Lake St. Clair Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

630am and I woke up and prepared. Wore a heat tec, a shirt, a fleece jacket and a down jacket to defend against the cold. Drove out to the parking lot and started walking on the same track. A few minutes and I saw two pademelon grazing. They really were active at dawn. As I fast march towards my objective, I heard footsteps behind me and saw one of the hotel staff jogged past.

As I went along, I started stripping and soon was left only with my tee and my heat tec as it was getting hot. Not long, I arrived at the bridge where two streams of water meet – Watersmeet. On the bridge, met the staff again who was on his return journey, and he was also down to his tee only. He recommended completing the circuit for the different vegetation but I was more interested in finding the platypus.

Another 15mins and I arrived at the bay, after passing some signs with info on platypus. The little beach didn’t indicate that it was platypus bay and I continued to climb until I reached a junction and the signboard pointing the reverse direction. Went back to that beach front and sat there and wait. Wait. Wait. Ate Tim Tam. Wait. Went back. I tried taking the lakeshore route back from the Fregy’s paddock but saw nothing.

Went back to the cabin and slept in for a bit before showering and checking out. Took our breakfast at the lodge restaurant. Regarding the cruise, we found that the entire trip could take more than 3hrs and we didn’t have enough time since it was a long way back north to Launceston.

Nice warm drinks of hot choco and cappucino.

Since there was some time to spare, we decided to go to a town called Penguin, as my wife really loved penguins. It was about an hour away from Launceston. Drove on the highway and passed through the town of Deloraine and bypassed huge Devonport before arriving at the seaside little town of Penguin. There was a tall statue of a penguin in the park which we took a photo of and then we had lunch before leaving.

View of Penguin town. The giant penguin statue to the right.

Before going to our accommodation, we drove to Cataract Gorge nature reserve to visit the park. Paid for an hour and a half parking (1aud) and bought return tickets for 15aud per person for the chairlift. We were informed that the operation of the chairlift would end at 430pm and that in order not to missed it, 415pm would be the last time for embarkation. If we missed it, it was also a simple 15mins walk back to the carpark.

Taking the chairlift was a scary experience, pretty different from the cable cars that we were used to as there weren’t any enclosures. Even the drop bar that was placed over our laps weren’t secured. But it wasn’t particularly windy and therefore was ok.

Short while later, we were at the other end, having seen the overall park and the bridge across the gorge from a birds eye view. There were many peacocks hanging around the park which was easy walking and a few other longer walks to other place like a museum 20mins away but we didn’t want to do that. There was a few lookout points that were easy to do but weren’t particularly spectacular. Going around took some time and we did missed the return trip back on the chairlift. We took the bridge back to the carpark.

Drove 5mins to Fiona’s B&B and as usual, picked up our keys left on the outside of reception. Ours was a loft that was above the reception and the breakfast area. There was a flight of steps that I had struggled to bring up the luggage. The interesting thing about the room was that there was the window on the ceiling for stargazing (but the cloudy skies) and the nice view of the city from this height. There was free wifi too.

Lazed in the room and connected to the internet world for a while before going for dinner. Chose Indian cuisine for dinner as it was close to the accommodation and also recommended in Tripadvisor.

Turning out onto the main George Street, we entered the Pickled Evenings and was given a seat at a sewing machine table. Ordered mixed vegetables and lamb curry. The portion was quite a bit, we had ordered two bowls of rice when one bowl was more than enough for both of us. The meal did come with a cost though, 75aud in all.

As we walked back, a small drizzle was coming on and luckily, it wasn’t far for us. Arrived in the room a little damp but the room cold insulation made it comfy. It was the usual packing and showering and lazing before we all fell asleep.

Another road trip was planned for this day. Packed and checked out of the Highlanders via key drop. Drove to and parked at the parking lot near the Enchanted walk and got out for the enchanted walk circuit, some 10mins away. This was an easy walk, circuit type and 20mins max. It went around vegetation and along a stream before exiting near to another lodge and it was a 5mins walk back up to the carpark. Refreshing though nothing really interesting to see.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Enchanted walk walk.

Pencil Pine falls that is just minutes away.

Then it was an onward journey to Lake St. Clair, at the southern end of the national park. Drove westward via Zeehan, Strahan and Queenstown before getting to Lake St. Clair. While I mentioned previous day that there weren’t opportunity to drive into “clouds”, we had the opportunity to do so as the road was uphill and downhill, and the fog at the roads nearer to the top of the mountains was thick enough to blind us so much so that the visibility was only about 10meters. Luckily it was only temporary and we were out going downhill towards the town.

On the way to Strahan, took an opportunity to snap a picture of the foggy mountains.

First town of Zeehan was really small (did we miss something?) and therefore we only stopped by the IGA supermarket to get some coffee. Took the opportunity as a break from driving but soon we were on our way to Strahan. Strahan was a town a little bigger than Zeehan and had more lovely old buildings near the jetty where tour cruises to the Gordon river would depart. However, the place wasn’t crowded at all, probably because it was still low season. Went into Gordon River Cruises to ask about the Gordon River cruise that we tried to inquire during our planning few months back but didn’t receive a reply. Informed on the spot that on that day, there was only one trip in the morning at 830am and if we were interested, we had to come back the following day. As we were heading to Lake St. Clair, it was not possible to do that. Continued to move on to the next town.

Strahan visitors' center. — Strahan visitors’ center.

Queenstown was an equally small town like Zeehan and was out of our expectations as compared to the Queenstown in NZ. Planned to have lunch and eventually we did, in a small food store having pies and fish and chips. Didn’t spend much time there as well, continued our drive towards Lake St. Clair.

Fountain dedicated to the mining history of Queenstown.

Our accommodation was Lake St. Clair lodge but wasn’t sure where it was as the GPS pointed a location on the road that was leading to the National park. So we continued to drive on even after the GPS have told us that we have already arrived. It was when we finally reached the visitors center that I realized the lodge was just next to the visitor center. Checked in and was informed that the only places to have dinner was either in the lodge restaurant or the one on the main road, 5km away. We decided on having dinner at the restaurant itself and were told to come back by 6pm, seemed like there weren’t much people around and the restaurant would close earlier if we have finished our dinner.

Drove into to where the cabins were and all the way up to our unit. Control of access and entry was through card key and the cabin had a view of the lake. The cabin was the warmest so far and thus comfortable for us in the cold weather. The bathing accessories provided were from Molton Brown, some good stuff indeed. Only downside was there weren’t any TV.

Fridge underneath sink near the entrance.

Went back to the recept to enquire about the cruise and was told that then only trip of the day was out and if we wanted, we had to pay the full fees of charter, 240aud. There was a cruise that was booked for 11am the next day and if we wanted, we could join that trip for 60aud pp, much cheaper. The ferry service that was used mainly for ferry services were not meant for the cruise trip and therefore they couldn’t allow us to take it like one.

Lake St. Clair visitor's center. — Lake St. Clair visitor’s center.

After leaving the reception, we proceeded to take the track to see what we could do. Trekked to the the viewpoint to the beach which was just 5mins away. After that, we decided to go in the further and about 20mins of slow walk, we arrived at the campsite called Fergy’s paddock, with a little track to the lake as well. The day was still not too dark so we tried to walk in further but stopped before reaching watersmeet as it seemed like it was getting dark and looked too far for my pregnant wife to walk.

We went back to the restaurant after another 30mins and ordered dinner. We weren’t the only people there, there were 2 other couples and a group of four that was also eating there. The staff from Hong Kong was friendly and had a chat with him before we ordered our mains, that arrived in really huge portions, curry chicken and carbonara.

Went back to the cabin and while returning, saw some creatures on the road sides. Snapped a photo and identified these as possums for their pink noses. We retired early for the night as I was intending to walk to Platypus bay to see if I could catch a view of the illusive creature and it had to be done at first light. Furthermore, without tv or wifi, there was really nothing else that could be done then to sleep.

Tasmania 2014 Day 16 – Penguin, Cataract Gorge and Lauceston

Tasmania 2014 Day 15 – Strahan and Lake St. Clair