It’s grey and threatening rain when we set off to Cradle Mountain National Park. The journey is through lush farm land; a very different landscape from yesterday’s. The dead trees have disappeared to be replaced by ones with rich green foliage and lush farmlands. On the way we stop to look round Sheffield, a little town in the foothills of the Western Tiers, a spectacular range dominated by Mount Roland which today shrouded in low cloud. This historic, but rather faded town has come up with a clever marketing ploy to draw in the tourists and reverse its declining economic fortunes – murals. Now dubbed the ‘Town of Murals’ over 40 murals have been painted on the town’s buildings since 1986, including private houses and retail shops, depicting the history of the area. Every year, Sheffield hosts a Mural Fest where nine artists engage in a mural paint-off and more murals are added each year.
This an area of quirky place names such as Lower Crackpot, Nowhere Else and Promised Land. And quirky people … or at least one – an elderly gentleman sporting a Scottish beret complete with feather walks an alpaca on a lead up and down the main street. The alpaca sports a donation box around its neck and, judging by the interest generated amongst the visitors. probably earns the old boy a bob or two.
Leaving Sheffield the scenery starts to change as we climb up towards the national park; becoming much more rugged and dead trees start to re-appear. The gnarled, ash-white stumps and fallen branches littering the fields create a stark and eerie landscape. Cradle Valley is the gateway to the spectacular wilderness of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. It is listed by the World Heritage Commission as one of the most precious places on earth and is reknowned for its stunning mountain scenery, glacial lakes, rain forests tarns and unique wildlife. There are numerous wilderness walks of varying lengths including the 5-day Overland Route from Dove Lake in the north to Lake St Clair in the south. We choose the much less challenging and considerably shorter two-hour Dove Lake Circuit, which actually takes us three hours as we take our time and detour to see Lilli Lake as well. The walk is mainly along boardwalks that run, in part, through dense forest. The lake is set in dramatic scenery; surrounded by craggy glacial peaks and dominated by the iconic outline of Cradle Mountain, its dark waters stained by the tannin from the surrounding button grass plains and tea trees.