Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania, Australia

© Paparwin Tanupatarachai/Getty Image

Info. Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania, Australia

This boardwalk leads to one of the many lakes at Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park. Covering over 1,614 square kilometres, this Australian park is home to an amazing variety of animals. Marsupials like Bennett’s wallabies, quolls, Tasmanian pademelon and the famous Tasmanian devils, as well as short-beaked echidnas, platypuses, wombats and Tasmanian pygmy possums, can be found in the park’s forests and lakes.

In late April and into May, locals and visitors enjoy an autumn display when the leaves of the deciduous Tasmanian beech trees turn bright yellow, orange and red. The Overland Track, a 65-kilometre-long circuit of the park, is a popular route for visitors, whether exploring part of it over a day or taking a week to complete the whole route. Overnight hikers can stay in huts built along the way and spend the night dazzled by the stars and the aurora australis (the southern lights) in one of island’s best stargazing locations.