The first half of the one hundred and fifty kilometres between Launceston and Cradle Mountain was through plains and rolling countryside with cattle, sheep, horses and the odd hens with scattered farms and small settlements. The general appearance was rather English, although the grass was very dry and yellow, so it would have to have been during a dry English summer! Looking at the plant life in more detail, though, showed that this was not the U.K. as, although there were some imported trees, the majority were native ones. The wild flowers were a combination of European favourites and native species.
During the part closer to Cradle Mountain the roads became narrow and hilly with several hairpin bends as we travelled through forest.
Just on the borders of the park we saw our first wombat and kangaroo - I had just about given up on seeing the later in the wild, so the sighting was very timely.
The Cradle Mountain Lake St Claire National Park covers a fifth of Tasmania. It is World Heritage-listed and, although we only saw a tiny proportion of it, is clearly a magnificent wilderness with breath-taking scenery.
Cradle Mountain itself has a very distinctive shape which was created by the action of glaciers on both sides wearing back towards each other leaving a sharp knife-edged ridge known as an arete. In fact, this is Dove Lake and, once again, we were lucky enough to visit when the weather was sunny and hot, with clear blue skies. This is just to prove that I climbed Glacier Rock for to achieve a good vantage point for the mountain across the lake.
The black currawongs looked as if they thought they owned the place and were a constant presence with their harsh calls, even when they weren’t visible. This rascal alighted on a bush just above a man sitting on a bench. I was about to say, jokingly, “Look out for your baguette”, as it was eying the food longingly, when the bird flew down and snatched half of the filling!
Jean
