Where We Be
We think one of the best things about Tasmania (and Australia in general)
is the unique animal life -- like this cute "mini-kangaroo" called a wallabie
Road Trip: Western Tasmania
On the second half of our road trip we explored
Tasmania's western half. We traveled to both
ends of Tasmania's most famous thru hike, the
Overland Track, which stretches 65 km (40 mi)
from Cradle Mountain to Lake St. Clair National
Parks. In between visiting these two parks we
enjoyed a pleasant stay in the quaint town of
Strahan, located on Tasmania's western coast.

Cradle Mountain National Park. We made the
best of bad weather and did three short hikes.
The wildlife here was great: we saw wallabies
and pademelons and visited Devils @ Cradle
Wildlife Park to see Tasmanian devils (and their
close cousins quolls) up close and personal.

Strahan. This small town (pronounced "Strahn")
is consistently ranked as one of Australia's
best. We walked the Foreshore Walk, hiked to
Hogarth Falls, and saw Australia's longest-
running play, "The Ship That Never Was."

Lake St. Clair National Park. We learned once
again that it rains a lot in Tasmania. But we fit
some good hikes in among the raindrops, even
spotting an echidna on the Shadow Lake Circuit.
It's an audience participation performance with just two real actors. It tells the (mostly) true story
of convicts who stole a ship from their ship-building prison in Tasmania and sailed it to Chile.
Driving isn't permitted within Cradle Mountain. Instead a shuttle takes you to various
points of interest like Dove Lake (the furthest dropoff point from the visitor center).
Instead of the Dove Lake Circuit we opted for three shorter hikes, starting
with the Rainforest Walk -- an easy 10-minute stroll along a boardwalk
Droplets of rain decorated every leaf
We lucked out and spotted a pademelon (PAD-ee-mell-un) along the way.
A pademelon is even smaller (and possibly cuter) than a wallabie.
The Rainforest Walk ended with a lovely waterfall view
As you can see, the views at Dove Lake were
nothing to crow about on the day we visited!
Pretty in a misty sort of way -- but hardly the kind
of day for making a three-hour circuit of the lake
What we saw at Dove Lake...and what we could have seen on a clear day
Near the Interpretation Centre we spied another pademelon just a few feet away from us
Next up was a short loop known as the Enchanted Walk. This was my personal favorite
as so much of it followed along a river. It’s one of Tasmania’s “60 Great Short Walks.”
Everything felt super-green and alive here. It was on this hike
that we spotted the wallabie shown at the top of this page.
Our final walk was the King Billy Walk. Our shuttle driver said
this was his favorite walk in the park and we could see why.
The 30-minute King Billy circuit takes you through a beautiful
section of rainforest featuring very large and old King Billy pines
Even on a rainy day Cradle Mountain delivered
fine scenery and plentiful animal sightings
Afterwards we visited Devils @ Cradle Wildlife Park near the visitor center for the 5:30 pm Feeding Tour.
This ended up being one of our favorite experiences in Tasmania. The cost was 30 AUD (~$21 US) each.
You'd never know it to look at them but these little devils can raise quite the ruckus!
As they vie for food they growl and scream like something out of "The Walking Dead."
Six Tasmanian devils growl and play
tug of war with a haunch of meat
At 5:30 pm we headed off to see "The Ship That Never Was,"
the longest running play in Australia (25 AUD or ~$17 US each)
The second half of our Tasmania road trip (days 4-7) gave us the chance to explore
two more national parks and one town on the west coast before returning to Hobart
Day 4. Cradle Mountain National Park
Day 5. Strahan
Day 6. Lake St. Clair National Park
Lake St. Clair is the end point of the Overland
Track -- Tasmania's most famous thru hike
We drove to Lake St. Clair National Park in about two hours, arriving around noon.
We made the best of another rainy day, starting out on the shores of Lake St. Clair itself.
This was a tougher, steeper hike than we expected. Most of
it was through trees with lots of roots grabbing at your feet.
For all the work we put in there weren't that many great views --
but hey, it still felt great to get outside and enjoy the outdoors
Almost back!
When we finally reached Shadow Lake it started raining heavily so we didn't stay long
Every hike has its rewards -- like this pink bubble gum bush. At least that's what we called it. Another highlight was spotting this echidna -- a small
porcupine-like creature that we watched for ten minutes as he foraged for bugs in a rotted tree. It was the only echidna we saw in all of Australia.
Back near the visitor center we crossed this rushing stream --
truthfully one of the prettiest sights we saw all day
Back at the visitor center, we learned that a platypus and her baby had been spotted in a stream
near Hogarth Falls. This was too much for us to resist: we headed back out for another walk!
In the morning we awoke to the cackling, loony call of kookaburras. Two hours of
winding roads later we arrived in Strahan ("STRAHN") on Tasmania's west coast.
Heading out of town we moseyed along the Foreshore Walk,
a pleasant 25-minute stroll to the far side of the bay
You get excellent water views of Strahan along the way
If you like small harbor-front fishing towns, Strahan has your number
Despite its relatively small size, Strahan is now the
main tourist center for Tasmania's west coast region
The Foreshore Walk ends at the historic West Coast Wilderness Railway
We hiked the 20-minute one-way trail, stopping at every little pool and eddy, but never
saw a platypus. But we did end up doing another of Tasmania’s "60 Great Short Walks."
We spent the night at Discovery Parks Cradle Mountain -- literally just across the road from the visitor center.
We took advantage of the shared kitchen and appreciated the good heater in our room on a cold, rainy night.
[Not my photo]
And I mean every leaf! While we might have wished for
a sunnier day, the rain made for its own kind of beauty.
These little cousins of Tasmanian devils are known as
spotted quolls. They're cute but carnivorous too.
This photo and the view of town from above
were taken from our lodge at Strahan Village
Quaint is the word that comes to mind to describe
the short stretch of buildings lining the waterfront
After the play and dinner we were pretty beat. We spent
the night in Strahan Village, located on a hilltop above town.
A ranger recommended we hike the Shadow Lake Circuit
(13 km, ~8 miles), estimated to take between 4 and 5 hours
Super-green moss from all that rain
We finished with a half-hour drive to Highland Cabins. We turned the heater to max, lit a candle, and sipped
wine while looking out the sliding glass doors for wildlife at dusk. Next morning (Day 7) we returned to Hobart.