Cradle Mountain - Our final days in Tassie

From Lake St Claire, we headed further west. We originally intended to camp in the National Park but with fatigue adding up from multiple long walks and poor sleep, plus the weather getting cooler and wetter each day, we wanted to find somewhere a little more cosy to camp. However, the further west you travel in Tasmania, the fewer options there are around. The night before our Lake St Claire walk, we camped in a free camp on Hydro Tasmania land around one of the dams. Perched on a tiny rock peninsula on the edge of the water, Tanja and I felt very exposed. Our imaginations went a little wild, and before we knew it we were plotting how we would defend ourselves from a gang of criminals. When the sun sets so early and rises so late, it's a long night in the dark to battle your fears. With this experience very much still fresh in our minds, we both wanted four sturdy walls around us for the coming evening.

So westward we went. Our final destination would be a backpackers in Strahan, but between Lake St Claire and Strahan is the magnificent Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. This drive along the Lyell Highway follows a section of the Franklin River. Then it crosses a huge valley before climbing and descending another mountain range before and finally passing Lake Burburry and winding down to Queenstown. Enhanced by the afternoon sun, this drive is a mesmerising cascade of beautiful scenery and wild places.

On our next trip to Tasmania I intend spend much more time to exploring this region. However, as we were racing to beat the sunset we could not stop to explore this time. For much of the drive I had to have my eyes glued to the twisting road, but the beauty of this place will linger with me for a long time.

I'll mention our experience in Strahan only to say, do not go to the backpackers in Strahan. It was sad and gross. Although the Strahan waterfront has been prettied up for the tourists who can afford to stay in the renovated heritage buildings, if you cross into regular Strahan it's a slightly depressing small town. But maybe the weather and the lack of sleep was getting to me, so I won't say any more. Instead let's turn to Cradle Mountain.

Tanja and I made the best of less than ideal conditions at Cradle Mountain. We planned a little route based on the walk our friends Connie and Paul had taken on their visit. We began at Ronny Creek and took the Overland Track and Horse Track up onto the plateau. It was a very pleasant start of our walk, with few other hikers, and a fabulous introduction to the mountain environment in this region. We passed small tarns and stands of Fagus. As we climbed higher we moved up into the low cloud. Visibility dropped to a few dozen metres and, as you would expect from being in a cloud, the cold and damp started to seep into our clothes.

Tanja and I discussed how we would proceed as the weather felt like it could take a dramatic turn for the worse with no notice. We decided to make for Kitchen Hut and shelter while we took lunch. We shared the hut with some other hikers. A father and son were determined to reach of the peak of Cradle Mountain wearing just cotton hoodies. Actually it was surprising how many people we encountered who, despite the many weather warnings and instructions about what to wear and bring up the mountain, were extremely poorly prepared for bad weather. We passed many hikers just in active wear, and some very forlorn looking children with moisture clinging to their jumpers. Tanja and I were almost head to tow covered in layers of wool or technical clothing, and even still I could feel the wind and chill as soon as we stopped for a moment.

From Kitchen Hut we continued our planned route as this took us back down from the plateau, past Wombat pool and to the Dove Lake shelter. There were no views to be had because of all the cloud but we were entertained by the continuous train of Overland Track walkers.

Throughout our visit to Tasmania, Tanja and I have discussed the impact of tourism on wild places, and the changes the infrastructure brings to the hiking experience. Cradle Mountain is a perfect best case study to explore what over-development of wild places looks like. There is of course an argument for building paths and walkways and providing toilets, shelters and other amenities when areas need protection from high volumes of hikers. However at some point this infrastructure starts to create the problem it is trying to solve. As a wild and often dangerous places, should Cradle Mountain have been made accessible for coach tours of inexperienced tourists? And now as tourist numbers continue to climb must is more infrastructure always the answer? The marketing of Cradle Mountain as a must-see destination creates the perception that it must be accessible, safe and easy, when in fact, even with the infrastructure in place there is real danger. And from my observation many visitors to Cradle Mountain were either completely oblivious to the danger, or to the affects their carelessness could have for Tasmania's emergency services, should something go wrong.

For me, Cradle Mountain was the least enjoyable part of our Tassie experience. It was a hiking themed Disney World with far too many people on over developed paths looking for the perfect Instagram photo of a wombat. And while I respect the contemporary view that we should seek to provide equitable access to our wild places, the bottom line is that most people aren't prepared for a worst case, or even slightly poor scenario while in the mountains. Marketing and infrastructure is driving an outcome where wild places are degraded and trivialised and it feels like funding is concentrated into fewer areas, leaving many less popular (less promoted but no less beautiful) areas to be neglected.

It may sound like we ended the Tassie trip on a low but this definitely isn't the case. Most of these thoughts developed after we returned to the mainland. Our last few days in Tassie were still a great part of the adventure, but obviously there have been some earlier highlights that were hard to top. We did have a great camp near to Cradle Mountain. It was a hipcamp with a campfire so that despite experiencing the coldest nights of the trip so far we could sit out late and enjoy the stars. On the second night we opened a bottle of red and I cooked pizza (or calzone I guess really) using a combination of techniques borrowed from Drift and Paul.

To conclude this Tasmania blog series: Tasmania was the best holiday I've taken in Australia. Perhaps it was the first holiday in my adult life where I was doing exactly what I like doing - exploring wild places, eating great food and seeking adventure. I'm so incredibly thankful that I had the opportunity to go, and so grateful to have experienced it with Tanja. I'm so looking forward to heading back to Tasmania one day and I have a long list of places I would like to explore further. And until then, I want to carry with me the joy of this holiday, and continue to live with it's spirit as I head into more adventures in Sweden.