Shivered part of the night, put on all my layers and my towel to keep warm. Woke up this morning and unzipped to have a bunch of ice fall into my tent, must have got to below zero. I've noticed the pattern of the evenings now, about 3am the temperature drops drastically.
Headed out into the path and over a bridge. Boy was today enjoyable and tough.
Over tree bridges, got lost 3 or 4 times each time traced my steps back and eventually found the right path. On the worst occasion, it took me heading out maybe 50 or 100 metres in 3 different directions before each time I felt wasn't right so trusted my instinct and came back to my starting spot before finding the correct route.
Saw a Bandicoot a couple of Wallabies and on the way to Dove Lake I spotted a couple of Echidnas, yeeehhhaaa :)
Travelled down streams and through fields before reaching the Cradle Mountain lodge where I threw all my gear onto charge and promptly ordered a pint of Tasmanian lager, Boags draft and a burger.
Made friends with a couple having lunch and actually saw the guy out later on my walk to Dove Lake. He was taking a run. Friendly and enjoyable to chat with.
Walking the wooden risen path it felt like I was in Jurassic Park waiting for some raptors to come bounding over the hill.
Once at Dove Lake I headed past Lake Lilli and up towards Marion's lookout, pausing to soak up the stunning view of both lakes and the mountains.
About a third of the way up to Cradle Mountain as nightfall came in I tucked myself away from the track on the edge of a ridge/hill overlooking another lake. A bit of an angle but I didn't want to get too high as the wind and weather are supposed to be poor in the morning. So I should be protected from that a little.
Plus I want to be on the mountain so I can get up early and to Cradle Mountain, the one I'm most excited to climb.
Thanks for reading - TazMania
