Cradle Mountain - 6 September

It rained overnight and was still raining this morning when we went to brekkie. As we walked out of our cabin, there was a pademelon under the verandah out of the rain. Then another one hopped in. I opened the door to go in and get my camera and he wanted to hop inside. Obviously used to people.

At breakfast we spoke to a fellow, from the Gold Coast, who had just finished the Overland Track yesterday. This is the 3rd time he had walked it and he hasn't been rained on once. Lucky he finished it yesterday. He was very interesting to talk to. He stayed in the cabins this time, but he has camped previously. I thought the Track would be closed over winter but it isn't. During the peak time, the numbers are controlled and it costs $200 each to do the Track. If you do the walk in the low season, it is free and not as crowded. There are improvements being made to the Track all the time. He was saying that the timber boardwalks they put in cost $180/metre as they fly the workers and equipment in by helicopter.

This fellow (we didn't even get to introduce each other but just talked) had also done the Kokoda Track with his son's school. They had 2 spots left so he took one and an ex Army fellow took the other. The ex-Army had an interest in military history so he took them through each battle spot pointing out where the enemy guns were, where the Aussies were, etc. He said it was a fabulous trip.

After breakfast we went up to the National Parks office to get our passes. It is $16.50/day per person or you can get a Holiday Pass for $30 each or $60/vehicle (up to 8 people) and it lasts for 2 months. As we are going to Bay of Fires National Park next we got the Holiday Pass.

By the time we got back to our cabin, the rain was starting to ease but each time we went to head out on a walk, it would get heavy again. Finally it stopped but we decided to just do the King Billy Track which was only a 2 km/30 minute walk through the bush behind Peppers Lodge here. It was a beautiful walk through the rainforest. There were myrtle and sassafras trees but the King Billy Pines were something to see. Some of them are up to 1,500 years old.

We didn't get rained on so after lunch we decided to chance it and do one of the longer walks. We decided on the Dove Canyon Circuit which is a 2-3hr/7km circuit with a Grading of Hard. Some of the track is along the timber walkways but most of it is pretty rough and is not regularly maintained. It was pretty wet underfoot a lot of the way and you had to scramble up and down rocks, sometimes quite steep rock faces, but I managed really well I felt. There were only a couple of spots where I needed Bruce to help pull me up. My poles helped a lot, just keeping me steady and also taking a lot of the pressure off my knees. Along the track we crossed the Pencil Pine River and the volume of water was tremendous. At the top of the Canyon you can hear the noise of the water going through. They have wire along the cliff edge and we couldn't see the bottom so it was quite a way down. We passed a few pademelons. The walk took us 2 1/2 hours and it started raining about 20 mins from the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the walks we did today.

We got back to the Lodge and were walking up the path behind the Lodge Shop when we spotted a wombat having a feed in the grass along with a small wallaby. It was great to see.

We headed up to our cabin to make use of our spa bath. As I was undressing, Bruce saw a leech on the back of my leg. Yuk yuk. It is the first leech I have had and my reaction was a real girl's reaction. I was not happy! Then of course I couldn't stop the bleeding. I hope he enjoyed himself as he didn't live long after that.

Bruce took the bottle of champagne we were given down to the couple in the cabin next to us. They are spending a year in Tasmania to see as much as they can. We had spoken to the fellow yesterday afternoon. He wife had flown to Adelaide yesterday for a job interview and would be back this afternoon. They have been here since Monday.

We saw some beautiful sights of Cradle Mountain today in our walks. It is such a fantastic place.