A walk around Dove Lake

I’d really only come to Cradle Mountain to do the canyoning trip, and didn’t have time to stay for very long, so this morning I got up early, broke camp, and took the shuttle bus to Dove Lake to do a quick circuit. The weather was overcast, which reduced the spectacularity of the views, but it wasn’t raining, and the scenery is still amazing even when clouded in.

Given the number of clear days that Cradle Mountain experiences and the number of overcast days that it experiences, this is probably a pretty average shot of it.

I took the eastern side first, giving me views of the iconic boathouse on the far side, and an approach to the Glacier Rock vantage point.

It was nice to see some of my favourite plants; the alpine and temperate rainforest environments are favourites of mine. I’d forgotten that I’d find celery top pines here (and this one is tangled with a snow gum, right on the shore of the lake)

And if I’d known (as I suspect now) that this was a lemon-scented boronia I might have sneakily crushed one of its leaves (already fallen, of course);

And there were magnificent pandanis, viewable from a distance and close up

And normal myrtles as well as the more famous fagus (in its non-autumnal green).

The mosses of the ballroom forest

contrasted with the open fields of button grass with scattered trigger plants and tea-tree.

The recent rains meant that the waterfall from up on the plateau was in full force.

The track around the lake has had a major upgrade since I was last here (in fact, I haven’t been here for over 20 years, I think), making it an easy walk that will protect the environment now that tourist numbers have increased so much (I’m glad I’d made the early start and avoided the crowds later in the day).

But you can see why they come: it is amazing countryside.

The currawong, on the other hand, appears rather less impressed.