Cradle Mountain

My wife and I went to Cradle Mountain in early July 2013, so while I’m posting this a little late, the spectacle hasn't changed. Cradle Mountain is situated in the Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park, but unlike heading to Lake St Clair, if you want to go to Cradle Mountain you have to enter the park from the North. The drive from Hobart in the south is long, but as you approach it develops into a magical cruise through bush land and natural highlands. The roads tend to thin out a little in the immediate vicinity, especially on the ultra-windy hillside sections, but are still decent roads bearing in mind their remoteness.

We stayed at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, which was something in itself. See my other blog on this hotel stay. To be short, it was a fantastic luxury wilderness hideaway.

Upon arriving in early July, we found that it had snowed, quite a bit. The roads were completely clear but scenic lookouts that look towards Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake were covered. There are some excellent photos to be taken on approach to the main conurbation. 

Don’t expect a big village. Basically, it’s lodges (including their restaurants), campgrounds and tourist information huts. All of the accommodation is just outside the park but you’ll need a national parks pass in order to enter. You can buy them from the tourist information hut near the accommodation area outside the park or you can pay for a single day inside the park, at the car park. Warning, paying in the car park is an expensive way to go, it is much cheaper to buy a year pass, even if you’re only there for a week. Plus, it can be used in any other Tasmanian National Park for the rest of the year! The other transport option, where you’d avoid having to pay for a car pass (but still technically would need a ‘people pass’) would be the free shuttle buses that run in and out of the park. They drive a loop route so you can get a bus in to Dove Lake or other walking start point, and walk from there. These are very useful at the end of the day, if light is fading and you’re at Dove Lake, the shuttle bus can be an easier way back to your warm retreat.

The Cradle Valley Boardwalk is blogged here. It's a nice, fairly easy and highly recommended walk (2:30 hours) and is one of my Top 20 things to do in Tasmania.