle Mountain National Park |
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| With some stops along the way |
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| For pictures!! |
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| And to rest from car-sickness...poor Sofia had her eyes closed all the way! |
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| Getting ready for the first hike |
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| There it is...Cradle Mountain on the back, Dove Lake on the front. |
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| That day we went for the shorter circuit around Dove Lake, leaving the summit for the day after (when it was supposed to be sunny) |
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| We stopped at the Glacier rock for a lookout. |
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| Sofia and Sofia, as Stina likes to call us |
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| Me and Stina |
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| And another stop at the small "beach" for some tree climbing and jumping pictures (that I still don't have with me, but soon will show you) |
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| Nothofagus fall leaves |
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| The sun did show up once in a while |
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| More Nothofagus |
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| And suddenly, another rainforest |
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| That ended down here! |
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| Autumn certainly looks beautiful on Cradle |
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| There was a bit of Winter too! |
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| This bird, and one of its friends (crow-like), followed us and our lunch sandwiches for almost an hour!It was creepy. One of them even had the guts to steel the food from Stina's hand! We nick-named it "the enemy" |
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| And almost at the end of the circuit...what might look just as a normal cabin, but was a surprisingly special place! |
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| Having finished the Dove Lake circuit we took the shuttle bus and went for the short Enchanted Walk |
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| And it became a tradition, that wherever there was running water, Stina and Sofia would stop very still with their cameras and try to make the best photo ever. I must say they did succeed, and that this is not one of those photos. As I didn't have the same patience, I won't ask them for their master pieces! |
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| That was when I kept walking and took pictures of trees instead...figured it was easier, as they tend not to move :) |
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| And Wombat holes! |
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| And moss! |
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| And, my personal favorite, sunsets! |
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| This was were we "saw" a platypus. By "saw" I mean we saw some movement in the water, and a very nice local old man told us that was the resident platypus coming to surface to breathe. |
