Tasmania’s most famous national park, Cradle Mountain NP covers 1262 square kilometres of World Heritage country, including alpine plains, rainforests, deep blue lakes and glacier-carved peaks, the most famous being Cradle Mountain, but also Mount Ossa – the highest mountain in Tasmania, and Lake St Clair – the deepest freshwater lake in Australia. Here is some information about the bushwalks and camping, and in the end of the page is accommodation and a map of the park.
Geology of Cradle Mountain Tasmania Glaciers that covered the area during the last ice age, 10,000 years ago, left behind a range of glacial formations – U-shaped valleys, moraine deposits, tarns and glacial lakes. Most of Tasmanian mountain tops have a distinctive columnar appearance – about 40% of Tasmania is covered by dolerite, also called bluestone – a rock not found on Australian mainland, which is one of the geological links between Australia and eastern Antarctica. It is an igneous rock that formed about 170 million years ago when Gondwana began to break up. Weaknesses in the earth’s crust let magma to intrude into sub-surface cracks where it cooled and turned into dolerite (aka diabase) rock. Erosion removed the sedimentary rocks covering it and today we can see the vertical columns of dolerite on the mountain tops.
Animals of Cradle Mountain Tasmania Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair is known for about 20 species of mammals. You will see Bennet’s wallabies, Tasmanian pademelons, eastern quolls, common brushtail possums and common wombats. Tasmanian devils, common ringtail possums, and eastern pygmy possums are also abundant.
Short Bushwalks around Cradle Mountain Tasmania Cradle Mountain in the northern end of the national park is the most popular part of the park and there are many walking tracks around the most-photographed Dove Lake with the Cradle Mountain in the background. Short walks include Pencil Pine and Knyvet Falls, (20 min return), Enchanted Nature Walk (20 min return), Weindorfers Forest Walk (20 min return), Dove Lake Circuit (2 hrs return), Crater Falls and Crater Lake and Wombat Pool (2-3 hrs return); and day walks include Cradle Mountain Summit (6-8 hrs return) and Artists Pool, Lake Rodway (6-8 hrs return).
Long Bushwalk - the Overland Track But the most popular walk in the park (and in Tasmania) is the Overland Track, an 80km bushwalk that takes about six days. You have to carry all your supplies including food and a gas stove (fires are banned), and a tent in case the free camping huts along the track are full.
Barn Bluff and Lake Will Cradle Mountain Tasmania The Overland Track starts at Ronny Creek (many walkers also start at Dove Lake), about 5km from the visitors centre. You’ll first walk high up on the Cradle Plateau, where there is a side trip to Barn Bluff on your right hand side, and another one to Lake Will, which passes some 19th-century mining works on the way to the lake.
Waterfall Valley to Frog Flats Then the track descends to Waterfall Valley, where there is the first free camping hut, and a second one, Windermere Hut, after further downhill walk. The following day’s walk will go further downhill to Frog Flats, a deep valley after which there is an uphill climb to Pelion Plains.
Mount Ossa - Cradle Mountain Tasmania You can camp at the new Pelion Hut nearby and the next day there are two excellent side tracks - Mount Ossa, and the Mount Pelion East. Mount Ossa is Tasmania’s highest peak and the most popular side track from the Overland Track. It is not far, but allow 3-4 hours as the climb is quite steep if you want to climb the Mount Ossa.
Kia Ora to Lake St Clair Back on the main track, the walk goes downhill to Kia Ora Hut. The following day’s walk is pretty flat, it goes around the mountain range of Windy Ridge, where there is another free camping hut. Further south (the track is now flat for the rest of the walk) is the turnoff to Pine Valley, where there is a hut to stay a night. The next hut south is at Narcissus in the northern end of Lake St Clair where there are two side tracks to Lake Marion and Gould Plateau, and the final day you walk around the Mount Olympus to the Lake St Clair Park Centre in the southern end of the lake.
Short Walks around Lake St Clair If you are not doing the Overland Track and only visit Lake St Clair which is easily accessible from Derwent Bridge in south, there are some walks around Lake St Clair too. Short walks include Watersmeet (1 hr return), Platypus Bay (1 hr return), Larmairremener Tabelti Aboriginal cultural walk (1 hr return), and longer walks are Lake Circuit (4-5 hrs return), Lakeside Track (4-6 hrs one way) and Mt Rufus (5-7 hrs return). Many people just relax fishing and boating on the lake, and around the lake there is plenty of wildlife.
Weather in Cradle Mountain Tasmania Tasmania is not spoilt by sunny hot weather and the Overlander Track passes through an area with a lot of rainfall (2800mm) even by Tasmanian standards, so be prepared for some rain along the track. The views can disappear in mist for a while, but rains are known to pass quickly and leave clear skies behind again.
Map of Cradle Mountain TasmaniaHere's a map of Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park, where I have tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.
NOTE: This website is written in British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all correct in the language used in Australia.
