Walking Cradle Mountain

 

This post was supposed to be about walks on Cradle Mountain, but I might suddenly say, as I start to write, a blog post by me about Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, part of a World Heritage Wilderness area, won’t come anywhere close to doing it justice. So, I might stick with that sudden thought and not even try to paint a picture with words. Everyone has their own response to magnificent, pristine landscapes and environments, some see them through a photographer’s eyes, some see them through a scientist’s eyes, some see them through an artist’s eyes, or a writer’s eyes, or a botanist’s eyes, or a wildlife enthusiast’s eyes. I don’t have a strong enough expertise in any of those areas to serve Cradle Mountain, so I will just say that for me the experience of it was spiritual and humbling. We really are just specks in this world, and walking at Cradle Mountain reminded me of that.

Last year I read a book called The Rich Man’s House, it was written by an old friend I had at university, Andrew McGahan, a great Australian writer. It is his final novel, actually set off the coast of Tasmania, which he rushed to finish before cancer took him. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t really like The Rich Man’s House that much, not compared to some of his other novels. But being at Cradle Mountain made me think of the book’s theme, the “environment” as more than a collective noun. What would happen if single entities in “the environment”, started to fight us back for their right to maintain their pristine integrity, untouched. Without getting too philosophical, I’m glad generations before me had the foresight to fight for wilderness areas such as Cradle Mountain, which could have ended up a hydroelectric dam if preservation advocates had not fought for it.

Cradle Mountain reminded me a little of Alaska and New Zealand, but really it looks like itself. The experience of visiting the area is more than what it looks like, it’s the sounds, the smells, the stillness, the light. For us, it offered everything our family loves, accessible walking trails, scenery, flowers, trees and animals.  The longest walk we did was Dove Lake, which suited us adults, and our children. It took us around two and a half hours, including a short break, and is about 6 km long. Private vehicle access to the area is restricted. To access most of the trails you need to leave your vehicle at the Cradle Mountain Visitor’s Centre and take the free shuttle bus to the start of whatever trail you want to walk. When you finish the walk the shuttle bus will pick you up at the point you started your walk and return you to the Visitor’s Centre, or to another trail start point. The buses run every 10 to 15 mins until 6pm, each day in Summer.

I’ve already written a post about Devils@Cradle, the Tasmanian Devil preservation reserve, which is well worth a visit, but we also loved seeing wildlife in their natural habitat whilst on our walks and camping. We saw several Echidnas, which are really cute, we loved watching them trying to hide in plain sight and popping their little heads up to see if we’d gone.  We saw lots of birds, Pademelons and a Tiger Snake. It was me, the reptile phobic, that was first to see the metre long Tiger Snake, cruising along, close to the path where we were walking. It did take off pretty quickly after my frightened yelp,  but was accommodating enough to hang around long enough for my family to see it too. The only reason I knew what type of snake it was, was due to the bus driver who drove us to the start of the trail on the previous day, describing Tiger Snakes on Cradle Mountain. What he was also quick to point out was that a classification as one of the world’s most venomous snakes does not make you one of the world’s most deadliest snakes, and in fact, the risk of getting bitten by a snake of Cradle Mountain is miniscule. The other thing we were fascinated by, was the variety of wildflowers growing side by side, jumbles of colours, bright yellow, white, pink, purple  and blue.

If you have the opportunity to visit Cradle Mountain, take the opportunity, it’s very special and is by far, one of the most beautiful places I have visited. To try and describe it is only telling you my experience of it, your experience of it will be unique, and just for you.

 

Copyright Mary Longford 2021