Wednesday 9th December

Raining and cool, the small tents are dotted around Vicki like a besieging army. Vicki is tall and white like an impregnable castle.

A local wades off into the stream with his fishing rod - they build them tough down here, the fish that is.

We drive the last few k's into Cradle Mountain, it is like a low level version of Thredbare, commercial facilities to service National Parks (well State Parks actually, but no one seems to admit it. However as the day unfolds and Mal reflects on the management of Thredbare and The Cradle, it becomes obvious that epic locations that attract 10's of thousands of people a year just have to be run differently than they were when first declared decades ago. They are run quite well and one has to put on one's Disneyland glasses to see that this is how lots of people have to be facilitated.

The one criticism is that a first time visitor does not understand the way the park is managed so it takes a while to get that sorted in our heads, but then it is fine.

Really they would like everyone to take shuttle buses from the information centre into Dove Lake, however I suspect they can't quite manage the numbers so cars are still allowed to drive in but a boom gate manages the number allowed in at any one time - so one has to either be lucky or just shuffle and queue for a shuttle.

We walk through the Enchanted Forest in the rain - it is breathtakingly beyond words. But best that can be said is to rattle off a list of words that relate to moss covered trees, carpets of lichen and a forest that seems to come out of a fantasy movie. Mal decides to rename Tasmania Tanglemania - because of the intricate endless natural detail the tangle of a nasty history that disturbs him daily and a future where the economic rationalists would woodchip the amazing beauty for a dollar now, to build their great ugly boxes on every prominent headland and hill and probably try and kid themselves they are homes.

We catch a shuttle bus into Dove Lake and take 5 hours to do the 2 hour walk. There is much to see and the Cradle is a focal point from numerous locations. Giant trees that have fallen, resprout and make a tangled organic sculpture that cannot be fathomed as small trees grow on top of still living fallen trees like branches. The forest is complex and multi layered beyond our logical brains to really fully take in.

We book into the caravan park just outside the park. $37 for an unpowered site - tolerable when you think of Port Augusta's $45 for an unpowered site (what a rip off - and no one mentions that park in Victoria.)

The sites are just little nooks out of the forest with a 5 to 10 meter green mossy forest between sites - really quite cozy. The wind blows overhead to let us know wind cannot stop, it must keep blowing.

It's cold and we batten down the hatches, have a hot shower and go to bed. Good-night all.