moloch05
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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.
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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