Waldheim Cabin to Waterfall Valley Hut via Cradle Mountain (almost)

After driving down from Sydney, Jubble and I collected our lovely friend Kel from Melbourne and headed across to Tassie on the ferry. The day before starting our walk, we drove to the Lake St Clair visitor centre, left our car there, and took a bus to the start of the track at the Cradle Mountain visitor centre.  The bus driver was so lovely,  he even gave me his cap when he heard I’d forgotten mine!  Let me tell you,  I was grateful for that.   In an example of crazy timing,  our friend Rich arrived at the visitor centre a few minutes before us having flown in from Sydney that day. Rich was staying  overnight in the cabin at the start of the track with us before running the Overland Track in a day.

After the safety briefing, we caught a shuttle to the Waldheim cabins, which are right near the start of the walk which meant we could get an early start the next day.  There were wombats everywhere!  We checked out the area,  had an early dinner, and tucked ourselves up in our nests for the night.

On day one we were up bright and early, heading off at first light.  There were so many pademelons and they are so cute!  After the obligatory group selfie at the start of the track, Rich trotted off on what would be a 16 hour run!  it was very foggy and low cloud, with poor visibility. What we could see was stunning.

The climb to Marion’s Lookout got our legs working, and just in time, the cloud started burning off to open up some pretty amazing views everywhere,  but especially of Cradle Mountain.

We met Rich at Kitchen Hut.  He’d finished the ascent and descent of Cradle Mountain just as we were about to start. His warning that it was steep and scrambly was certainly true!  We decided not to go all the way to the top and turned around somewhere shortly before the summit. Back to Kitchen Hut for lunch, then off towards Barn Bluff and Waterfall Valley Hut.

Waterfall Valley Hut is so well designed. The hut sleeps 34, and this one is spacious with large bunk rooms,  generous sized bunks, and a big common area.  We arrived around 2:30pm and spent the afternoon chilling, with Jubbie taking advantage of a quiet room to himself to have a kip.  We decided to sleep inside the hut tonight rather than on the sleeping platforms outside. 

We chatted for quite a while with the caretakers who were lovely. They take leave from their day jobs to volunteer as caretakers for 7 days. Pretty great way to fund something you love doing. Kel and I had heard about some waterfalls nearby, so went off for a look.  They would be really something after rain.

We went to bed pretty early,  ready to get up and do Barn Bluff before heading on to the next hut.