We arrived in Burnie Tasmania where we would be staying with Daniels dad. Cradle Mountain is about an hours drive from Burnie on the west coast of Tasmania. So, we loaded up and headed down to this remarkable National park. The weather in Burnie was pleasant, however on our arrival to Cradle (local term), we were struck by a 20 knot wind straight off Antarctica, which 1. would blow the milk out of your tea and 2. it chilled you to the bone, so overcoats were initiated. On our arrival it was hard not to notice the tourist popularity throughout the whole park. There were
tours and campervans going everywhere, being a local I knew that there is only limited vehicles allowed on to the viewing area of Cradle Mountain over looking lake St Clair. So we headed down the road following the obvious signs, where we would have to wait at a boom gate, which only opened when a vehicle left the site (you can by pass this process with a tour guide). Eventually it was our turn and we proceeded up a very narrow bitumen track which encompassed the beginning of a number of hiking tracks from 2hour walks to 2 week walks. The National Park it self is magnificent and I think growing up in the region, you never really take in its beauty. The viewing platform is extremely popular and Cradle Mountain is the perfect back drop for lake St Clair. Once we had completed our photo taking, we proceeded back to Lemonthyme lodge, which was about 30 minutes from the Cradle Mountain turn off. Lemonthyme lodge is expensive and there is no vista other then the rain forest which envelopes the whole area, ruining any possible views. If you require accommodation in this part of Australia, I do not recommend Lemonthyme lodge. Other then this slight issue the rest of Cradle Mountain National Park is splendid. Our next stop in Tassie is the rugged west coast Macquarie Harbour (Strahan)
Score Cradle Mountain National Park 86 / 100
Lemonthyme Lodge 32 /100
