The shuttle bus lets us all off at the Dove Lake Visitor Centre, as modern and spacious as the main one. This is our first view of the lake around which we will walk for the next few hours.
There are many, many strangely shaped and often tall shrubs of what I am told is a Leptospermum, a tea-tree.
The sunlight is fitful, lighting patches on the opposite shore’s rocky mountain faces. I try to imagine them under snow cover.
The clear — and surprisingly not so cold — water laps at several sandy/gritty ‘beaches’.
On this side of the lake the path is easy, of boards overlaid with netting. It is narrow, skirting cliffs at times. I wonder why some people are ignoring the suggested clockwise direction for the walk; there is little space to pass.
I keep an eye on the clouds as they lift their skirts to show peaks, and then hide them again. Just as well I have a walking stick, since I am not always watching where I put my feet…
I suspect Dr Seuss designed quite a few of the trees here. The Pandani (Richea pandanifolius) are sort of ridiculous, with their tussocky heads and shaggy trunks covered in persistent dead leaves. They grow quite tall, and I can spot their stout pale trunks, like asparagus stalks, on the near mountain. There were quite a few at Waldheim.
Walking along the opposite shore, I pass several pebbly beaches below the steep slopes, where the tea-brown water is clear.
The vegetation is different on this second leg of the walk, not counting this pine which couldn’t decide which way to grow, so chose both.
I think these spectacularly coloured trunks belong to the Alpine Yellow Gum (Eucalyptus subcrenulata).
It’s a welcome distraction, as this side of the walk has too many steep and rocky step sections… uphill.
Looking back over the Boatshed (for kayaks) as I near the end of the circuit, I am so glad I did it, and that the weather stayed clear and the sky became blue. In fact, folk were stripping off to shirts as they walked.
Tomorrow I plan to get up early and do the Crater Lake Walk. Weather permitting, as I have been warned to keep in mind for here.