Cradle Mountain Day 129 25/01/2015

It rained heavily overnight and we both wondered if we'd be able to get our van out of the campsite as we were in a slight dip and not sure of how good the van's traction is! In the end we got out easily and so the plan was to head north to Cradle Mountain. It's actually due north of we we are staying but the drive takes you round in a loop, all the way to the west coast before heading back east again. Lake St Clair and Cradle Mountain are joined by the Overland Track, Tasmanian's iconic alpine long distance walk. It takes between 6 to 8 days to complete the track through World-Heritage mountain landscapes and provides the opportunity to climb Mount Ossa, Tasmania's highest peak. Maybe one for another trip! As we drove west we wondered why the Frenchman's Cap, a peak we'd seen yesterday, wasn't in our book of top day walks. It was only when we drove past start of the route that we saw that it takes 3 to 5 days! The road takes you through the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, passing a number of lakes and rivers along the way before reaching Queenstown, a mining town. The hills are bare, an eerie red colour from the mined copper - could be Mars - as you drive down into the town, the impact of ongoing mining and associated pollution since the 1890's. Whilst there were some mining museums we decided the town is nothing special and we continued on along windy roads through sunshine and showers (torrential rain at times) to Strahan were we stopped for provisions and a delicious lunch at a local deli. Strahan is in a lovely location on the waters of Macquarie Harbour with it's main tourist attraction being river tours on the Gordon River. From here we drove north and then east (although we nearly went the wrong way - the map is very basic was Di's excuse - she was navigating whilst Simon was driving) passed more lakes and finally arrived at Cradle Valley and checked in at the campsite. We had planned to stay here for 3 nights but decided to keep our options open given it was still raining and cold. We walked over to visitors centre to check out conditions and have a cup of coffee to warm up and then back to our van for dinner and a very early night in an attempt to keep warm (although the wine helps!)