February 1, 2010- Day 8

Strahan to Cradle Mountain - The hike that became rock climbing!

Another 7:30am morning.. but so worth it!It started at a slow-mo pace with a stroll along the beach just outside of Strahan.This is the longest stretch of ocean.The closest body of land along this latitude is South America; that's how far south I am!We spent about an hour wandering the beach and then hopped in our bus on our way to something a little more my speed… quad biking!!!

This was an optional activity, and definitely worth the extra money!Only 4 of us opted to do it, and of course I was the only girl. I figure I may as well go big or go home.. (and we all know this won't be happening for a few months!)The four of us followed an instructor through the sand dunes and brush.This wasn't your typical let's take it easy and put-put through the dunes.. and that's why I love Aussies!At one point the instructor even told me to move forward in the pack because the guy I was behind was going slower than me! Haha.I guess the snowmobiling skills I picked up in Canada helped out on the ATV (Thanks Al!)We had some awesome hills and bumpy section which I was congratulated on for handling so well! My adrenaline was pumping, just in time to hop back on the bus for a 2 hour drive toward Cradle Mountain—a World Heritage Site that meets 7 of 10 criteria.Cradle Mountain Park was first protected by a young adventurous man named Gustav Weindorfer who wished to have the park available "for the people for all time".In order to protect the park he sold all his possessions and bought the land surrounding Cradle Mountain and built a chalet and began offering his experience being an avid hiker and agricultural scientist.

The mountain stands at 1545m high and is surrounded by native deciduous beech stands, as well as cool climate rainforest, alpine heath land and button grass. The group was offered various levels of hikes.The majority completed the most popular hike around Dove Lake which provides stunning views of Cradle Mountain.Lachlan, Sergay and I decided to be a tad bitmore adventurous and summit Cradle Mountain.As we trekked along Sergay (aka the Crazy Ukrainian) began his full out sprint!(ok.. well maybe not sprinting, but considering one of my strides was equal to about 3 of his!)Needless to say Lachie and I quickly lost sight of him, only to meet up with hi at Marion's Lookout because he took a wrong path! HAHA!The hike to Marion's lookout was a good "warm up" for Cradle Mountain, definitely got the cardio up!After a 5 minute break we began our intense incline.Now, I like to think I am a pretty avid hiker (maybe not lately) but I have tackled some decent trails, but the Cradle Mountain summit takes the cake!As we approached the bottom of the incline we noticed the nicely marked trail we had been following turned into boulders with steel poles marking the direction you should follow.We quickly recognized that we were no longer hiking, but most definitely rock climbing.At this point we noticed many dropped packs which hikers did not wish to carry up.. and a few hikers who decided they were strictly hikers and NOT rock climbers.Of course I'm sure you can guess what came next.I sure as heck did not give up and let Cradle Mountain beat me; I trekked on!Now before we go on, let me reiterate that my friend Lachlan is a good 6 foot 2 and I stand at 5 foot 5 (on the best of days.. my mom would argue this!)So as Lachie (aka Spiderman) easily jumps and clambers over boulders the size of me, I strategically determine my next foot placement.Spiderman didn't jump straight to the top, instead he climbed a few feet and then would rest for a few minutes waiting for me to catch up.I was thankful for this as there were very few hikers who were attempting the summit while we were and all you needed to do was make a wrong foot move and good luck getting down!(This is a 5 hour hike, with the summit at about 3 hours).Trust me, the hike is worth the view!Various lakes were visible and the tree canopy made the burning thighs, sore butt and shoulder worth it!The smoke from various forest fires which were raging around Tasmania were much more apparent from this elevation.After a few minutes of relishing in our accomplishment, Lachie and I began our descent… (the task I was dreading as I was ascending the mountain!)

Usually after summiting a mountain you look forward to the descent because it is easier… well this is not really the case at Cradle Mountain!If only someone was videotaping my climb/slide down the mountain!A lot of the time was spent on my butt sliding down the boulders and clinging on for dear life.If you aren't scared of heights and wish to be, just climb down Cradle Mountain and I'm sure you'll have a brand new appreciation for heights!After climbing down the peak of the mountain, and almost having a heart attack from Lachie jumping out from behind a boulder, we reached rolling hills (note how I refrained form flat ground!)The rest of the hike was pretty easy with the exception of stairs that just happen to appear out of nowhere.I swear whoever created the trail did it as a joke.We needed to head further down toward Dove Lake, but it seemed we would go down a few steps only to come across another set going up a few meters away!We finally reached the parking lot where our shuttle bus was to pick us up at 20 past the hour.. we arrived at 7:10pm GREAT timing!

After a quick shower, Lachlan and I cooked our organic potatoe, leak and cheese pies topped with smoked Tassie Salmon while my two roommates talked about their 4km hike and day at the spa!