Saturday 14th

Woken in the middle of the night by a very loud clang – as if someone had knocked over a metal bin – followed by running footsteps – not sure if this was local youths or a ferreting animal. Got up around 8am and had coffee and biscuits before we left.

Followed the recommended route from Launceston as far as Deloraine where we stopped for coffee. The main town centre was heavily parked (it’s a Saturday) and all the cafes looked very busy. Torrential rain had started and we went down to one end of the town to turn round and try another run through. In fact we found a large café down by the railway station where we could park right outside. There was nobody else there but we decided to have a breakfast as we wouldn’t be doing much sightseeing. It was very nice.

The café owner asked where we were going and both he and the chef said that the recommended route wasn’t a very good idea and suggested we go via Sheffield rather than Mole Creek as the roads would be better. We drove into dreadful rain, a thunderstorm, and in Sheffield we actually pulled off the road as it was almost too difficult to drive. The rain came and went as we slowly made our way through to Cradle Mountain. We stopped about 30k from the mountain and had a drink and snack at a café and were joined at the next table by another English couple who were also on their way to Cradle Mountain, and we kept seeing them for the rest of the day. The bad weather meant no pictures on the whole journey.

Checked in around 2pm. Very similar to Freycinet with dull looking cabins scattered through scrubland. Cabin not quite as luxurious as Freycinet but still extremely nice and this one has a log effect fire which we suspect gets used quite often. When we checked in we booked for the 9pm Wildlife Spotlight Tour.

After unpacking, etc drove down to the Visitor Centre Transit Stop to see about internet access, but this is simply a pay per minute terminal and it wasn’t working anyway because the thunderstorm had knocked out their connections. Had a drink and spent some time talking to the Voyages rep at the café about the possibilities of doing either the boat trip or the train trip at Strahan. At the moment the timings seem against us because of the travel times either here to Strahan or Strahan to Hobart.

Les bought a new waterproof lightweight jacket in the NP shop at the Centre – seems good value by UK standards. Drove on into the park itself. We intended to go to Dove Lake but weather started to close in again and we gave up at Ronny Creek, 2k short of Dove Lake as it seemed pointless to go on. Returned and stopped at the park boundary Visitor Centre and found that our parks pass would give us free travel on the shuttle buses so it maybe better to use these than drive to the lake tomorrow as parking is very limited.

Came back to the Lodge and did the Enchanted Walk – 20 mins return beside the river starting and finished at the Pencil Pine Falls. It had stopped raining by then. Back to our cabin to change for an early dinner before our evening tour. Had dinner in the bar and were joined by Roger and Sheila who’d been to the Devil Sanctuary. Nice meal – Les had the Blue Trevalla again and Anne had a vegeburger.

Came back to cabin and put on extra clothes for the Spotlight Tour, then walked back down to the Lodge. Looked around the lake but couldn’t see any wildlife and then went to the area by the shop where we saw our wild wombat! There was nobody else there and we were able to spend quite a time watching him. It was too dark for the video but Les risked a couple of flash pictures which didn’t seem to bother him at all.

We went into the bar and phoned Mum to wish her happy birthday. Then had a drink while we waited for the tour to start at 9pm. The tour took us along the road as far as Ronny’s Creek stopping all the time to look at the animals. It started well when we saw an Eastern Quoll immediately we left the Lodge. The guide was very excited as this was quite unusual. We saw mainly Padamelons (very like a wallaby) and Bennett's Wallabies and Wombats, together with some Tasmanian Hens in the river at Ronny’s Creek. We had hoped to see a Devil but we had no luck. The tour was definitely worth doing.

Got back at 10pm and found Sheila and Roger waiting to do the 10pm tour on which they were the only passengers.

Sunday 15th

Slept well.  Didn't wake until 8am as the room was so dark. It was warm in bed but the room was very cold. Down to breakfast which was fine except they couldn’t cope with serving coffee. They explained that it was always a problem around 9am!

We set off around 10am and drove away from the park to the Transit Centre so that we could get on a shuttle bus at the start of its journey. Much easier than driving. Went all the way to Dove Lake. There were a few parking spaces left but on the whole we decided it was better to have come on the bus. As we got closer to the Lake the weather improved so that it was quite sunny and warm when we started walking. We walked round as far as Glacier Rock and then returned and caught the bus back to the car park. Had a quick coffee and then drove up to the Gallery at Cradle Mountain Chateau. Very good value for AU$5 – ten separate galleries of wild life photos.

After the gallery we drove back to Moina where we’d stopped on the way here yesterday. Interesting to see the road in the dry. Had a sandwich/soup for lunch and then drove back again to the Devil Sanctuary. Joined the end of one tour and then did the full tour afterwards. Anne managed to stroke a Devil and we got some good stills and video.

Back to the Lodge around 4.30pm and put washing on to do while we downloaded photos and updated finances, etc.

Went to Tavern to eat. Very crowded but we managed to get a table on the upstairs balcony. Les had the lamb shank and Anne had the fish of the day (Kingfish) which was a bit like Rock. As we started eating we saw a couple we’d seen in several places including the café at Moina. As they couldn’t find a table we invited them to join us. They were Pat and Mike and came from Heathrow (Feltham). Had a long enjoyable chat with them while we finished our dinner and they had theirs. They were also travelling on to Strahan tomorrow. We were very envious as it came out in conversation that they had done the Tundra Buggy tour to see the Polar Bears at Churchill, amongst other trips. At some point Sheila and Roger had come into eat and when Pat and Mike left we had a chat to them until it was time to get a drink and take it up to the slide show.

After the slide show we went back to the lounge and sat with Sheila and Roger and chatted until about 10pm. They had seen a Tassie Devil on their Spotlight Tour but hadn’t seen the Quoll.

Monday 16th

Got to breakfast about 8.45am – very crowded and got even more crowded after 9am. Got chatting to another English couple from Bromley – Patsy and Anthony – again another set of quite well travelled English people. Anthony was retired and had been a Civil and Mechanical Engineer, but we didn’t get details. We were enjoying chatting so much that we didn’t notice time passing and suddenly realised it was 9.45 and we had to check out by 10am. Hurried goodbyes and rushed back to finish packing and load car.