Today is very wet – the goretex jackets, overpants and boots are worth the cost in this type of weather as we stay dry all day despite the downpours and persistent misty rain. We catch the shuttle bus to Ronny Creek about 8km into the park.

This track is one of the starting points for the Overland Track.

A boardwalk crosses the Ronny Creek valley of peat, moss and button grass. We were dry but keeping the cameras dry was a bit harder.

This is prime wombat country.

The wombats seemed to like eating at the base of these sedges.

There are plenty of tracks and junctions in the park.

Pandani and Tasmanian native pines at the edge of Weindorfers Forest.

Tasmanian Padamelon (Thylogale billardierii) with the wet look.

Entering Weindorfers Forest.

Waldheim Chalet is a replica hut (1976) of the one built by Gustav and Kate Weindorfer in 1912. Waldheim is German for “Forest home”. The original burnt down in 1974. The replica was built using traditional bush carpentry techniques. The Weindorfers were strong advocates in the establishment of the national park.

The house is open to visitors, at first seeming empty…

…until me meet the Weindorfers and their friends inside.

Made from shingles split from King Billy pine, it is an accurate reconstruction of the chalet as it had appeared at the time of Gustav’s death in 1932.

At the back of the house, a bridge near a small cottage leads to the Weindorfers Forest Walk.

The forest looks like a magical movie set meandering through rainforest of King Billy pines, pandani and Tasmania’s renowned deciduous beech.

Day Shelter Hut near Waldheim

Leaving Weindorfers Forest through a Pandani grove

Pademelons were active at the edge of the forest.

Bennett’s wallaby

Give way to wombats!

Close encounter of the furred kind.

Black currawongs are the most commonly encountered bird at higher altitudes.

The boardwalk back to the Shuttle Bus Stop

Spot the wombats.

Wombat burrow

In the wet weather, we are the only two passengers on the return shuttle bus; yesterday was standing room only. Near the Visitor Information Centre in the Park is Pencil Pine Creek.

Cascades on Pencil Pine Creek

Pencil Pine track. Should we do the entire Pencil Creek circuit? Is it 2B or not 2B?

Wombat count today 43.

It is 2B as stairs lead down into another mossy forest and on the boardwalk to Pencil Pine Falls.

Mossy forest of pine, beech and myrtle along the creek

Quolls have been known to rest on the rocky islands in the creek.

Red pine tree trunk

Pencil Pine Creek

Knyvet Falls

Native pine in the rainforest

Richea scoparia is a very common smaller shrub to 3 metres of the Richea genus (the tallest is the giant Pandani). There are at least 5 species of Richea in Tasmania.

Return to base.

Dinner at the Tavern at Cradle Mountain Lodge.