Cradle Mountain

Before we went to Cradle Mountain, we stopped at Mole Creek Karst National Park to see Marakoopa Cave. Inside we visited the cathedral, where the formation below was shot. Our guide explained that the formations were created by water seeping through the limestone. When he asked if there were any questions, one of our fellow spelunkers came up with this winner: 'What if it never rains again?'
You have to understand that this was from a woman in her late thirties, and the look on her face showed genuine concern that rain would never again fall. I admit that drought is a problem in Australia, but not so much in Tasmania, and even then, it isn't going to stop raining forever. The guide did his best to answer: 'Well, I guess the cave would stop growing.' It was crazy. She was with a group of I believe two families, including about five or six kids. They all seemed a little crazy. The kids were all loud and obnoxious, and one of the men, dressed in board shorts and a t-shirt, was adamant that he wasn't cold, even though it was 45°F in the cave.
The next day we visited Cradle Mountain Park. In a word: beautiful. The mountain is pictured here overlooking Dove Lake, taken from Marion's Lookout. We did a lot of walking and came prepared. Almost. Tasmania is notorious for rapid weather changes. We were ready for cold. We were ready for rain. Instead, we both got a sunburn. There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day. It made for great pictures and views, but not so good on the skin, and we drained all our water. We stopped for a break before a steep climb to Marion's, and when I turned around, guess who I saw--Drought Lady and company from the cave. We also saw an Asian lady and two university students, apparently from Wollongong, who we had also seen at the cave.
This picture was taken overlooking Crater Lake, further along the trail from Cradle Mountain. Notice there are no rails. Trust me, it was a long drop to the water. I was surprised Heather got this close to the edge since cliffs aren't her favourite. Pretty easy to get dizzy standing up there.
We didn't see a lot of animals out, but this was the evening that we did the spotlight trip. The next day, we decided to stay out of the sun, so we went to Strahan. More on that next.