On the first day when we arrived at the Cradle Mountain Widerness Village it was already late afternoon so we could only explore around the village and also took a short work to the Visitor Centre. We were informed that we need to purchase the entrance pass to the Park at the Centre which we decided to do the next morning.
On the morning of the second day we got up early and had a nice breakfast of fried eggs and sausages and toast with butter and jam. Unfortunately the day looked a little gloomy with dark clouds overhead. However we decided to be optimistic and packed our picnic basket and drove to the Visitor Centre to purchase our entrance pass. As we will be spending at least the next three days at the national park and may also visit other parks we decided to purchase the National Park passport for AUD60.00 which will entitle one car with a maximum of 8 persons to visit all parks in Tasmania for up to 8 weeks.
We then drove to the Dove Lake Car park which was about 6 to 7 km into the park from the main gate. If you do not wish to drive there is a free shuttle from the Visitor Centre to take you right up to Dove lake and it runs every 15 minutes. Of course you still have to purchase your entrance tickets to the park from the Visitor Centre. At the Dover Lake Car Park we had to register our names before we commenced our nature walk.
Dove Lake is a 2 km long glacial lake situated at the base of Cradle Mountain. There is a 7.5 km walk around the lake which is probably one of the most popular wilderness walks in Tasmania.
The Dove Lake Circuit Track is a relatively easy walk on a raised board walk. Although It is recommended to walk around in a clockwise direction and this walk takes more than the recommended 2 hours to complete if you really want to enjoy the beautiful surroundings which we did even though it was a cloudy day and it was sure to rain before we can complete our walk. Along the way there are spectacular views up to Cradle Mountain and a wonderful variety of native plants and animals.
The track also passes through an area known as The Ballroom Forest with ancient myrtles and the deciduous beech. As it was late Autumn much of the area around Dove Lake is ablaze with the spectacular gold and copper colours of the beech before the leaves fall in preparation for the winter ahead.
