Tasmania – Part II
In the morning, we woke up early and left Launceston driving a little over 2 hours to Cradle Mountain. Cradle Mountain is one of Tasmania’s most spectacular wilderness destinations. It’s a rugged, ancient landscape of jagged mountains, glacial lakes, moss covered forests, alpine meadows and misty valleys, with wildlife often visible along the trails.
Enchanted Walk
We arrived at Cradle Mountain late in the morning, eager to explore. So we set out on one of Tasmania’s 60 Great Short Walks mysteriously named the Enchanted Walk. The walk is just a brief 20 minute 1.1km circuit but it is a truly wonderful little hike.
Distinctive golden-green tussocks of Tasmanian buttongrass
Cold mountain streams lined with mossy banks
Mum walking through the mossy forest
The short walk winds through fields of buttongrass with their golden-green tussocks and then passes through moss covered forests with cool mountain streams.
Dove Lake Circuit
Next, we took a bus further up into the mountains to the glacially carved Dove Lake nestled at the foot of Cradle Mountain. The Dove Lake Circuit is a 6km loop around the lake that takes around 2-3 hours but offers truly spectacular views.
Incredible views of Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain
Winding path along the shore of the lake
Most of the tourists are clustered near the carpark which is close to the old boatshed and that area is a bit congested. However, as soon as you are a few meters down the path, the crowd rapidly fades away and you can enjoy the cool breeze and the incredible views with only a handful of other hikers. The trail starts out on a wide path through fields of Tasmanian buttongrass and then narrows as it moves into the rainforest. On the far side of the lake, the trail transitions to a boardwalk as it moves along the cliffs and then past an enormous but distant waterfall that rumbles down the moutainside into a stream that flows under the boardwalk and into the lake.
Boardwalk along the rocky shores
Mossy rainforest under the mountain
As the trail emerges from the forest, it passes into more open ground and then comes to the old boatshed and tiny pebble beach.
Mum and I with the lake and mountains in the background
View from the shore of Dove Lake with the iconic old boatshed
Airbnb Notes
After our hiking, we headed to our Airbnb in Staverton. However, it turned out to be quite disappointing and was basically a plywood shed in a farmyard.
We immediately abandoned it and booked an alternate Airbnb in Deloraine which was fantastic. If you are travelling in the area, I recommend staying at this Airbnb which is also on a farm but is very well kept and a lovely place to stay. Here are some photos of the place I would recommend in Deloraine. The interior was very well done but unfortunately I did not take any photos.
Airbnb in Deloraine which was fantastic
Llama neighbors on the farm!
Liffey Falls
We woke up refreshed and began our drive back to Hobart. On the way, we decided to stop by Liffey Falls which we greatly enjoyed. It was a bit out of the way and down some more rugged gravel roads but we were quite happy we made the detour.
The hike is 1km out and then returning the same way so 2km total taking around 45 minutes so it is fairly short but feels like entering a whole different world. The path descends into a cool, damp Tasmanian rainforest and winds past large tree ferns with thick fibrous brown hairy trunks that slowly grow at 3.5-5cm each year. Given that those along the path were well over 5 meters tall, they could easily be hundreds of years old. In this ancient rainforest, everything seemed green and lush and the trunks of trees were covered in mosses and epiphytes.
Mum descending into the rainforest past tall trees with mossy trunks covered in epiphytes
Ancient tree ferns with their brown fibrous trunks
Liffey falls is wonderful tiered waterfall with several levels. It’s not a massive thunderous waterfall dropping from the sky but rather a gentle, picturesque waterfall that feels more like a quite place to sit on the mossy bank and relax as the clear cool water trickles by.
Liffey Falls
Hobart
After our hike to Liffey Falls, we drove the remainder of the way to Hobart and checked into our lovely Airbnb in North Hobart. While it is not in a very walkable location, the Airbnb itself is absolutely wonderful!
The kitchen is quite large so we cooked dinner and had a nice evening relaxing, playing some chess, and planning for the next day.
Airbnb in North Hobart
Bruny Island
The next morning we woke up early and took an uber to Franklin Wharf for our 7:45am departure on the full-day Pennicott Wilderness Journey tour to Bruny Island. The tour begins with a 40 minute bus ride to the ferry crossing at Kettering. The bus then drives aboard the SeaLink ferry for a 20 minute crossing to North Bruny Island. From there the bus drove another 20 minutes to The Neck and stopped at Truganini Lookout. Truganini Lookout is at the north end of The Neck which is a narrow strip of land connecting North and South Bruny Islands. There is a long set of wooden stairs that lead up to a lookout featuring a stunning view of the Neck with water on both sides.
The Neck and views from Truganini Lookout
The Cruise
After The Neck the bus drove another 20 minutes to Adventure Bay on South Bruny Island. From there we had a pleasant lunch overlooking the bay. Once we finished our lunch, we were given rain jackets for the salt spray and we loaded aboard the motorboat for our cruise.
Adventure Bay with the motorboat
The Monument dolerite sea stack
Towering dolerite cliffs
The cruise took us out of the bay and along the rocky coastline with towering columnar cliffs made of Jurassic period dolerite and sea stacks like the famous Monument (pictured above) rising out of the Southern Ocean. The rock climber in me yearned to scale the cliffs but you could see it they would likely be tricky with some sections of loose rock.
From the cliffs we ventured a bit further out to sea and come upon a group of common dolphins feeding with australasian gannets joining in from the skies.
Common dolphins and Australasian Gannets feeding
Australasian Gannet
Common Dolphins
It was fascinating to watch the dolphins arching in and out of the waves while the gannets dove into the water from overhead. We watched the activity for quite some time until the dolphins began to move on.
From there we travelled past the southern end of South Bruny Island to a group of sea stacks out in the Southern Ocean called The Friars. The Friars host a huge colony of Australian and New Zealand fur seals who rest on the rocks and breed.
Fur seal pup
Adult male fur seal bull
We spent some time watching the fur seal colony as they lounged about on the rocks and a few swam in the cold Southern Ocean. Then we headed back at full speed to Adventure Bay while the cold wind and salt spray sent a chill through our raincoats.
Summary
I found Cradle Mountain with the Enchanted Walk and the Dove Lake Circuit absolutely stunning and they felt like something out of Lord of the Rings. Liffey Falls was such a pleasant respite during out drive and allowed us to be trasported for a moment to an cool damp ancient rainforest with its tree ferns and epiphyte covered trees. Finally, Bruny Island was a wonderful journey with the dolphins, gannets, and fur seals. It was a wonderful trip and such a fun time with my mum!
