We slept in this morning till 6.45 am. Too bloody cold to get out of bed but I finally bit the bullet and went for my ablutions. Lovely hot shower followed by the cold atmosphere of the amenities block while I did my teeth and had a shave. On the return to the caravan, I turn on the gas and start breakfast of yoghurt with banana and porridge. We needed to get away so that we could visit the Cataract Gorge park before heading to our destination Cradle Mountain National Park. Following the directions given by our host we soon ended up in the parking area of the Gorge Basin. From there we walked across the suspension bridge, along the gorge wall and into city centre where a short distance away is the Penny Royal Amusement Park and then back again. We had a short stop at the kiosk for scones and coffee of course. Just after the Kiosk (or before if you are walking in the opposite direction are two trees both of enormous girth and height with each having a girth 4 times me. The rapids in the Cataract were deafening as against the smooth water fighting with tide below the basin. Then there was the rock that seemed to have hair – grass growing out of the rock. The gorge is marked by towering granite columns and to my surprise sitting on top of the ridge is a residence. It must have magnificent views of the gorge and basin.
We returned to the motor home about 11.30 am and punched in our next destination – Lake St Clare Caravan Park. Our GPS provides an overview of your chosen route and we suddenly realised that it was nowhere near our next adventure at Cradle Mountain. So we punched in “Cradle Mountain”. Not quite so easy. There is no address in our GPS for Cradle Mountain. Telephoned our caravan park and they confirmed we were at least 2 hours away from where we wanted to be. So ignoring our reservation at Lake St Clare we headed for Mole Creek that being the nearest spot to our destination on the only map we had. All ends well. Mole Creek is the gateway to Cradle Mountain National Park but we were side tracked by a helpful but not well informed tourist information officer at Mole Creek. We went to King Solomon’s Caves to fill in time going to Cradle Mountain only to find that we were an hour early for the next tour.
We arrived on the mountain around 3.00 pm and sorted out our evening tour, our accommodation, our evening meal and our national parks pass by 4.00 pm. Whilst checking on our booking for the Devils we encountered a wombat grazing quietly on the grass in the car park to the Devils Sanctuary. Returning to the caravan park, we rested until it was time to get dressed for the evening chill. We were booked to see the Devils after Dark show at the Tasmanian Devils breeding sanctuary but it was raining windy and below 6 degrees so some preparation was necessary. Dressed in everything we owned off we went to watch a short video on devils and Quolls then experience them being fed whilst our guide droned on and on (15 mins should have done it but he managed 2 hours) The devils the Eastern Quolls and the Spotted Quolls are all related and now are only found in the wild in Tasmania. And they all have a taste for possum.
So back to camp and our frozen dinners – you’ve done it again Mc Cain!
glendon1954 