A place of jaw-dropping natural beauty, iconic Cradle Mountain is where is on display at every turn.

Cradle Mountain in Tasmania is known for offering up some incredible and challenging hiking trails (you may have heard of the Overland Track…) but there is another way to experience this incredibly scenic part of the world – you just have to be prepared to get a little wet.

A day trip to Dove Canyon with Cradle Mountain Canyons covers all bases. A short hike through the forest, abseiling into icy water, flipping off waterfalls and floating down the canyons.

Your day starts meeting just near the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre – so there is heaps of parking and somewhere to grab a coffee before you plunge into the icy alpine waters.

After gearing up with about 4 layers of wetsuit, including booties and a hood, the team transport you to the start of a trail. From there it is about a half hour walk along boardwalks to reach what the guys affectionately referred to as the ‘change room.’

The change room is actually just a large rocky area where we spent at least 10 minutes pulling on all our layers of gear including a life jacket and helmet! Your regular clothes will be left here with the drybag backpacks until we hike back out of the canyon later in the day.

Feeling very much like the Michelin man in the bulky getup, we make our way down to the (literal) jumping off point into Dove Canyon. It is hot and uncomfortable now but I will be definitely grateful for the layers later on…

If you have a fear of heights the first step into the canyon – abseiling over the edge – will challenge you – and once down, the only way out is to keep going forward. I definitely got another shock as I make contact with the frigid water below too.

Over the next few hours, we make our way through the canyon by abseiling down cliffs, jumping into chilly pools, shooting down waterfalls along naturally formed slides, and swimming through narrow sections of the gorge.

There is some time waiting below falls until everyone in the group has made their way through each adventure. During this time, I am sure I look amazing standing there or treading water with my hands out of the water trying to get some sun on them to keep feeling. Yes, the water was THAT cold!

You wouldn’t know it from the amazing photo the Cradle Mountain Canyons team took of me, but an undeniable highlight for me is racing through the narrow Laundry Chute and launching into a deep pool of water below.

Lunch was a welcome break from the icy water and the surprising amount of exertion on a sunny sandy bank. We enjoyed a make-your-own wrap station that catered for all our dietaries.

And so, we continued down the canyon. My elegant forward jumps off heights of up the 7m were no match for the guides’ flips and turns but it was a thrill none the less. At times we were just floating with the flow of the water and enjoying the incredible scenery.

The team are with you all the way to make sure everyone is safe and sound – if not entirely comfortable.

All up we navigated six waterfalls over the course of the day, but the hardest part of the day was still ahead.

Layers of soaking wetsuits and booties weighing us down, helmets still on to keep our hands free, we climbed and crawled 20mins uphill back to the ‘change room.’ It was exhausting and strangely hot. After changing, we loaded all that wet gear into our backpacks – which had now doubled in weight – and lugged those back to the transport. It was taxing on the shoulders more than anything as the dry bags are hardly fitted hiking packs!

All smiles at the end of the canyon before hiking out.

The team from Cradle Mountain Canyons make sure that moments throughout the day are captured on camera and emailed to you while you are warm, dry and enjoying a Tassie pinot at the end of an exhilarating day.

All up, the day was amazing. We had great weather, great guides and great fun! If thrill-seeking is something you do, and you have some basic fitness and can swim, I highly recommend this adventure into Lake St Clair National Park.

Looking for more adventures near Cradle Mountain? Why not try your hand at feeding some cheeky Tassie devils, or head out after dark to spot local wildlife?