We had a nice sleep in this morning and then made some bacon and eggs before slowly getting moving at about 11.
We headed to the information centre as it is there you can take the shuttle buses to the different areas of the park. We decided to stop at Ronny Creek first to head up to the Waldheim Chalet. The start of the walk is the start of the Overland hike. There are heaps of wombats around and the views of the snowcapped mountains as we walked up were just amazing. After a 15 minute walk we made it up to the top near the chalet.
The story about the Chalet and the chalet itself is just beautiful. Kate and Gustav Weindorfers were two of the main people that are responsible for making the cradle mountain area into a world heritage protected site. The Weindorfers built the chalet in 1912, naming it Waldheim, meaning ‘forest home’. Waldheim Chalet continued to be used for accommodation until 1974. We sat inside the rebuilt chalet and listened to the story of these really amazing people who just decided they love this mountain so much that they build a cabin by hand and allowed guests to stay to promote the area.
Behind the chalet is the Weindorfers forest walk which is a absolutely stunning. The whole forest is covered in moss and the king Billy pines and myrtle are huge. It was like stepping into a fairy kingdom. After the walk we past Gustav Weindorfers resting spot and it’s nice to think he lays to rest in an area that he loved. Every year they have a festival for him up on the mountain.
Inspired we wandered back to catch the shuttle bus down to Dove Lake. As always dove lake was stunning. We just walked down to boathouse and watched the fog and rain move quickly over the mountain and lake. It was very beautiful. We made our way back up after taking many pictures and enjoying the crisp fresh air.
We took the shuttle bus back to the information centre and took our campervan down to peppers. We called into the tavern and had some very amazing lunch. Anthony got a steak from the local beef farm which was amazing and I got a pizza. The place has an open fire too. Worth a stop. We did some shopping as well and got the most cutest softest wombat for our nephew!
We then did the Enchanted walk just next to Peppers. Its a really pretty short walk which goes through a little rainforest. It finishes with the Cascades. After doing so much walking today we headed back to relax at our hotel before we get back out on our trip tomorrow.
