The King Billy track is a wonderful short walk which starts and finishes at the Cradle Mountain Lodge – although you don’t strictly need to be a guest of the hotel to stretch your legs on the track. It is also a good spot for fungi too so if the quarantine situation loosens in the next month or so it would be a great time to visit.

Ancient myrtle on the King Billy Track at Cradle Mountain

The track passes through some truly magnificent rainforest. The “goal” of the track is a viewing deck in front of an ancient King Billy pine. These trees, Athrotaxis selaginoides, are endemic to Tasmania and relics from Gondwana.

Giant myrtles are all over the place. You could easiy spend half the day – or longer – on this short track

The majority of the walk takes you through myrtle rainforest. This is a forest of giants too, very impressive myrtles are all around you.

More twisted myrtles beside the track

The area is approx 850 metres above sea level so subject to all sorts of weather. Snow is not unusual in this region and you’d hardly be surprised to hear this rainforest tends to get a lot of rain.

A light dusting of snow

For me visiting during inclement weather is the best. Mist would really set it all off but even  nice drizzly and ovecast day is when the moss, lichen and fungi all come to life.

A black and white version of one of the myrtle trees

The track is a loop walk, and will take at least 45 minutes – much longer if you take your camera and/or your time 🙂