Dove Lake in Cradle Mountain

The day started with a black currawong on the decking looking into the lounge! It’s the final day of our tour. It’s drizzling but not much, and not as windy. We took the mountain bus to Dove Lake, and wearing wet weather gear and 5 layers of tops, we trudged around the lake ( 4 miles) mostly on wooden boards and stony pathways, admiring the diversity of plants, dominated by tufts of buttongrass in the swampy ground beyond the walkways, viewing the waterfalls, not seeing great views because of the mist, and listening to more stories about aboriginal people’s practice of slow burning of the landscape to rejuvenate it. The old boat shed was the only man made building, built in 1940 from endemic pine. We came across a group of 5 people kayaking in King Billy pine kayaks.
We left cradle mountain and descended into warmer temperatures down into Sheffield, where we refuelled, past Railton where hedge topiary is the attraction, then we stopped at Christmas Hills raspberry farm shop for a punnet of raspberries of course! And a raspberry lassi, made of blended raspberries, Tasmanian yogurt, honey and milk.. yummy!
The road approaching Launceston was suddenly a two lane carriage way, and soon we were in launceston ( laun- ces-ton) We joined a big road into Launceston which has a population of 80,000, and suddenly we are back in civilisation, and it’s 23 degrees. We checked into the hotel grand chancellor and spent the afternoon doing laundry for just $4!