# photos from Cradle Mountain NP, Tasmania



## moloch05 (Mar 2, 2008)

I have been lucky enough to work on a project in Tasmania for a number of months. This work has meant that I fly to Hobart from Sydney every month and recently, I have spent a couple of weeks at a time in Tassie. Last week, I took Friday and Saturday off work, hired a car and drove to a truly exquisite place, Cradle Mountain National Park. This park protects incredibly scenic areas that are the home to a range of aussie cold-adapted species. Many of the plants and animals here have relatives scattered around the remnants of Gondwana including New Zealand, southern South America and South Africa.

Here is a Google map that shows the location of Cradle Mountain:







The park receives a couple hundred-thousand of visitors a year so a shuttle bus service operates to ferry people between the visitor centre and various tracks along the road to Dove Lake. I took the bus to the Ronny Creek area and then began my walk. At first, the Ronny Creek boardwalk passes through a valley filled with button grass, a good place for Tiger Snakes according to my bus driver. I unfortunately had no success. Pandani were numerous along a small creek. These plants are the largest of all Australian heaths (Epacridaceae).











Further along, the trail passed the beautiful Lake Milla, a lake filled with small fish that are ancient relatives of trout and known as _Galaxias_.





... here is a photo of a couple of _Galaxias_ sp. in the shallows:







After a few kilometers, the trail reached the beautiful Dove Lake situated below the peaks of Cradle Mountain.






Some of the sheltered valleys supported stands of the southern conifers including King Billy Pines (_Athrotaxis selaginoides_), Pencil Pines (_Athrotaxis cupressoides_), Celery-topped Pines (_Phyllocladus aspleniifolius_) and other unusual plants like Myrtle Beech (_Nothofagus cunninghamii_)





... a large King Billy





... Pencil Pine






... the strange leaf-like branchlets of a Celery-topped Pine






This slope was dotted with King Billy Pines that grew above an understorey of Deciduous Beech Trees (_Nothofagus gunnii_). In another month, this slope will be a spectacular array of colours from the dying leaves of these trees.





... Deciduous Beech






Once at Dove Lake, I continued up the Marion's Lookout trail, a rather steep climb ...






... a view down to Lake Lilla and Dove Lake 






This area was covered with glaciers only about 12,000 years ago. Moraines and tarns were everywhere.











Beyond Marion's Lookout, the trail joins the Overland Track, one of Tasmania's most popular trekking locations. This trek requires several days of walking and passes through pristine wilderness, some of the best in Australia. 






My goal, however, was the climb of the 1500m Cradle Mountain. The view here is a little deceptive as the climb was quite steep.
















The upper section of the climb was interesting with lots of scrambling and hopping from boulder to boulder. National Parks staff have erected poles to help guide the way across the more dangerous sections of the climb.






... after negotiating this cliff ...






... I reached the summit. What a view into the wilderness!






... the Overland Track can be seen in disappearing into the distance in this photo. Someday!











Along this walk, I saw a number of reptiles even though the air was cold. I climbed the mountain on the first day of autumn but there was already snow on the ground.






What reptiles would live in this cold, harsh habitat? Snow Skinks of course! I found several species of these cold-adapted skinks in the park. The most common and ubiquitous of these was what I assume to be Metallic Skinks (_Niveoscincus metallicus_). These ranged from the Pencil Pine forests near the visitor's centre to the summit of Cradle Mountain.











Southern Snow Skinks (_Niveoscincus microlepidotus_) were common but only in the higher, alpine areas. Some of these were nearly black like those from Mt. Wellington near Hobart.











I only saw a single Ocellated Skink (_Niveoscincus ocellatus_). It basked on the edge of cliff.






The highlight to me, however, was finding my first Northern Snow Skinks (_Niveoscincus greeni_). These lived on the rocks near the summit Cradle Mountain. Their behaviour was much like that of Black Rock Skinks in the hills near Wollongong.





















I also saw this _Pseudemoia_. Its pattern is much like that of _P. pagenstecheri_ but the range map in my field guide does not show the species as being found here. I suppose that it is one of the highly variable Southern Grass Skinks (_P. entrecasteauxii_). 






I saw two White-lipped Snakes on the trails but they were both much too quick for photos. Many of the skinks seemed to be missing tails possibly due to these predators.


Tasmania is a great place for mammals. This Echidna ignored the many people that photographed it near the visitor's centre.











Tasmanian Pademelons were abundant and tame in the campground where I spent the night.






These wombats lived along the Ronny Creek Trail. Here is a young one:






And here is the adult:











A sad sight was this DOR Tiger or Spot-tailed Quoll, a carnivorous marsupial much like a cat.






I hope that you have enjoyed this report and hope that it encourages some of you to visit this gorgeous place.


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## urodacus_au (Mar 2, 2008)

Unreal mate, really enjoy reading about your trips.

Cheers
Jordan


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## andyscott (Mar 2, 2008)

FANTASTIC. Its a place you want to spend more than a few days at.


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## jan (Mar 2, 2008)

Great photo's!!
Cradle Mountain is a great spot
Love to go back there in the near future...


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## inthegrass (Mar 2, 2008)

fantastic!. i was fortunate enough to do this trek about 19 years ago, could not do it now, it would kill me. i did in the month of may 1989 and was very lucky to have had a perfectly clear day to do it .
what are you going to treat us with next?.
cheers and thanks for the great pics of a truly wonderful part of australia.


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## callith (Mar 3, 2008)

Stunning photo's


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## omg_a_gecko (Mar 3, 2008)

Great photos, thanks for sharing


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## morgs202 (Mar 3, 2008)

awsome pics of an awsome place. A visit there has definitly been added to my things to do list


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## $NaKe PiMp (Mar 3, 2008)

damn that place is awsome,ive flown over it but will have to see it from the ground one day


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## JasonL (Mar 3, 2008)

Fantastic suff, havn't been there for 10 years (and my wife hated the place so not sure how I will get back  ) It is a awesome part of the world... see any devils or hear any at night? I saw a couple and heard heaps when I was there, but missed out on the quolls.


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## mysnakesau (Mar 3, 2008)

What a gorgeous collection of photos. Thank you for sharing. What a job, that would be awesome to be paid to go to places like that  How clever to see that lizard in the grass. He would have been easy to miss


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## moloch05 (Mar 3, 2008)

Thanks, everyone, for the comments. Cradle Mountain is certainly a gorgeous place. 

Apologies for the photo size. I forgot to reset the tool that I use for compressing the photos and they ended up 3 times bigger than I intended.

Jason,
I did not hear or see any live devils on this trip but then I did not look much at night. I was too tired from the walks up into the hills. I did see one dead on the road between Davenport and the mountains.

Andy,
It would be easy to spend a number of days in the park. There are so many walks and they all seemed stunning.

Regards,
David


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