Cradle Mountain

We spent almost 3 hours driving from Stanley to Cradle Mountain; the road was really windy in parts but mostly good so we had a good trip. We couldn’t find any cafés along the road so we ended up stopping at the resort on the way into the Cradle Mountain settlement. It was a bit expensive and I decided to have a glass of local Tasmanian wine, a nice Sauvignon Blanc which made me dizzy as I hadn't had any breakfast!

We stayed at the Discovery Holiday Park suggested by the RACV accommodation guide. It was the cheapest accommodation in quite an expensive place. We went down to the tourist information centre to have something for lunch; we had some soup which was very nice. We bought the holiday ticket to enter all national parks around Tasmania. After that, we caught the park bus down to the walking spot and started our walk.

We walked from Snake Hill to Dove Lake which took us about 2 hours for over 5kms. The scenery was so beautiful that we didn’t realize how far we walked or how much time had passed. We took so many photos of trees, wild animals, lakes and the beautiful mountain with snow on the top. This is the first time ever that I've seen snow and I think I may try to walk up near the top to touch the snow. It would be very cold but it's worth a go. We will come back here tomorrow to walk around the lake which will take about 3 hours. I hope the weather is warmer as today it was very cold especially in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t do anything on the second day as it was raining and really cold. We missed the lake walk which has the best views of the snow on the top of the mountain. To fill time, we decided to get some education about the area from the information centre. After that, we went to Cradle Mountain Lodge Tavern for a coffee. As the rain got heavier and colder, we had lunch. We had had some pizzas for dinner there last night and the food was excellent even though it was a bit dear and over our budget. The lamb shrank looked amazing and I went for it today and it was just delicious. My friends had the trio of dips and mountain nachos, I tasted them all and they were damn good. This lodge is a cosy place on a rainy day with friendly staff, great food and good views from the restaurant. If I ever go back to Cradle Mountain again, I will definitely come here to have all my meals and stay in this place as well.

We are going to Strahan tomorrow morning for a night before heading to Hobart. I hope we will have great weather so that we can spend sometime in the sun.