Tasmania: Cradle Mountain

Cradle Mountain is 1545m above sea level and is the fifth highest mountain in Tasmania. There are a few day walks in the national park however I intended to walk to the summit and back. This equated to a 13km hike and recommended time of 6.5hrs.




Christmas Day in Australia







It wasn't the ideal day for a long hike since it was in the high 20s and virtually no shade on the track. However, it was the only sunny day and I thought it was best to give it my best shot. I am not the biggest fan of summit hikes since walking uphill is ... unpleasant. Nonetheless, I wanted the challenge and to see the view from the top.









Due to my research, I knew that the last part of the hike would be quite difficult as it involves climbing up the boulders. I have had a little experience with this in the past when I went to Flinders Ranges, however this was a lot more difficult since it took a lot longer.


My path




Look at the unmelted snow / ice! It had snowed a few days before I arrived
I was close to giving up and heading back like a few other people, however there was a family with three young kids under the age of 12 who inspired and motivated me to continue. If they could do it, why couldn't I! After another hour of climbing up and down the boulders, I finally made it to the summit!












There was this man who I met on the shuttle bus who was a little eccentric. He completed the walk to the summit wearing a fleece hoodie! Originally he wore jeans however apparently a woman gave him her spare shorts hence the hot pink shorts. 


The walk back down the boulders was slightly terrifying. It was almost comical to see everyone doing a backwards crab crawl to make their way slowly down the mountain. By the time I reached the bottom, my quads were wrecked and my legs were so tired and would not stop shaking. When I finally made it back to Dove Lake, I was extremely happy as I was so tired.





I put my poor tired and blistered feet into glacially formed Dove Lake, thinking I may swim as well. Ha. No. The water was literally freezing; after 10 seconds it became painful and feet turned pink.

Apologies - this post is very image heavy however I wanted to take as many photos as possible since I don't think I would ever want to do the summit walk again.