Our last day in Cradle Mountain National Park and despite snow overnight and bitterly cold winds, we were determined to make one last trip to Dove Lake to try and capture a photograph of last night’s snow on the mountains. The weather had other plans.

A Big Disappointment

But first we wanted to visit the close-by Wilderness Gallery located beside the Cradle Mountain Hotel. We had visited the gallery previously many years ago and vividly remember the stunning photographic landscape exhibition. We checked the gallery’s website to make sure it was open during this Easter Monday. Disappointingly we arrived to find it closed. We were later advised staff shortages were responsible. A simple update to their website shouldn’t have been that difficult to do.

Too close to the Edge

Everyone taking the shuttle bus to Dove Lake from the Visitor Centre will be aware that the road isn’t in the best condition. It is also very narrow in places with large trees restricting passage even further. Our driver this morning didn’t help settle any passenger’s discomfort when she described an accident here in 2001 where the road beneath a bus, making space for a passing vehicle, collapsed and fell 33-metres before hitting a tree leaving 4-people dead and 14-injured, some seriously. A subsequent report to the government recommended improvements to the road but were restricted by its World Heritage Management Plan, which stated: “Retain the Cradle Mountain Road from the Visitor Centre to Cradle Valley car park as a narrow, winding tree-lined road to protect the character of the park.” Good to know where public safety priorities stand. In the end there were improvements with some of the gravel road surfaces being sealed and kerbside markers installed. From our experience it still needs more work on the potholes.

Blowing a Hoolie*

We were greeted by a strong gusting wind and rain as soon as we climbed off the bus. The view towards the mountains was little more than an icy grey mist and we chose to wait in the glass fronted viewing shelter in the hope that the weather would improve. It was a while but patches of blue sky occasionally appeared and the vegetation around the lake briefly took on a some colour. Eventually the sun stayed long enough to produce a rainbow across the lake as we attempted to take a photograph between raindrops on the window. Needless to say we didn’t stay much longer.

Knyvet Falls

Wanting to make the best of the day we joined our travel buddies on a short walk from the Ranger Station near Cradle Mountain Lodge. It was a walk we were so glad we took.

Descending into Dove Canyon beside Pencil Pine Creek was like stepping into another world – a very green one. Masses of twisted trees were covered in lichen, mosses and old man’s beard. Streams trickled among mounds of moss, fungi and golden leaves fallen from Myrtle trees while in the background the river was tumbling among the granite boulders that remained from the last ice age. It was a magical place.

Protecting the delicate mosses from footfall was a boardwalk for the entire length of the walk, which snaked around trees, up and down slopes and across streams. There was so much to look at and photograph we were soon being overtaken – tricky on a narrow boardwalk without passing places!

It helped that we were protected from the cold winds and passing showers overhead. We were in no rush to move on and could have happily spent hours wandering around here but there was something else to see a little further along and in the background we could hear it – the rush of falling water.

Named after Knyvet Roberts, an early explorer who, along with three colleagues, completed a 5-day cross country hike to Lake St Clair in 1908. It was a time before maps were available and with no defined track over rough country, mountains and rivers. All four survived their gruelling adventure living on the few supplies they carried and echidna, which they occasionally managed to catch.

Knyvet Falls is a wide but not a particularly long drop but it does make up for it in volume – at least at the time we visited in April. The water here, common to the West Coast, is more the colour of a milk-less tea than the crystal clear water you would expect filtering down from the mountains. It is caused by tannins leaching from the roots of the button grass plant and the peat on which it grows.

Unfortunately the viewing platform is perhaps the worst place to get a good photograph of the falls. Several images published via the Internet show a view from the front-left side of the falls but to reach there requires stepping-off the path and that risks damaging the delicate plant life. The main highlight of this walk, though, for us at least, was the coverage of mosses and lichen that forms on anything stationary long enough for it to get a hold.

Time for a little Warmth

There’s nothing better than a hot drink in front of a log fire after a walk in the cold weather. And that’s exactly what we had in mind as we crossed the road and headed for the Cradle Mountain Tavern. We weren’t alone. Two roaring log fires were warming the chills off the hikers with wet clothing draped across the back of chairs.

Mulled wine by the mug was on offer. So too were delicious hot cross buns eased along with a latte and the good company of our travel buddies. It was a great way to relax before catching the shuttle back to camp.

One last cold night before we move on and the promise of warmer, drier weather ahead. Cradle Mountain was everything we hoped it would be. Mixed weather didn’t spoil our visit, instead it emphasised the wild and unpredictable nature of high altitude wilderness.

* The word ‘hoolie’ is believed to come from the Orkney Scots word ‘hoolan’, meaning a strong gale and the Irish word for a noisy party.