Last week we went to Tasmania.  Nick had never been there, and in a week off he wanted to go walking in the Cradle Mountain area.  His girlfriend was working and so Sue and I were able to take advantage of his organisational ability: he booked the flights to Hobart, the car hire and the accommodation!  All we had to do was turn up.

This is the sort of scenery we could anticipate

The Cradle Mountain Nation Park is a wonderful area: beautiful scenery, very few people, wonderful food available.

Even the wildlife is easy to find and see.  As you can tell, the wombats are not afraid of humans – somewhat to their detriment as there are many seen dead by the roadside.

Actually the park authorities do well to protect them.  Although cars are not prohibited, there is a free bus service to and from Dove Lake, and the cars cost extra to get into the park, so many people leave them at the park entrance.

We hoped to get to the summit of Cradle Mountain (although both Sue and I have been there before).

It is a very tough climb, especially the last section.

There are well-constructed boardwalks over much of the trails, to minimise tourist- mediated erosion.

 

Nick gave an excellent lesson to me in how good it is to be tall – he could reach relatively easily from one enormous boulder to the next, whereas for me it was a real struggle.

Sue had to wait for us about 80% of the way up, above the snow-line (it had snowed the previous weekend).

 

 

This is us on the way down, and Nick throwing a snowball!

 

 

 

 

 

Overall Tasmania was just wonderful – clean environment, beautiful country, wonderful walks and lovely food: we had no less than three memorable degustation-style meals whilst we were there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[double-click on any image to enlarge]