escape from cradle mountain

I've been relaxing with the wallabies and pademelons and peacocks and pups in the sunshine at Roland Stone. It's a completely different climate and mood here.

Billy is a baby wallaby. He spends most of his time inside a pouch and nursing. He is super sweet.

Elmo the miniature horse is more of a family member, really. He keeps the pademelons and peacocks and Gobbles the turkey company.

It helps if you're not in a hurry to get anywhere.

Cradle Mountain is another of those Top 10 in Tasmania destinations. It was freezing and windy up there! Fortunately I'd just thrown clean laundry in my rental car, so I just pulled on a million extra layers.

Even so, I didn't have a sandwich or a hot drink or my headlamp. Hopped on the shuttle bus to Echo Lake, shivering, and took my chances.

Here's what awaits you: Cradle Mountain, at 4500', among the tallest peaks in Tasmania. Often shrouded in fog, but this afternoon, gloriously clear. 

Yes, those are white caps in the lake. I decided against doing the full lake loop and took the shuttle two stops to Snake Hill.

Ascending, I'd noticed the elegant boardwalks with no one on them. So I decided to walk back the visitors center.

Really, it couldn't be beat. Lots of weird marshy foliage. No creatures though.

Just occasional stairs or a zig zag.

 I followed this narrow detour down to the root beer colored river.

 So lovely!

I passed fewer than 5 people in two hours. I heard the shuttle bus driver tell another passenger that sometimes they get 3000 people in a day, most overseas and the majority from Asia. 

A woman my age from Japan and her mother caught up to me at one point. "I used to live in Palo Alto," she told me. "I went to school at Hofstra and worked in Harlem."

I came back to a relaxing dinner with Ann and Rory and all the dogs. Tomorrow, I'm off to the northwest corner.