Cradle Mountain

We’d managed to leave all the tourist icons in Tassie until the end of our trip and Cradle Mt was the first where we got a shock about the number of people here! We realised we had been travelling somewhat off the beaten track. It all felt a bit much at first, loads of tour buses and Britz camper vans, and lots of information centres, cafes, Tassie Devil wildlife centres at the entry to the National Park. But then we started walking into the park and thought, OK there is a reason for all the tourist mayhem, this place is seriously gorgeous!

We set off to climb Cradle Mountain on a beautiful clear day. It began with an easy walk across plains, then up via the fabulous Crater Lake, and gradually up to the foot of the very rocky looking Cradle Mountain.



On the way up we seemed to encounter all the inhabitants of the Britz vans and people heading off on the Overland Track. Got chatting to an American couple who were also heading to the Summit, and started to realise how much Cradle Mountain is a ‘must-see-destination-for-the-overseas-tourist’! This couple had just a week in Tasmania and came straight off the plane here to Cradle Mountain, and were probably only going to Hobart and Freycinet as well.


The view from the top of Cradle Mountain was amazing – 360 degree views of mountain ranges and the South West Wilderness. It was almost too much to take in, and it was only as we were going down and started losing parts of the view, that we realised just how much we could see from up there!