Dove Lake Boatshed – Cradle Mountain’s Famous Boatshed

We all have that one favourite landscape photography location to visit. Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, particularly the iconic Dove Lake Boatshed, is mine!

I first visited Dove Lake in 2015 on a week-long photography trip around Tasmania. During that time, I explored many other fantastic Tasmanian landscape photography locations. This included Wine Glass Bay, Bay of Fires, an aurora east of Hobart (which was pretty special), and more.

But Cradle Mountain sang to something inside of me! 😍

Within 48 hours of returning home from Tasmania, I lived in NSW at the time, and I had already booked a trip to go back to Cradle Mountain. Since then, I have been lucky to visit Dove Lake often, sometimes without my camera. Just to see and explore this incredible location.

What makes Dove Lake Boatshed so special to me?

To begin with, it is just so stunningly unique to anything else I have witnessed within Australia, other than potentially the Kosciuszko National Park. That natural ‘high county’ scenery makes you want to breathe deeply and enjoy the fresh air.

You stand at the edge of the visitor car park and drink in the vista of Cradle Mountain, often with snow-capped peaks. The beautiful serene Dove Lake lays before you and looks incredibly peaceful as you prepare to make the short walk to the single rustic old fisherman’s Boatshed.

The little wooden boatshed sometimes sits in the water, other times not. Seeing it for the first time as you come up over the crest of the hill, you can’t help but feel some sort of profound inner peace and a tug on your soul strings as you remember what it truly means to be in nature.

Now, I know I am really building this place up! 🫣

But please remember, this is my experience and opinions of what I see when I visit this gorgeous location. That said, I encourage you to visit Dove Lake and see if you connect with this place as much as I have.

Dove Lake Circuit

There is also Dove Lake Circuit which is a simple to moderate walk and one that I recommend doing if time and weather permit. The circuit takes 90 minutes to complete and will take you right past the famous boatshed.

Walking Dove Lake Circut can be helpful if you are travelling with other people that are not photographers but are also looking to experience this beautiful location.

It is also worth noting that this location guide only considers Dove Lake Boatshed. However, you can see and photograph many other locations at Cradle Mountain. There are countless lookouts, huts, walks, peaks, lakes, and wildlife to explore and photograph.

How to photograph Dove Lake Boatshed

The main landscape photo we are after when visiting Dove Lake is that postcard shot of the old boatshed hugging the edge of the water with the rocky peaks of Cradle Mountain looming up in the background.

This dynamic duo is the must-have shot for anyone visiting Dove Lake, armed with a camera and tripod! 📸

To the left of the boatshed

As you will see when you arrive at the end of the path heading down to the boatshed, to the left is a small area in which you can set up your tripod and camera to capture your very own iconic Cradle Mountain picture.

While this will be the primary angle from which you try to capture the Dove Lake boatshed, the area here isn’t that big. There is limited space around the water’s edge and a few trodden paths to move around and set yourself up. The space will be even more restricted if you share the location with other photographers and tourists.

I also caution you to be careful of your footing so as not to fall but also to try not to trample the foliage, shrubs and grasses. These can suffer as the excitement of getting a particular shot sets in, and you look to position yourself.

These large rocks are the alternate composition of Dove Lake that can look really nice if you want to photograph something a little different to the boatshed. These rocks are located by heading at a 75-degree angle from the Dove Lake visitor car park to the lake. (HDR Image, Nikon D750, 24mm | Sunrise | January 2018)

Other areas around Dove Lake Boatshed you might like to try

There are a few other areas around the boatshed that are worth noting for landscape photographers.

These can include:

• The wooden and stoned paths leading to and away from the old boatshed are great to include in your compositions. These paths can help lead the viewer’s eyes along the path and to the boatshed or disappear over the crest of a hill. As you will see in many of my photos from this location, this was something that I practised, and I think they came out great. 🤞
• The various sized and textured rocks that can be photographed protruding from Dove Lake with the old boatshed and/or Cradle Mountain behind. In fact, there are a set of large stones, which is another popular composition at Dove Lake. These rocks can be found by pretty much walking straight from the car park to the lake.
• Dove Lake itself and the beautiful reflections you can see bouncing up and off of the water and not to mention the other fantastic scenery around it.
• And, as mentioned, venture away from Dove Lake and visit many other beautiful Cradle Mountain photography locations. It can be well worth the effort to try and make it up to some of the lookouts like Marion’s Lookout. If time is of the essence, a quick walkthrough of Knyvett Falls is easily accessible and a must when arriving or leaving the park.

Astrophotography at Dove Lake

I would love to photograph the old Dove Lake Boatshed at nighttime and try astrophotography.

It would make for a magical photo if you could get a clear night. You would have the stars high overhead with the peaks of Cradle Mountain as a silhouette and the boatshed all dark and moody in the foreground.

The fact that I have seen some astrophotography images of Dove Lake, but not many might suggest that it isn’t that easy. This could be for several reasons, including that it seems to rain there a fair bit and getting a clear night could prove difficult. Plus, unless you stay at Cradle Mountain, it can be a long way to travel in and out late at night.

What camera gear should you take to Dove Lake?

I do believe that Dove Lake Boatshed is a straightforward location to photograph. While the boatshed and the surrounding scene are incredible, the basic landscape photography principles and gear still apply. This is great as it means you can keep things simple and save weight in your camera bag.

Therefore, I recommend simply taking your favourite wide-angle lens and a good tripod with you if you are going there to take landscape photos.

Personally, I really like this photo. The walking track in this photo is just a section of the picturesque walk leading up and over to the boatshed and is only a few minutes’ walk from the Dove Lake car park. This photo takes advantage of the leading lines of the walking track, with Cradle Mountain still visible below the low-hanging clouds on the left. (HDR Image, Nikon D750, 16mm | Sunset | March 2015)

The best time to visit the Boatshed at Dove Lake

Best time of the day

Anytime is an excellent time to visit and photograph the Dove Lake Boatshed, including, as mentioned, potentially at night. However, if I had to pick one time of the day, sunset is the best time to photograph this beautiful old boatshed.

The main reason is that the sun will set to the right of Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain. This perspective provides a better angle to capture more colour behind the wooden boatshed if you get a lovely sunset.

Travelling to Dove Lake Boatshed

Getting to the Boatshed at Dove Lake

From the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre, located at the entry to the park, you have two choices for how you might proceed down to Dove Lake. You can either drive your car or catch one of the many shuttle buses that ferry people backwards and forwards.

Shuttle buses operate between 8am to 6pm from October to March and 9am to 5pm between April and September. The purchase of a National Park Pass covers the cost of catching these shuttle buses.

Your choice might depend on when you hope to get to the boatshed to photograph it and when the sunrises or sets. There are periods during the year when you can get in and out to photograph Dove Lake Boatshed outside the times the buses run.

Please note: I have more information about using shuttle buses vs your own car in my Cradle Mountain article.

Arriving at Dove Lake car park

From the Visitor Centre, located at the entry to Cradle Mountain, you have two choices for how you might proceed down to Dove Lake. You can drive your own car or catch one of the many shuttle buses that ferry people backwards and forwards. Your choice might come down to what time you are hoping to get to the boatshed to photograph it.

Parking at Dove Lake car park

With the new Dove Lake Viewing Centre, the Dove Lake car park has been dramatically reduced in size. There are now approximately ten parking spots where you might leave your car if you decide to drive down. If these spots are full, it is important that you don’t park your vehicle in a non-designated area, as you could receive a parking ticket.

If the Dove Lake car park is full, your other options include driving back to the Ronny Creek car park, where more spaces are available and walking back. Or, you may decide to drive back up to the Visitor Centre and catch a shuttle bus back down when these services commence.

Walking to the Dove Lake Boatshed

The boatshed is only a short walk from the visitor car park, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. You simply follow the path up and around to the right. This track is clearly marked, and the few steps are well-built and maintained. Therefore, I feel that reaching the boatshed is accessible to most people.

For more specific information about visiting this location, please check out the Dove Lake webpage on the Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Services website.

The History of Dove Lake Boatshed

Lionell Connell, the first Ranger to reside in Cradle Mountain, constructed this small boatshed. I found one resource saying it was built in 1924 and another mentioning it was built in 1940.

The boatshed is said to have been constructed from locally sourced King Billy Pine, and apart from some small restoration work back in 1983; the hut is relatively untouched, which I find amazing. Lionell Connell could certainly build a boatshed! If only he knew how popular it would become today. 🙂

Boats were used on Dove Lake regularly until the 1960s, when this stopped for reasons I am not sure about.

Taken from the other side or righthand side of the boatshed, this is another photo that I really like. Again, taking advantage of the leading lines and many different textures of the wooden walking track while also being close enough to see the texture of old wood and moss that makes up the Dove Lake Boatshed. (HDR Image, Nikon D750, 16mm | Sunset | 2015)

Final thoughts on photographing Dove Lake Boatshed

Out of 10, I rate Dove Lake Boatshed a perfect 10! 🫶

As I mentioned at the start of this article, the boatshed at Dove Lake is my favourite landscape photography location in Australia. I don’t think I will ever get bored of visiting this spot despite the few compositions available to you.

If you are in Tasmania or travelling to this beautiful state, put Dove Lake Boatshed, or Cradle Mountain in general, high on your list of places to visit. It could even be your one and only reason for travelling to Tasmania.

You won’t be disappointed! 😊

Enjoy.
Rob Potter