Cradle Mountain
 

I two and a half days coming up in Cradle Mountain and want to do some challenging, scenic day hikes, 5 - 7 hours thereabouts. Any suggestions? Any traps?

Sorry, I should have added - Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, start of the well known Overland Track.

Also, are there any good, value for money restaurants in the area?

Are you asking about animal traps or man traps?

The walk to the summit of Cradle Mountain takes about 7 hours depending on which route you take. One of the most varied starts at Ronnies Creek climbing to a great lookout before you get to the final ascent to the peak and then returns via the Face Walk.

Another walk, the Hounslow Heath Walk departs from behind the Waldheim cabins and then proceeds along the top of one of the ridges coming back through the valley--that's about 4-5 hours.

There's not much there by way of restaurants, there's a cafe at the Transit station, a bistro and a restaurant at Cradle Mountain Lodge. I think the bistro is your best option (fish of the day, T-bone steaks that kind of thing), the restaurant which we only went to once was overpriced and ordinary (oddly fruit was added to all the meat dishes). I think there's also another hotel that has a restaurant one of the shuttle bus drivers mentioned.

What kind of fruit was added to the meat dishes Susan? That seems somewhat strange.

I had beef with strawberrries. I think they were called peppered strawberries but it might have been balsamic, they were hot and mushy so it was hard to tell.

I'm trying to remember the other fruit, I recall cherries, nectarines and plums featured but not what they were with. Every dish had a fruit accompaniment so my eccentric choice was what seemed the lesser of many evils.

Gordon Ramsay would have had a fit!

You might want to consider the hike to Hanson's Peak. It begins to the left of Dove Lake. We were discouraged from doing it by the Visitor's Center (perhaps because we're well past our prime). We were told that it was steep and rough and to be prepared for changes in weather.

We decided to give it a go anyway.

Here's an excerpt from my trip report regarding the walk:

It was definitely steep and rough. It was also windy and cold in exposed areas towards the top of the peak. The last section of the hike was nothing but steep rock and there was a chain to help with balance. Once on top of Hanson’s Peak, the trail continues on to Twisted Lakes and Artists’ Pool, Scott Kilvert Memorial Hut and then connects to the Overland Track. We went as far as the top of Hanson’s Peak, then turned back. It felt more like rock climbing than hiking and I’d had enough. The hike took us 2.5 hours and was hard on the old knees.

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Since you're looking for a 5-7 hour trek, suggest you just keep on going....

An easier, but longer walk - park in the Ronny Creek car park and walk the Overland Track to Crater Falls, Crater Lake and up to Marion’s Lookout. Sections of this walk are steep - great views. You can return via Wombat Pool, Lake Lilla and the Cradle Valley Boardwalk. Nice walk (took us 3:15). Afterwards, we walked the 6.5 km Dove Lake circuit, which took about 90 minutes.

Restaurants in the area are sparse and most are associated with hotels. Our best meals were at Cradle Mountain Lodge tavern (as mentioned by Susan7). Good food, good value. We took a peek at the Lodge's restaurant menu and decided it was out of our price range.

The Cradle Village Cafe' (also mentioned by Susan7) is another option - we found it inexpensive, but food wasn't as good as the tavern.

OK I give in Susan - who is Gordon Ramsay?

Well many, many thanks to those offering walking advice - I'm really looking forward to it, just wish I had a few more days. Really good to hear about Hanson's Peak, I'd heard about the rock and the chain and it's lways hard to know what's "too difficult" as everyone's abilities differ so much. I'm sure I'll be running up!!?

And thanks LizyF for your input which is of absolutely no use for walking guidance but extremely pertinent when it comes to selecting my mains and desserts, or both at once, as the case maybe. You do get credit for not knowing of Mr Ramsay, he's yet another of those tedious celebrity chefs we get thrown out from our television screens with monotonous regularity.

Aw, Capekidnappers, he is funny, the swearing I admit is a bit wearing, but if more restaurants took his advice on good, fresh local produce with a mimimum of fussy additions we would have a better time in places like Cradle Mountain.

Lizzy his program is it's on WIN in Tasmania on Thursday nights.

To return to the theme of walking, a good wet weather walk (if it rains it gets very, very muddy) is along a raised boardwalk track that runs from the National Park visitor's centre.

Another short walk is to Knyvet Falls, it's about 3 hours return. We saw a playtpus playing about on the surface of the water on that walk which was absolutely magical.

Gordon Ramsay then would have to be that Pommy, foul mouthed git - after 5 minutes of listening to him not being able to put one sentence together without the use of at least 6 F words I wanted to be sick.
I think you should applaud the cooking at Cradle Mountain - all they are trying to do is save washing up water by putting the dessert with the main meal. At least it was not strawberries with steak over them :0)