It would have been no surprise if the curly-topped head and cloaked shoulders of Hobbit, Frodo Baggins, had suddenly popped out from behind an ancient tree. The King Billy pines, their trunks covered with a coat of moss which carpeted the sodden ground, stood quietly as sunlight and misty rain filtered through the forest canopy, forming millions of tiny, shining droplets adrift on eddies of air. The only noise was the chill wind sighing through the trees and the soft hiss of the drizzle, verging on snow, as it was trapped in spreading branches to trickle down twisted trunks.
In the living heart of a temperate rainforest, bushwalkers follow a boardwalk through ancient trees standing in close, majestic ranks, on the King Billy Walk – a 40-minute, 2km return trek which starts just a few hundred metres from Cradle Mountain Lodge in Tasmania’s high country.
It’s eerily quiet among the trees – myrtle, sassafras and pines – the sound deadened by the giant timbers and deep carpet of green. Some of the King Billys are more than 1500 years old, with the ancient, gnarled pines wearing their moss like velvet waistcoats stretched over wide, lumpy girths – shaped like some jolly innkeeper from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. It’s a magic world where nature has seemingly imitated literature to provide what could easily have been a setting for the filming of the classic tale of Frodo of The Shire on his quest to return the One Ring to Mordor and the fires of Mt Doom.
This day, too, the forest was host to small people on an equally important journey – to find the adventure playground, a creation of the world of men, hidden in the depths of the woods. These short folk were experts on playgrounds, having swung, clung and climbed on monkey bars and flying foxes in many parts of Australia. The boardwalk led to a jumble of structures in a large clearing which, with its scramble nets, balance bars, swings, flying fox and swinging-tyre obstacle course, presented a welcome challenge. Old trees stood silent watch as equipment was put to the test, with the young scramblers oblivious to the increasing drizzle and slippery surfaces.
Cradle Mountain Lodge, on the edge of Tasmania’s World Heritage-listed Cradle Mountain/Lake St Clair National Park, is a 1-hour drive from Devonport. Overlooking Pencil Pine River, the lodge and its associated wooden cabins offers wilderness experiences softened by good food, open fires and creature comforts. Halflings can also comfort creatures, befriending the pademelon (or rufous) wallabies that arrive on the cabin doorstep for breakfast, or the brush-tailed possums that patrol the lodge decking at night, looking for a hand-out of apple.
At night, you can take a fun 4WD hunt for native nocturnal creatures. The vehicle travels the 7.5km road to Dove Lake, spotting wombats, wallabies and small, spotted-tailed quoll as they scurry along, looking for insects. With luck, you might see a Tasmanian devil. Carnivorous scavengers, the devils are found along the roadside, seeking out fresh road kill. Unfortunately, their habit of making an easy meal of dead meat can sometimes mean they end up exactly that.
Driving beneath a canopy of thousands of frosty stars, the shores of pristine Dove Lake are a different world by night. The still, chill waters are inky black. The only indication that other humans are out tonight are the half a dozen cars parked near the lake, belonging to members of the Police Rescue Squad, spending the night on the slopes of Cradle Mountain with minimal equipment as a training exercise.
By day, Dove Lake is a jewel of raw beauty hemmed by snow-covered peaks, dominated by saw-toothed Cradle Mountain. The 6km-long boardwalk skirting its shores offers an inspiring two-hour walk through crisp alpine air and breathtaking wilderness. Water gushes and gurgles around clumps of button grass, through moss beds and over rocks, making its way from the snow line down to the lake. Along the way, running snowball fights break out among the halflings, fueled by patches of snow piled against the boardwalk.
The weather is unpredictable and walkers are sprinkled with drizzle, sleet and snow, along with the occasional sun shower falling from a blue sky, the billowing clouds dropping their loads as they snag on the rocky teeth of the surrounding peaks.
Watch for “Lord Of The Swings, Cradle Mountain: Part 2”, coming soon!
Photo Credits
Cradle Mountain Tasmania – Source – Cradle Mountain & Tasmania Travel Guide
King Billy Pine – Tasmania – Source – Cradle Mountain & Tasmania Travel Guide
Tasmania Abt Wilderness Railway – on the way to Rinadeena (c) Vincent Ross – All Rights Reserved
Small people on an equally important journey (c) Vincent Ross – All Rights Reserved
Cradle Mountain Lodge – Source – PRWeb
Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake – Tasmania – Source – Sheffield Tasmania
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[…] Continued from: Lord Of The Swings, Cradle Mountain: Part 1 […]