Rest days usually mean sleeping in and not having to re-pack your luggage. However there was this ride…

Watch Relive video here:https://www.relive.com/view/vJOKjK5ED5v

Optional Ootenbak to Dove Lake: 22km/14 mi l 504 metres/ 1,655 ft

About 8 of us answered the call to bike room for a 6 am start, the rest of the group slept…it was fun to do a night ride, some had never done one.

This has to be the best extra loops you will do anywhere in the world!
The road into Dove Lake at the base of Cradle Mountain had minimal traffic and would have been stunning as we cruised through the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. But it was dark and then overcast foggy. There were a few short pinches but they were worth it.

Fellow riders opted to wait and go hiking in a light rain but it cleared up a little so that Cradle was exposed. Seen were a wallaby, a live wombat and yep a Tasmanian devil

What I saw of Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain…

What others saw a few hours later on their hike…and below what it is like on a nice day

But it was a fun ride…who needs caffeine to wake up if instead you can do a 14 mile ride with 1,655 of climbing?!

Spotted today were a wallaby, Tasmanian devil, and a Tasmanian devil… a wombat(first one I’ve seen alive!)

Steady rain now so just relaxing looking out at the forest around the hotel…night walk later tonight when rain stops.…and it did!

After dinner a small group boarded a small bus with special lights to search out nocturnal animals and marsupials. We saw quolls, wombats, Bennet wallabies, grey wallabies, padelemons and 2 types of possum. It was a fun 90 minutes wandering around the Cradle Mountain national park in the dark. Sadly we did not see a Tasmanian devil, this endangered species have not been spotted in the area over the past 6 weeks.

When being dropped off there was a walabie greeting us at the front door of the the lodge

Life is Good at Cradle Mountain…