The next phase of our attack on the Tassie Mountains involved a hearty daywalk up Cradle Mountain (1535m) which the crew of VS attempted on our own.

Here is Ali on Marion’s Lookout, with Cradle in the background and Dove Lake below her:

 

Wombat Pool; note the tannin in the water:

 

Cradle from the plateau showing the route up as a scar visible to the right, Barn Bluff (1559m) in the distance:

Towards the top. The going got a bit more challenging, very steep and requiring a lot of tricky scrambling - well, it felt tricky to us senior citizens (actually so in my case, less than 12 months to go for Ali), but apparently not to the five and seven year old boys we met on the top. But at least lots of other people gave up on the ascent to make us feel better. You can get some idea of the scale if you can find the two people on the path in this photo, just below the middle of the shot, on the left:

No photos of the difficult bits though, because they were difficult.

The view south from the top, looking out to the wilderness area, Barn Bluff to the right, the famous Overland Track in the centre and Mount Ossa (1609m, highest point in Tassie to the left somewhere):

And Her Highness (geddit?), proving she really was there:

A truly superb day.