Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park doesn’t just have incredible scenery and challenging hikes — it also offers stunning flora and a bevy of fuzzy marsupials (and slightly less fuzzy monotremes). For best viewing, head out at dusk — that’s when the fun begins! Here’s a collection of what you might see if you go.

Marsupials

Wombats

These cute little critters are all over the place once dusk falls. The easiest places to see them are right around the Cradle Mountain Lodge and at Ronnie Creek — even right on the path.

As a fascinating side note, these are the only animals in the world that have square scat. How does that happen? Well, their intestines undergo a very specific series of contractions that allow them to squish the dried faeces into little blocks. And these pieces of wombat poo are everywhere — a single wombat can poop out up to 100 cubes a day.

Bennett’s Wallabies

There are a lot of wallabies in Tasmania, and Cradle Mountain certainly has its share. In fact, you’re likely to find yourself sharing the trail with one.

Tasmanian Pademelons

Cute as can be, pademelons are among the smallest of the macropods (the family that includes kangaroos and wallabies). We saw them every evening near our cabin at Cradle Mountain Highlanders Cottages (a fabulous place to stay).

Brushtail Possums

Tree-nesters, possums can be tough to sight, but there are plenty of them in the park — we found this one just outside of Cradle Mountain Lodge.

Two other marsupials that you might encounter are quolls and Tasmanian devils, but though we looked, we did not find any.

Monotremes

Duck-Billed Platypuses

Probably the best-known of the monotremes (egg-laying mammals), duck-billed platypuses are very hard to spot (and film) — they’re pretty much only active at night, so you need to find them just as the sun is about to go down. We were lucky to encounter this one in a pool just at the base of the waterfall at the entrance to the Enchanted Walk.

Tasmanian Short-Beaked Echidnas

Echidnas are amazing — they have both fur and spines (they’re also known as spiny anteaters), they have no teeth, and they lay eggs. Encounters aren’t common, but the best place to look is by the side of the road, especially if there’s a dead log nearby. This one was just at the edge of the driveway of Cradle Mountain Highlanders Cottages.

Flowers

Flower sightings are, of course, time-of-year dependent, but this is what we saw in early December.

Coast Tea Tree (Leptospermum laevigatum)

Tasmanian waratah (Telopea truncata)

White Kunzea (Kunzea ambigua)

Prickly Beauty (Pultenaea juniperina)

White Flag Iris (Diplarrena moraea)

Boronia (not sure which species…)

Common Heath (Epacris _____ — again, not ready to swear to the species, though I’m pretty sure that the one on the bottom is occupied by bombus terrestris, or the buff-tailed bumblebee)

Spreading Guinea Flower (Hibbertia procumbens)

Trigger Plant(Stylidium ____ — plant taxonomy is challenging …)

Mountain Rocket (Bellendena montana)

Honey Myrtle (Melaleuca nesophila is my best guess, but it could be Melaleuca squamea)

River Rose a.k.a Wiry Bauera (Bauera rubioides)

Slender speedwell (Veronica gracilis)

Snow Daisy (Celmisia asteliifolia)

Hakea (once more, the species eludes me …)

Alpine Daisy-Bush (Olearia algida)

Bonus Mushroom!

It’s neither a flower nor a furry friend, but I loved this strawberry bracket (Tyromyces pulcherrimus) fungus.